Vatican Defends Naming Pius XII Venerable

Vatican City: December 23, 2009, (PCTV Newsdesk)

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office,offered a statement to Vatican Radio today in response to Benedict XVI'sdeclaration Saturday recognizing the heroic virtue of Pius XII.

The decree brings the World War II Pontiff one step closer to canonizationand gives him the title "venerable."

Father Lombardi acknowledged that the declaration "has elicited a certainnumber of reactions in the Jewish world" and offered a clarification ofwhat the decree means.

Though many historians (including Jewish scholars) recognize Pius XII'sendeavors that resulted in saving thousands of Jews from the Nazi deathcamps, there are still those who contend that he did too little.

Father Lombardi explained that the recognition of heroic virtue "takesaccount of the circumstances in which the person lived, and hence it isnecessary to examine the question from a historical standpoint, but theevaluation essentially concerns the witness of Christian life that theperson showed -- his intense relationship with God and continuous searchfor evangelical perfection [...] -- and not the historical impact of allhis operative decisions."

Further historical study of Pius XII's defense of the Jews is thereforestill open, the spokesman affirmed. And in this regard, he repeated thatdocuments regarding the 1939-1958 pontificate will be made available toscholars once they've been organized and classified, a project that,because of the "enormous mass" of documentation, "still requires a numberof years' work."

No twin canonizations

Father Lombardi also responded to certain rumors that the simultaneousdeclaration of both Pius XII and Pope John Paul II as venerable could meanthat any future canonization of the two Pontiffs would also coincide.

The spokesman affirmed that the two causes have not been "paired."

"They are completely independent of one another and each will follow itsown course," he said. "There is, then, no reason to imagine that any futurebeatification will take place simultaneously."

Friend of the Jews

Finally, Father Lombardi reiterated Benedict XVI's great respect for theJewish people.

"It is, then, clear that the recent signing of the decree [regarding PiusXII] is in no way to be read as a hostile act toward the Jewish people, andit is to be hoped that it will not be considered as an obstacle on the pathof dialogue between Judaism and the Catholic Church," he said. "Rather wetrust that the Pope's forthcoming visit to the Synagogue of Rome will be anopportunity for the cordial reiteration and reinforcement of ties offriendship and respect."

News source: www.zenit.org