FRANCE
Jewish leader ‘astounded’ by Pope’s praise for Pius XII
Tom Heneghan In Paris
THE LEADER of France’s Jewish minority, which is the largest in Europe, has firmly rejected Pope Benedict XVI’s view that Pope Pius XII was “one of the great righteous men [who] saved more Jews than anyone else”. “This sentence is astounding,” Richard
Prasquier, head of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF), wrote in an article for the Paris Catholic daily La Croix. “It cannot be accepted by contemporary historians,” he wrote. “We have no proof of any action organised by Pius XII to protect persecuted Jews.” Prasquier said this view of the wartime
Pope was promoted by “some churchmen” who he said “venerate Pius XII, the last Pope to have exercised his pontificate in the pomp and glory of a past period before Vatican II. They insist – maybe for a theological reason – on honouring his personality and are
indefatigable promoters of his beatification.” In Light of the World, a new book of inter-
views with the Pope, Benedict XVI said he had ordered a review of unpublished archives from the Second World War before he agreed to recognise his predecessor’s heroic virtues, a step towards beatification. “The records confirm the positive things
we know but not the negative things that are alleged,” he said, citing the opening of Roman convents and cloisters to Jews as an example of the way Pius XII saved as many as possible. Echoing long-standing Jewish objections
that Pius XII did not do enough during the Holocaust, Prasquier said there was no proof that he ordered that protection for Roman Jews. He claimed that Pius XII was respon- sible for letting ex-Nazis use the same church network after the war to escape to South America. “With the profound sense of respect we owe the pope, we say that history does not correspond to the statements made in his interview book,” Prasquier wrote.
GERMANY Activists force cancellation of cardinal’s talk
THE HONDURANcardinal, Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga SDB, was forced to pull out of a meeting in Hamburg after political activists threatened demonstrations, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt. Cardinal Rodriguez, president of the aid
organisation Caritas Internationalis, had been due to take part in a discussion with the jour- nalist Rupert Neudeck, the founder of the Cap Anamur charity which rescues boat peo- ple and gives them medical treatment. The meeting on “The Globalisation of Solidarity” was to have taken place at the
TURKEY:The head of Turkey’s Catholic bishops’ conference has rejected medical findings that the man who brutally murdered his predecessor, Bishop Luigi Padovese, was insane, writes Jonathan Luxmoore. “We don’t have the
possibility to shout or protest – instead, we are
Catholic Academy in Hamburg on 3 December but was cancelled at short notice. “It would not have been possible to discuss the subject under such circumstances,” Neudeck told the Catholic news agency KNA. The demonstrations were planned by sup-
porters of the ousted former President Manuel Zelaya, currently in the Dominican Republic. Mr Zelaya attempted to change the constitu- tion to extend his time in office, and was removed in a military coup on 28 June last year. Zelaya supporters accuse the Catholic bishops of Honduras of favouring the coup.
being criticised by people who should not be criticising us,” said Archbishop Ruggero Franceschini of Izmir. “Our Church is being silenced by this manipulation of the court and public opinion.” The church leader was
reacting to the report by a medical panel in the southern town of Adana, published in
Turkey’s Hürriyet daily, which said the Italian-born bishop’s 26-year-old killer, Murat Altun, had been unbalanced when he carried out the frenzied attack last June. The Church’s lawyer, Ercan
Eris, said the murder bore the hallmarks of Islamic militancy. Altun’s lawyer demanded his release to a hospital.
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