ROME/JERUSALEM (EJP)---The Vatican has denied assertions that a caption displayed at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum alleging Pius XII didn't do enough to save Jews during WWII would keep Pope Benedict XVI from visiting Israel.
"This fact cannot be considered a determining factor for a decision on any visit by the Holy Father to the Holy Land, a trip, which, as it is known, is among the pope's desires, but for now hasn't seen concrete planning," the head of the Vatican press office, Federico Lombardi, said in a statement.
But Lombardi urged Yad Vashem officials to make "a new, objective and in-depth review" of the caption.
The statement came after a Catholic official promoter of the controversial case for sainthood for wartime pope Pius XII gave interviews Saturday in which he said the caption at the Yad Vashem exhibition was the “most burning reason” why the pope cannot go to Israel.
The caption was "an obvious falsification of history," Father Peter Gumpel, a German Jesuit, said.
As long as the caption remained, a trip to Israel by the pontiff would be "a scandal for Catholics," he said.
"The Catholic church does what it can to have good relations with Israel but friendly relations can only be built on reciprocity," he said.
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Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levy said that as long as Vatican archives on Pius XII remain closed to researchers "the debate over Pope Pius XII's actions or inaction in that horrendous period remains an open and painful one," The Vatican has opened its secret archives to researchers to include the period just before Pius was elected pontiff. It says the archives spanning the 1939-1958 papacy of Pius will be opened later.
The Vatican and Israel established diplomatic relations in the early 1990s, but long-standing differences remain over expropriated church property and tax exemptions for the Church.
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The caption on the picture of Pope Pius XII showed at the Yad Vashem exhibition in Jerusalem said the pontiff, who served from 1939 until 1958, had "abstained from signing the Allied declaration condemning the extermination of Jews" and "maintained his neutral position throughout the war."
Yad Vashem said on Sunday that "Pope Pius XII's activity during the Holocaust is an issue debated among historians around the world."
"The presentation of the subject in the Holocaust History Museum at Yad Vashem is based on the best research regarding the topic," it said in a
statement.
"Yad Vashem is certain that the opening of the Vatican archives on the relevant period would help further research on the subject."
Last year, the photograph caused tensions in Israel-Vatican relations. The Vatican ambassador to Israel even threatened to boycott an annual memorial service at Yad Vashem.
On Sunday, Israel renewed an invitation to the pope to visit the Holy Land despite differences between Jews and Catholics on the possible beatification of Pope Pius XII, Israel's Vatican envoy said.
"The invitation to Pope Benedict XVI to come (to Israel) has been renewed and remains," Ambassador Motti Levy said. "Our differences can be reduced, but the date of the visit has not yet been set."
Last month, Pope Benedict XVI sparked a row when he praised the memory of Pope Pius XII on the 50th anniversary of his death and said he would like to see him beatified.
Benedict is however holding off on starting the formal process of beatification out of concern for maintaining "good relations" with Jews, Father Gumpel said on Saturday.
Jewish groups and most historians accuse Pius, pontiff from 1939 to 1958, of
remaining silent during the Holocaust and having been passive towards the
persecution of Jews, accusations the Vatican adamantly denies.
On Friday, CRIF, the umbrella representative body of the French Jewish community, warned that the Vatican’s plan to beatify Pius XII "would deal a severe blow to relations between the Catholic Church and the Jewish world."