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Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen being interviewed in Rome on Monday. (Reuters)
Last update - 00:00 06/10/2008
Haifa Chief Rabbi at Vatican: Wartime Pope let Jews down
By Reuters
Tags: Pope, Israel news, Vatican 

The first Jew to address a Vatican synod on Monday told the gathering that Jews "cannot forgive and forget" that some major religious leaders during World War Two did not speak out against the Holocaust.

Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen's words, spoken in the presence of Pope Benedict, were a clear reference to wartime Pope Pius XII, who many Jews say did not do enough to help them.

Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen told Reuters earlier Monday that wartime Pope Pius XII should have done more to help Jews during the Holocaust.
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Cohen he might have stayed away if he had known the major Church gathering coincided with ceremonies to honor Pius on the 50th anniversary of his death.

"We feel that the late pope [Pius] should have spoken up much more strongly than he did," said Cohen, 80, in an interview hours before he was due to address the gathering of Catholic bishops from around the world.


Cohen said that in his speech he planned to make an indirect reference to Jewish disappointment about Pius as well as an appeal to all religious leaders to denounce Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Last month Pope Benedict forcefully defended Pius, saying he "spared no effort" on behalf of Jews during World War II.

Some Jews maintain Pius did not do enough to save Jews while the Vatican says he worked behind the scenes to help because more direct intervention would have worsened the situation.

"He may have helped in secrecy many of the victims and many of the refugees but the question is 'could he have raised his voice and would it have helped or not?'" Cohen said.

"We, as the victims, feel yes. I am not empowered by the families of the millions of deceased to say 'we forget, we forgive,'" said Cohen, who is chief rabbi of Haifa in Israel.

Pius is one of the most difficult issues in Catholic-Jewish relations. On Thursday the Vatican marks the 50th anniversary of his death, Benedict celebrates a Mass in his memory and there will be a conference and photo show on his papacy next month.

"I did not know [the anniversary commemorations] happened during the same meeting. If I had known ... I might have refrained from coming because we feel that the pain is still here," Cohen said.

"I have to make it very clear that we, the rabbis, the leadership of the Jewish people, cannot as long as the survivors still feel painful agree that this leader of the Church in a time of crisis should be honored now. It is not our decision. It pains us. We are sorry it is being done," he said.

Cohen said only God knows if Pius spoke out enough against the Holocaust: "God is the judge ... he knows the truth".

War archives

Urged by historians to open up all its archives from World War II, the Vatican says some are closed for organizational reasons but that most of the significant documentation regarding Pius is already open to scholars.

Last year, the Vatican's saint-making department voted in favor of a decree recognizing Pius' "heroic virtues", a major hurdle in a long process toward possible sainthood that began in 1967. But Pope Benedict has so far not approved the decree.

Some Jewish groups say the Vatican should freeze the process of beatification but others say it is an internal Church matter.

Cohen said he would also appeal to the synod to denounce Ahmadinejad, who made another virulent anti-Israel speech last month at the United Nations. He said he would "appeal to the leaders of religion not to keep quiet, not to stand aside".

"He says that he wants to annihilate Israel and destroy it. The problem in the days of the Second World War was that people didn't believe that what Adolf Hitler was saying, he really meant to fulfill".

"Unfortunately we had the Holocaust and I am sure that if we have a painful memory it is because we don't feel that enough was done by the leadership of the religions in the world and other powerful leaders to stop it at that time. We expect them to do it today," he said.

Related articles:
  • WJC leaders meet Pope, discuss Iran and dialogue with Muslims
  • Pope visits Vienna memorial to 'show repentance' for Holocaust



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      1.   Only God knows the truth 15:46  |  hollingsworth 06/10/08
      2.   hollings worth and ignorance again 15:57  |  victor hardman 06/10/08
      3.   #1 - THE PROOF ABOUT PIUS XII IS HERE 16:08  |  Barry S. Roffman 06/10/08
      4.   hey, victor! 17:32  |  hollingsworth 06/10/08
      5.   Right On ,Vatican Must publicly denounce Ahmadinejad, 17:47  |  Joseph.E 06/10/08
      6.   The Catholics are trying to clean the bar of Pope Pius XII 17:49  |  JP 06/10/08
      7.   victor hardman 2 18:31  |  potobac 06/10/08
      8.   jp 6 18:35  |  potobac 06/10/08
      9.   The Rabbi should look in mirror and ask... 18:56  |  06/10/08
      10.   Where are the witnesses? 19:11  |  Gila 06/10/08
      11.   Hollingworth 19:18  |  joe 06/10/08
      12.   Christianity is an ennemy religion 19:47  |  Phoenix 06/10/08
      13.   protobac, you pay attention from any source you want 19:55  |  JP 06/10/08
      14.   protobac, you pay attention from any source you want 19:55  |  JP 06/10/08
      15.   Whats the point 20:07  |  Paul Wood 06/10/08
      16.   Why must the entire world place Jewish interest before their own? 20:37  |  Natallie Durson 06/10/08
      17.   Wartime Pope let Jews down 20:42  |  Dirk Verhofstadt 06/10/08
      18.   Golda Meir on death of Pope Pius XII 20:53  |  Abby 06/10/08
      19.   Jewish Scholar of the Holocaust at Hungary 20:56  |  Abby 06/10/08
      20.   The evidence is public..and it is damning of pius 20:56  |  Arie 06/10/08
      21.   Litany 20:59  |  Arie 06/10/08
      22.   Israeli diplomat and scholar Pinchas Lapide 20:59  |  Abby 06/10/08
      23.   An interesting question 21:01  |  Jim 06/10/08
      24.   NYT editorials in 1941, 1942 about Church 21:01  |  Abby 06/10/08
      25.   Paul Wood 22:07  |  The Teacher/Instruct 06/10/08
      26.   Gila... 22:10  |  Dude From The Bronx 06/10/08
      27.   Jewish or Catholic Dogmas - Bad Relationship - Non-Sense 01:02  |  LessBeliever 07/10/08
      28.   Not Just Wartime Popes Pal 01:03  |  FulghumInk 07/10/08
      29.   NATALIE.Why must the US go to war in Yugoslavia for Moslems? 01:58  |  PETER SM 07/10/08
      30.   PAUL WOOD You are right,history has no point at all 02:00  |  PETER SM 07/10/08
      31.   Why Vatican dose not recognize E Jerusalem and W.B is part of Isr 02:39  |  e.m Jordan is Palse 07/10/08
      32.   #!16 02:44  |  Toibia 07/10/08
      33.   peter sm 29 03:25  |  potobac 07/10/08
      34.   he was sitting in the middle of italy which ws an ally of nazis 03:39  |  gostav 07/10/08
      35.   Why should any better be expected? 03:41  |  judith 07/10/08
      36.   Job for the super small boy 04:44  |  Shimon Cleopas 07/10/08
      37.   POTOBAC You missed the point 06:19  |  PETER SM 07/10/08
      38.   # 31 e.m. 13:10  |  Axel 07/10/08
      39.   We have heard you, rabbi from Haifa. 13:14  |  Axel 07/10/08
      40.   pope 19:45  |  joelle 07/10/08
      41.   Hitler`s Pope--NOPE!!! 13:44  |  Michael Santomauro 09/10/08
      42.   70% of Germans in Auscwitz were Catholic 14:55  |  Boris 09/10/08
      43.   Saved 18:34  |  Hal 06/11/08
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