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Top Vatican official blasts critics of Shoah-era pope By Anshel Pfeffer The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, added fuel to the fire yesterday on the question of the canonization of the Holocaust-era pope, Pius XII. He attacked historians who called Pius "Hitler's pope." Speaking at a ceremony marking 50 years since Pius' death, Bertone castigated those who say Pius did nothing to save Jews. He said historians who espouse such views "are infuriating and historically inaccurate." He called the allegations against Pius a "defaming legend." Advertisement Last week, however, Pope Benedict XVI hinted that Pius would not be declared a saint until new documents were uncovered from the Vatican archives. Bertone directed his barbs particularly at a book by historian John Cornwell, "Hitler's Pope," published in 1999. Cornwell claims that Pius saw Nazi Germany as an essential force against Communism and therefore did not help Jews, even though he had knowledge of the destruction of the Jews and that Jews were being deported from Rome to death camps. Cornwell writes that Pius asked the American generals who liberated Rome that the units stationed around the Vatican not include black soldiers. Despite Bertone's defense of the controversial pontiff, he did not indicate that there had been any progress on the process of Pius' path to sainthood. "This is a religious matter, and that must be respected," he said. Last week Benedict met with a delegation of Jews who asked him not to move ahead with canonization until the new information was available. The pope told the group he would "seriously consider the matter." In other meetings with senior Vatican officials, the Jewish delegates said they had the impression the Vatican as well would prefer to wait at least until more documents showed Pius in a more favorable light. It is believed the process of cataloging and releasing the Vatican's documents from the World War II era will take another six or seven years. The pope and the cardinals closest to him are walking a thin line so as not to cause a rift with the Jewish world, many of whose leaders have urged him not to canonize Pius. The pope and the cardinals also hope to avoid a rift with the Church's conservative establishment, which sees Pius as a paragon of Catholic conservatism. So in recent statements Benedict and Bertone have continued to defend Pius for his Holocaust-era actions and protest what they see as foreign interference in internal Church matters, while on the other hand seem in no hurry to expedite canonization. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Expecting change Hamas leader Meshal says Obama has no choice but to talk to group. Kosher Kiwi New Zealand elects a Jewish and conservative Prime Minister.

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