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Last update - 03:21 19/02/2008 Vatican: Pius XII sainthood process not stalled By Reuters Tags: beatification, vatican  The Vatican's top saint-maker said Monday he was moving ahead with the beatification of wartime Pope Pius XII, despite criticism Pius did not speak out against the Holocaust. Some critics accuse Pius, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, of being indifferent to the Hitler's plans to systematically destroy the Jewish people. However, his supporters consider him a holy man who worked behind the scenes to help Jews throughout Europe. Advertisement Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins denied that Pius' sainthood process has until now been halted over the controversy, as a newspaper report last year suggested. "It has not been staggered, much less stopped," Martins, who heads the Vatican department that oversees the sainthood process, told reporters. But he left the timing of any progress on the case unclear, and confirmed there would be renewed research into the late Pope on the 50th anniversary of his death. Last May, the Vatican's saint-making department voted in favor of a decree recognizing Pius's "heroic virtues," a major hurdle in a long process toward sainthood that began in 1967. But Pope Benedict has so far not approved the decree, meaning that the process is effectively stalled and that Pius cannot move on to beatification, the last step before sainthood. Martins said people should not read too much into that. "Some people talk about problems that in reality don't exist, I believe. Many say: 'It's not going forward because he is famous for his silence in condemning Nazism, that he didn't condemn Nazism," he said. "This is not historically accurate. Instead of silence, I would speak of 'prudence.' There was not silence." The Vatican maintains Pius did not speak out more forcefully against the Holocaust because he was afraid of provoking Nazi reprisals and worsening the fate of Catholics and Jews. Supporters say Pius ordered churches and convents in Rome to take in Jews after the Germans occupied the city in 1943. Related articles: ADL urges Pope to suspend Pius sainthood over Holocaust inaction New biography of Pope Pius XII rejects charges of anti-Semitism Pius XII told churches not to return Holocaust war babies Pope pious? More Jewish World news and features Bookmark to del.icio.us   Hunting journalists Who leaked the details of a CIA-Mossad plot against Iran? Farming organic At Or-Gani, Israel's organic revolution is taking on new forms.   1.   Make him a saint already! 02:10  |  Euro 19/02/08   2.   Euro... go and write to the Vatican Website 02:34  |  Daniel 19/02/08   3.   Euro, maybe YOU should be canonized!!! 03:13  |  akiva (zionist) 19/02/08   4.   ALL FALACY WILL FALL WHEN MOSHIACH REVEALS. FALSE MESSIAH JESUS)) 03:44  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 19/02/08   5.   #1-Euro -Don`t make Pope Pius XII a Saint 03:45  |  PK 19/02/08   6.   HE WAS THE ORIGIONAL denier ... 03:57  |  superjew 19/02/08   7.   to: akiva (zionist) 04:04  |  ezra 19/02/08   8.   The meddlers 04:33  |  John Bull Capistrano 19/02/08   9.   Requirement of Sainthood? 05:29  |  nunya 19/02/08   10.   Dead wrong and all lies--read Constantine`s Sword. 06:07  |  truthsayer 19/02/08   11.   Pius was the original righteous gentile 06:51  |  surreal 19/02/08   12.   Of saints and sinners 09:32  |  Ehud 19/02/08   13.   THEIR SAINTS ARE NAZI SYMPPATHIZERS 12:52  |  Petra 19/02/08   14.   # 11 Surreal Popes office is 666 14:46  |  Petra 19/02/08   15.   On Pope`s Jews 19:34  |  Shlomo 19/02/08   16.   Pope 20:11  |  Brad 07/03/08   17.   How about those animal injections Pius XII 20:38  |  Brad 07/03/08

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