A full-court press from Benedict XVI in defense of Pius XII
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Rome
Pope Benedict XVI today issued a ringing defense of his controversial predecessor, Pope Pius XII, the wartime pope whose alleged silence during the Holocaust has long been a sticking point in Jewish/Catholic relations.
Among other things, Benedict prayed aloud that the cause to declare Pius XII a saint ?may move forward happily.?
Benedict XVI?s comments came in a homily for a Mass in St. Peter?s Basilica commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Pius XII in October 1958. A reminder of the controversy surrounding Pius came earlier in the week, when the first rabbi ever invited to address the Synod of Bishops, Shear-Yashuv Cohen, said in Benedict?s presence that Jews cannot ?forgive and forget? what they regard as Pius? public silence about the Nazi genocide.