The Pope Defends the Vatican’s Actions During World War II

Pope Benedict XVI made his first visit to Rome’s main synagogue at the weekend. During the visit a Jewish Leader confronted the Pope by referring to the Catholic Churches silence during the Holocaust.

The Pope had to concede to the remark by stating that “unfortunately, many remained indifferent”, but he did also state that the Vatican itself did help Jews in a “discreet way”. The criticism mainly fell on Pope Pius who was head of the Catholic Church throughout the WW II period, and with this visit Pope Benedict was hoping to bring about reconciliation between the two religions.

Some Jewish leaders seem set to rock this precarious boat though as they call for the Vatican to make public some of its secret archives, in order to understand the actions of Pius XII during the holocaust more closely.

This issue is not likely to just go away and so Pope Benedict XVI may have to go a lot further than visiting the main Synagogue in Rome to appease the Jewish people.