A new look at Pope Pius XII

Gary Krupp, President of "Pave the Way Foundation", said in an interview with ZENIT, a Catholic news agency: "Pave the Way has identified the papacy of Pope Pius XII as a source of friction and misunderstanding." Krupp continued: "Accordingly, we have undertaken an independent investigation to identify significant documents and to video-record eye witness testimony. I wish to report to you that results of this investigation [are] stunning, and directly contradict the negative perception of the Pope's wartime activities."

"This year," he continued, "for Catholics, Oct. 9, 2008, will be the commemoration the 50th anniversary of the death of Pope Pius XII. For Jews that date is also significant as it is our holiest Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur, our Day of Atonement. May this providential date usher in a new effort to correct the historical record and bring to light the truth of this papacy."

The symposium gathered together 200 pages of documentation to show that Pope Pius XII did much to help Jews during the War and was thanked by Jewish leaders after the War. According to the European Jewish Press, the Foundation is asking that Yad VaShem remove from its permanent exhibition a text about the Pope that many Catholics see as defamatory to Pius XII.

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