Vatican Envoy Shuns Yom Hashoah Service In Israel Over Pius XII Depiction

The Vatican’s ambassador to Israel is refusing to attend Israel's official Holocaust memorial service tomorrow in Jerusalem in protest of the way in which Israel's Holocaust Museum describes the role of Pope Pius XII during World War II. Monsignor Antonio Franco is refusing to attend the annual Yom Hashoah commemoration at the museum, Yad Vashem, because of a paragraph—added in 2005-- accompanying a display of a picture of Pius XII. The caption says of Pius: "When he was elected pope in 1939, he shelved a letter against racism and anti-semitism that his predecessor had prepared. Even when reports about the murder of Jews reached the Vatican the Pope did not protest either verbally or in writing." It also says that the Pope in 1942 chose not to sign an Allied declaration condemning the extermination of Jews and did not intervene when Jews were deported from Rome to Auschwitz. The Guardian today reports that Yad Vashem said its description accurately reflects current historical knowledge. The museum said it is "prepared to continue examining the issue", and that the Vatican should open up its archives of documents relating to Pius XII.