Petition Opposing Beatification for Pope Pius XII

B'nai B'rith Europe is disappointed by the December 19th signature by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, recognizing Pius XII, pope from 1939 to 1958, as "venerable" given his "heroic virtues".

While we can only rejoice at the Beatification of John Paul II - so great was his charismatic service, universally recognized and appreciated - the same regrettably cannot be said regarding the proposed beatification of Pius XII.

Following his election in 1939 - after failing to promulgate the draft encyclical of his predecessor, Pius XI, opposing racism and antisemitism - Pope Pius XII, supreme leader of the catholic church, is widely believed by Holocaust survivors and scholars to have not done enough to resist and speak publicly against the Nazi genocide of European Jewry.

Pope Pius XII’s would-be beatification would only deepen, within the Jewish community, a wound that is far from being healed. Such a step should not be allowed to come at the expense of the Catholic-Jewish friendship.

Thus, we, the undersigned, respectfully call upon His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to suspend the beatification process for Pope Pius XII until still-secret Vatican archives from World War II are declassified and made fully accessible. This would allow independent scholars to fully examine, and reach satisfactory conclusions regarding, the pontificate of Pius XII, in the spirit of historical transparency and accuracy.