By Fred Jackson
August 8, 2001

(AgapePress) - The Vatican claims it has become the object of what it calls a "defamatory campaign" by some Jewish groups. The accusation came yesterday in response to a decision by Catholic and Jewish scholars to suspend a review of the Holy See's role during World War II.

Back in 1999, a panel of scholars was set up to try to get to the bottom of a longstanding controversy over whether Pope Pius XII made very possible effort to save Jewish lives during the Nazi holocaust. As part of their work, the panel -- composed of three Jewish and three Catholic researchers -- asked the Vatican to open up its archives for the wartime period. Just recently, the panel announced it could go no further because the Vatican was refusing to allow full disclosure and unfettered research.

Yesterday, Vatican spokesman Peter Gumpel, who is also heading the Roman Catholic church's team seeking beatification of Pius XII, responded. He said some of the statements being made by the Jewish researchers smacked of a violent attack against the Catholic church. According to Reuters News, he also contended it was impossible to release many documents from the years after 1922 because they still have not been cataloged by the Vatican.

Now the future of the panel, if indeed it has one, remains unclear. And the claims and counter-claims over Pius XII's knowledge of what was happening to the Jews -- and what he did about it -- remain unresolved.

© 2001 AgapePress all rights reserved.

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