Pope Benedict XVI Praises Pope Pius XII

[Karissa Oleyanin]

Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Pope Pius XII, who headed up the Catholic Church during World War II. His legacy is a controversial one, but on Thursday, Pope Benedict XVI led a special mass in his honor.

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-35996.html

[Karissa Oleyanin]

Benedict voiced his hope that the beatification process for Pius can move ahead. He spoke about Pius' having done all he can to save Jews from the Holocaust.

[Karissa Oleyanin]

Here, Benedict prays at the tomb of Pope Pius XII. Some Jewish groups say that Pius didn't do enough to condemn the Holocaust while it was happening.

[Karissa Oleyanin]

The Catholic Church argues that Pope Pius XII, pictured here, shied away from vocal condemnations of the Nazis so as not to endanger his efforts to hide Jews from the Nazi killing machine.

[Karissa Oleyanin]

The caption under a photo of Pope Pius XII at the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem says that he didn't do enough to stand up to the Nazis.

[Vanguard of Truth]

The Pope wonders why so many people don't like him.