Message #133364

[Bianca]

                                              Pope 'won't visit Shoah museum'




                                        Benedict to skip WWII 'silence' pope exhibit






 (ANSA)
- Vatican City,
March 6, 2009

- Pope Benedict XVI's trip to the Holy land in May will not take in Israel's Holocaust museum where WWII pope Pius XII is accused of silence on the Holocaust, the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See told ANSA Friday.

Speaking after reports that the Pius XII exhibit might be changed ahead of the May 8-15 trip, Ambassador Mordechai Levy said Benedict would attend a memorial ceremony at the Yad Vashem site but would not visit the museum itself.

Levy said the pope, accompanied by Israeli President Shimon Peres, would light a remembrance fire and make a speech. Earlier on Friday, Catholic sources in Jerusalem voiced hope the Pius 'silence' caption could be changed to avoid embarrassing Benedict.

They were speaking after the announcement of a debate on the controversial pope, who is on track to become a saint, at Yad Vashem on Sunday and Monday.

The symposium, which will take place largely behind closed doors, will look at Pius in the light of the latest historical evidence.

Organisers say the conference will see ''if there is something new or something which has to be completely revised'' in light of recent research by Jewish and Catholic scholars.

The Vatican has sought for years to persuade Yad Vashem to change or remove the caption which it considers defamatory. Pope John Paul II visited Yad Vashem in 2000 but the Pius caption was not an issue because it only appeared five years later when a new museum was unveiled.

In 2007, the Vatican ambassador to Israel, Archbishop Antonio Franco, refused to attend the annual Holocaust remembrance ceremony at Yad Vashem because of the caption.