Investigation into church's role dropped after it refuses to
grant access to archives
Rory Carroll in Genoa
Wednesday July 25, 2001
The Guardian
The Vatican was accused of a cover-up yesterday when its
refusal to open Nazi-era archives prompted a panel of Catholic and Jewish
historians to suspend an investigation into the church's role in the Holocaust.
The five scholars, appointed by the Vatican and Jewish
groups in 1999, said a final report could not be submitted because they were
denied access to documents about the wartime pope, Pius XII.
They called a halt after the Vatican rebuffed a request for
unpublished material dating from 1923 because of "technical reasons".
The investigation had to be abandoned because that material
was needed to fill in gaps about the church's role during the Nazi
extermination of the Jews, said the panel.
In a letter to the Vatican it said: "We therefore
cannot see a way forward at present to the final report that you request, and
believe that we must suspend our work."
The decision will revive suspicion that the archives contain
a smoking gun which proves Pius XII was an anti-semite who ignored evidence of
massacres.
Controversy over Puis XII has strained Jewish-Catholic
relations for decades, a tension which was supposed to be resolved by the
panel. That it has backfired so spectacularly will embarrass Pope John Paul II,
who has made reconciliation with Jews a leitmotif of his reign.
Lord Janner, the former MP Greville Janner, who is chairman
of the Holocaust Education Trust, said: "This is a sad and unworthy
decision and especially surprising because this pope has done more than any
other to foster good relations between the Jewish and Muslim religions.
"To refuse to reveal documents from the Nazi period for
'technical reasons' suggests that they wish to hide the truth, which is totally
unacceptable."
Some scholars said the Vatican's explanation was plausible
since there were only two archivists to catalogue an estimated 3m documents
relating to Pius XII.
"It's not a question of whether the documents will be
released. It's all a matter of time," said Eugene Fisher, a panel
coordinator.
However, others suspected access was blocked by a cabal led
by the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.
"If you open up Pius, you set a precedent for a whole
range of other investigations - for example the church's relationship with Latin
American dictators.
"Don't forget that Sodano was the papal nuncio during
the Pinochet regime," said Alberto Melloni, a historian of the church.
Conservative cardinals who opposed last year's historic
papal apology for wrongs committed in the church's name would also have opposed
granting access, said Prof Melloni. "The irony is that I don't think there
is a smoking gun. Pius has been oversimplified and made the monster of the
Shoah (Holocaust)."
John Paul would like to beatify his predecessor but has
hesitated because of the harm it would do to Jewish relations.
The panel was appointed to study 11 wartime volumes, which
were made available, but the panel said it needed wider access to conduct a
full investigation.
A preliminary report released last October said Pius XII
engaged in futile diplomacy but neither condemned nor praised.
A Vatican spokesman said an official response to the panel's
suspension may be given today.
One source close to the archive expressed resentment at the
panel, saying it was never promised access.
Most western democracies would also refuse access at this
stage since some of the people mentioned were still alive.
The source also accused the panellists of losing the trust
of the Vatican by bickering between themselves, struggling with Italian and
leaking information to the press. "Would you trust such people?"
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001