VATICAN (CWNews.com) - The cause for the beatification of Pope Pius XII is moving ahead "rapidly," according to the Jesuit priest charged with the promotion of that investigation. Father Pierre Gumpel, the "relator" of the cause for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, told participants at a conference in Rome that Pope Pius XII had been the victim of "a real campaign of denigration." But he added that the facts supporting the beatification of the late pontiff were being systematically collected and organized.
Father Gumpel made his remarks to a conference organized by the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, on the European victims of the Nazi regime. The conference was brought together in anticipation of the May 7 ceremony at which Pope John Paul II will honor the Christian martyrs of the 20th century. The German Jesuit said that the charges frequently leveled against Pope Pius XII-- the accusations that he was slow to respond to the Holocaust-- reflect the "crass and culpable ignorance" of the accusers. He added that the accusations were the product of "an organized campaign, very systematically orchestrated, for the sole purpose of discrediting the Catholic Church."
Because these accusations have no basis in fact, Father Gumpel continued, they should not affect the progress toward the beatification of Pius XII. "We work with historians, and with scientific facts," he said; "We do not allow ourselves to be influenced by baseless criticism." The Congregation for the Causes of Saints has already completed the preparation of two volumes of testimony regarding Pope Pius XII, Father Gumpel reported. Two more volumes, completing the process, will soon be available.
Questioned on whether the beatification of Pope Pius XII might be delayed until a time when public opinion might be more favorable, Father Gumpel predicted that such considerations would not influence the Vatican's decisions. He acknowledged that the beatification of Pope Pius IX-- which will take place on September 3- - had been delayed for years because of controversy over that pontiff's role in Italian history. But Father Gumpel argued that the case of Pius IX involved real differences of opinion among legitimate historians, whereas the accusations against Pius XII, he repeated, have no basis in fact.
Catholic World News Service - Vatican Update