Cardinal Andrea Lanza di Montezemolo told the Italian paper Corriere della Serra that “Israel’s interference in the matter of Pius XII must stop. We’ve had it with this interference. Outside opinions are liable to disrupt, and they look like an attempt to force Pope Benedict XVI to make a decision. The decision to declare someone a saint is an internal decision of the church.”
Father Paolo Molinari, a priest involved in the the beatification process, told the paper Il Messaggero that “Minister Herzog’s statements constitute intervention in the process of declaring Pius XII ‘blessed,’ which is an internal affair of the Catholic Church.” Beatification, or being declared blessed, is the final stage before achieving sainthood.
Moreover, Molinari claimed, “such statements contradict what others in the Jewish world have said, including [former Israeli prime ministers] Moshe Sharett and Golda Meir, who left no room for doubt about the positive part played by Pius XII during the Nazi era.”
Sourse: Haaretz
