And I'm sorry, but I disagree with this move.

The Vatican's ambassador to Israel will attend a Holocaust memorial service at the Yad Vashem museum, reversing an earlier decision to boycott the event, officials said Sunday.

Vatican officials had said they would skip the Sunday event because of a caption at the Holocaust museum describing the wartime conduct of Pope Pius XII.

Officials from Yad Vashem, the Vatican's Embassy and the Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed Sunday that the ambassador, Monsignor Antonio Franco, would attend.

The caption next to the picture of Pius reads, "even when reports about the murder of Jews reached the Vatican, the pope did not protest."

Pius "maintained his neutral position" with two exceptions, the caption says, criticizing "his silence and absence of guidelines." The exceptions were appeals to the rulers of Hungary and Slovakia toward the end of the war.

The boycott had threatened to upset fragile relations between Israel and the Vatican.

As I've said, this is a bad move, because the original decision was the correct one. Such blood libel should not be allowed to stand -- and no nation should participate in any event at Vad Yashem as long as such a lie appears.

Posted by: Greg at 02:41 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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