Holocaust, Pope John Paul II on Wednesday, January 1, urged an end to the conflict in Israel that has shaken the lives of Jews and Palestinians.
"Bethlehem! The Holy Land! The dramatic and persistent tensions that the Middle East region finds itself in makes all the more urgent the search for a positive solution to the fratricidal and senseless conflict, which for too long has bloodied it," the Pope said at a New Year’s Day Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.
His words echoed throughout Vatican City shortly after his spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, said the Vatican would give scholars access to files related to its relations with Nazi Germany during World War Two.
"BLIND EYE"
Pope Pius XII, who led the Church from 1939 to 1958, has long been accused by Jewish groups of turning a blind eye as millions of Jews were marched off to concentration camps.
The Vatican said the archives will be open from February 15 for scholars, to end the "unjust and thankless speculation" about the alleged failure of Pope Pius XII and other church leaders to do enough to resist the Nazi rise to power and the Holocaust.
FILES DESTROYED
However the Vatican has admitted that files dating from 1931 to 1934 were "nearly completely destroyed or dispersed" during the bombing of Berlin and by a fire, Reuters news agency reported.
Israel’s president has also asked the Vatican to catalogue its Jewish art and artifacts because of their value for "learning more about Vatican-Jewish relations through the centuries", Catholic News Service reported.
President Moshe Katsav reportedly made the request in December during a meeting at the Vatican with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the secretary of state.
