Vatican Ambassador to Israel, Archbishop Antonin Franco has informed the government that he will attend Sunday evening’s opening ceremony marking the beginning of Holocaust Memorial Day.
Franco had announced last week that he would boycott the ceremony in response to a caption of a photo in the Yad Vashem memorial museum showing Pope Pius XII during the period of the Holocaust. The caption charges that the late Catholic leader ignored the plight of the Jews during the period of the Nazi genocide.
Last week’s decision by the Catholic church’s representative provoked a storm of protest from Jewish communities around the world. New York-based Anti-Defamation League Director Abe Foxman called the decision unnecessarily insulting and unbecoming.” Foxman called on the Vatican to release its archives to the public so historians can examine the documents and determine precisely what Pope Pius XII did or did not do during the period of the Nazi genocide of the Jews.
Franco had announced last week that he would boycott the ceremony in response to a caption of a photo in the Yad Vashem memorial museum showing Pope Pius XII during the period of the Holocaust. The caption charges that the late Catholic leader ignored the plight of the Jews during the period of the Nazi genocide.
Last week’s decision by the Catholic church’s representative provoked a storm of protest from Jewish communities around the world. New York-based Anti-Defamation League Director Abe Foxman called the decision unnecessarily insulting and unbecoming.” Foxman called on the Vatican to release its archives to the public so historians can examine the documents and determine precisely what Pope Pius XII did or did not do during the period of the Nazi genocide of the Jews.