A panel of Catholic and Jewish historians has suspended its study of the church's role during the Holocaust and the second World War, citing lack of a positive response from the Vatican to its request for more documents, members of the group said yesterday.
The panel was established jointly by the Vatican and Jewish groups in 1999 to examine one of the thorniest issues in Catholic-Jewish relations: what Pope Pius XII knew about the systematic execution of Jews during the war. Last year the panel asked the Vatican for full access to its unpublished wartime archives after reviewing 11 volumes of published records.
"Without some positive response to our respectful case for material in the archives that has not been published, we could not maintain our credibility with the many voices - Catholic, Jewish and others - who have called for greater availability of archival material," a July 20th letter by two Catholic and three Jewish historians to a senior Vatican official, Cardinal Walter Kasper, read.
"We therefore cannot see a way forward at present to the final report that you request, and believe that we must suspend our work".
Six researchers, three from each religion, were appointed by their orders after widespread Jewish discontent with a Vatican document that defended the role of Pope Pius XII during the war.
The contents of the letter were made public by the World Jewish Congress. The Catholic order's co-ordinator, Dr Eugene Fischer, of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, confirmed the letter had been sent but declined to comment.
Vatican officials in Rome were not immediately available for comment.
The panel's letter was in response to a June 21st letter from Cardinal Kasper, which said the archives were accessible only until 1923 and after that date were not accessible at present "for technical reasons".
The cardinal, president of the Vatican's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, asked the panel to prepare a report about the history of the Holy See during the Holocaust from the material reviewed.
The panellists say they are seeking clarity that would help them determine what Pope Pius XII knew while Germany's ruling Nazis tried to exterminate the Jews and why he did not speak out more.
A Jewish panellist, Dr Michael Marrus, professor of History at the University of Toronto, said it was quite significant that both Jewish and Catholic members of the panel had signed the letter.
"That letter was obviously written for consensus, and on the essential we are indeed agreed," Dr Marrus said.
He added that although the panel had come up against a brick wall on opening the archives, "that doesn't mean we should not continue our work, and I think it will continue on one level, but it would have been helpful to have had support from the Holy See on this issue".