Pius XII Saint Delay

Moves to make wartime Pope Pius XII a saint have been delayed because Pope Benedict wants more study of documents, an Italian newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Il Giornale reported that Benedict has decided to set up a committee in his Secretariat of State, the Vatican's diplomatic section, to review old documents from the World War Two period and study new ones that have come to light.

Some Jews have accused Pius, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, of being indifferent to the Holocaust and not speaking out against Hitler. His supporters consider him a holy man who worked behind the scenes to help Jews throughout Europe.

Last May, the Vatican voted in favor of a decree recognizing Pius's "heroic virtues", a major hurdle in a long process toward sainthood that began in 1967.

But Benedict has so far not approved the decree, meaning that the process is effectively stalled and that Pius cannot move on to beatification, or the last step before sainthood.

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