NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- In a sharp new public statement today, the Holy See insisted that all material in the Vatican archives regarding the Holocaust has already been made public, and challenging critics to provide evidence that anything has been held back.

      Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the director of the Vatican press office, told reporters that the statement was a response to "accusations raised during the past several days against the Holy See." Some such accusations have been aired at a conference on the Holocaust hosted by the US Department of State.

      Navarro-Valls pointed out that the Vatican has released all archival material pertaining to the Holocaust. He added: "Anyone who makes insinuations contrary to what the Holy See has already repeated several times should have some concrete evidence-- which, naturally, will not be forthcoming."

      Today's statement noted that an international group of historians had searched the Vatican archives at the request of Pope Paul VI, and produced an 11-volume work covering the years 1939- 1945. "This monumental work is universally recognized by historians as a fundamental contribution to the study of that period," the statement noted. Moreover, a recent history of Pope Pius XII incorporated another full volume of archival material.

      Citing this "exhaustive" published record, Navarro-Valls insisted that "nothing-- I repeat, nothing" more can be found in the Vatican archives.

      Similarly, the Vatican spokesman said, the archives contain no more evidence regarding the gold stolen by Nazis from Croatia. Pointing to "the absences of documents relative to that subject," Navarro-Valls concluded that the Vatican was not involved in any transfer of that stolen gold. He pointed out that Vatican experts participated in a scholarly session last year, trying to trace the path of the stolen gold, and the results were inconclusive.