Pope to stay away from Holocaust Museum

VATICAN CITY, March 7 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI intends to visit the Holocaust Memorial at Yad Vashem during his trip to Israel but not the museum there, officials say.

The museum is involved in a debate on the role Pope Pius XII played during World War II.

Mordechai Levy, Israel's ambassador to the Vatican, said Friday the pope and Shimon Peres will visit Yad Vashem together, ANSA, the Italian news agency, reported. The pope plans to light a remembrance fire and deliver remarks.

Yad Vashem plans a debate on Pope Pius XII Sunday and Monday. Most of the symposium is expected to be closed.

Pius began his reign in March 1939, a few months before the outbreak of World War II, and died in 1958. He is now a candidate for sainthood.

In the years after the war, many Jewish leaders, including a future Israeli prime minister, Golda Meir, praised Pius for helping Jews to escape the Holocaust. More recently, he has been criticized for keeping silent on Nazi atrocities, while his supporters say he sincerely believed he could save more people by avoiding open confrontation.