Benedict contended his predecessor acted silently to save as many Jews as possible and expressed hope that efforts aimed at his beatification would proceed “smoothly.”

Beatification is the last formal step before sainthood.

Benedict, wearing red vestments, celebrated a solemn Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Pius, who became pontiff in 1939, a few months before World War II erupted in Europe.

Some writers and Jewish leaders others have accused Pius of not doing enough to try to stop the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews died.

The Vatican has steadfastly defended Pius, contending the pontiff used behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to help the Jews. It says he was cautious about public denunciations of Hitler’s treatment of Jews for fear of worsening their plight.

“How can we forget the Christmas radio message of December 1942?” Benedict asked in his homily.

“With a voice broken with emotion, he deplored the situation of ‘hundreds of thousands of persons, who, for no fault of their own, only for reason of nationality or ethnic roots, were destined for death or for steady deterioration,’ with clear reference to the deportation and extermination carried out against Jews,” Benedict said quoting from Pius’ 1942 radio speech.

Pius “often acted in a secret and silent way precisely because, given the concrete situations of that complex historic moment, he knew intuitively that only in this way he could avoid the worse, and save the biggest number possible of Jews,” Benedict said.

Among those who mourned his death on Oct. 9, 1958, Benedict said, was then Israeli Foreign Minister Golda Meir, who praised him for working on behalf of the war’s victims.

Church officials have begun efforts that could lead to Pius’ beatification, but they say that would be years away.

Benedict gave no hint when beatification might occur, saying only in his homily: “We pray so that the cause of his beatification goes forward smoothly.”

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