In the July 31 edition of this newspaper, guest columnist Lew Alessio maintained that “in 1998, Pope John Paul II issued an apology to the world for the silence of the Catholic Church during the horrors of the Holocaust,” when in point of fact, the pope issued no such apology in 1998 nor in any other year of his pontificate, period.

What was issued in 1998 was a major Vatican document on the Holocaust titled “We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah,” authored by the Commission for Religious Relations With the Jews and accompanied by a brief papal cover letter.

In answer to its own question whether “Christians gave every possible assistance” to persecuted Jews and non-Jews alike, the commission affirmed that, “many did, but others did not.” The document’s authors then went on to praise those who did and apologize for those who didn’t.

It’s perfectly evident, then, that no categorical apology was made in the pope’s name by the commission; neither did the pope ever issue such an apology on his own.

Two weeks after the document’s release, New York’s Daily News columnist Sidney Zion wrote a piece in which he expressed the opinion that the document fell short. Nevertheless, “against what we in America and England and the Jewish establishment could have done and didn’t do and haven’t admitted,” Zion continued, “the Vatican statement stands like a beacon of light … The leaders of American Jewry … did next to nothing to save the Jews of Europe … “

William LaRochelle, Lewiston

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