Minister of Welfare & Social Services (Labor) Yitzchak Herzog met with Vatican representatives in Israel to bestow the government�s greetings for Xmas and the upcoming New Year holiday.

The minister called on the Church to delay plans for the beatification of Pope Pius XII amid objections from Israel�s Chief Rabbis and the Jewish community at large, asking the Vatican to probe its WWII archives and to open those archives to the public.

Pius is known for his anti-Semitic policies and his unwillingness to lift a finger while Nazi Germany�s death machine was slaughtering Jews daily.

(Yechiel Spira � YWN Israel)