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THE PORTRAYAL of wartime pope Pius XII as someone indifferent to the fate of Jews and all other victims of Nazism is simply "historically unfounded", according to the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

Speaking in Rome yesterday at a seminar marking the 50th anniversary of the death of Pius, Cardinal Bertone suggested that Pius owed his controversial reputation to Soviet propaganda, saying: "The representation of Pius XII as someone indifferent to the fate of the victims of Nazism, the Poles and above all the Jews and to label him 'Hitler's Pope' is not only offensive but also historically unfounded, just as is the version of Pius XII as someone dominated by the Americans and 'the chaplain of the West', a version that was propagated and repeated by the Soviets during the cold war."