Apparently, Tariq Aziz, at a Vatican press conference today, refused to answer a question about missiles by the "Israeli media." To his credit, a German reporter asked if there'd an answer if he asked it. Reportedly, several reporters walked out, but the Vatican let the conference continue.

Pious XII became known as "Hitler's Pope."

It will be a shame, and another blow to the Church, if John Paul becomes known as Saddam's.

[Update at 3:40 PST]

Here's the story as reported by ABC. Apparently I was mistaken--it wasn't at the Vatican--it was at a press club in Rome following a meeting with the Pope. Given the Pope's position, however, my broader point remains.

Rand, Pius XII is only called "Hitler's Pope" by a small number of inveterate Catholic-bashers who've deliberately distorted the historical record and ignored all the evidence that goes against them, secure in the knowledge that most people who read their screeds won't be inclined to fact-check them. Please don't help to propagate their slanders.

The New York Times repeatedly lauded Pius XII for his outspokenness on behalf of the oppressed Jews under Hitler. Their many editorials on the subject are still available from the paper's archives. Thousands of Jews were saved from the Nazis by Vatican efforts, including concealment in the Vatican itself -- and many are still alive today.

Israel Zolli, Chief Rabbi of Rome during the war years, was so overwhelmed by Pius's exertions on behalf of European Jews that he and his wife converted to Catholicism after the war. In fact, Zolli took Pius's given name, Eugenio, as his baptismal name, in conspicuous appreciation of "Hitler's Pope."

I didn't say that the appellation was necessarily justified--just that it exists. My (dim) understanding is that there's evidence both ways--that, for political reasons, he was much more publicly supportive (or at least not denunciatory) of the Nazi regime than privately, and that in fact he did quietly save a large number of Jews.