Saints

By DAVID VAN BIEMA

The Roman Catholic church can't find a politically correct Pius. Since the 1960s, it has synchronized the canonization process of liberal hero Pope John XXIII and conservative favorite Pius XII, but recently Pius' "cause" has stalled. The Vatican won't say why, but Jewish groups' critiques of the Holocaust-era Pope may have played a role.

If so, the church has chosen an odd replacement. On Sept. 3, along with John, it plans to beatify Pope PIUS IX. The earlier Pius had the longest reign in history (1846-78), but he plagued Rome's Jews, repealing civil rights and forcing them back into the ghetto. He also had a role in the kidnapping of a Jewish boy named Edgardo Mortara, who had been baptized by a Catholic servant. Despite an international outcry, Pius acted as a surrogate father to the child, who later became a priest. Italian Jews are nonplussed. "The beatification of Pius IX exalts a symbol that still represents a wound," says community leader Amos Luzzatto. David Kertzer, who wrote a book on the kidnapping, sees "a mixed message, asking for pardon [as the Pope did last week] and then beatifying Pius IX." Jesuit Giacomo Martina, author of a lengthy biography on Pius IX, might be expected to defend him, but even he has maintained a telling silence.

--By David Van Biema. Reported by Greg Burke/Vatican City

With reporting by Greg Burke/Vatican City