Elie Wiesel accuses Pius XII of Holocaust silence

Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, in a major speech to Italy's parliament, attacked wartime Pope Pius XII on Wednesday for his "silence" during the Nazis' mass killings of Jews. Wiesel, an Auschwitz and Buchenwald survivor, gave the emotional speech on World Holocaust Remembrance Day.  

"Whether at the lowest level of politics or the highest level of spirituality, silence never helps the victims. Silence always helps the aggressor," Wiesel said. A source in Wiesel's entourage later told Reuters the words "highest level of spirituality" were a reference to Pius, who headed the Roman Catholic Church from 1939 to 1958. (Reuters)