Pope Benedict XVI did not intend a "hostile act" toward Jews by placing wartime pontiff Pius XII -- accused of inaction over the Holocaust -- closer to sainthood, the Vatican said yesterday. Pius XII's new title of "venerable," decreed at the weekend, "should not in any way be read as a hostile act against the Jewish people," said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi. The honour reflects the late pontiff's piety and not his "historical importance," Fr. Lombardi said. The announcement on Saturday drew protests from prominent Jewish leaders including the founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who said elevating Pius XII, pictured, to sainthood would be "a great distortion of history." The Catholic Church argues that Pius XII, who was pope from 1939 to 1958, saved many Jews who were hidden away in religious institutions, and that his silence during the Holocaust was born out of a wish to avoid aggravating their situation.