Benedict XVI halts beatification of anti-Semitic priest

Pope Benedict XVI has temporarily blocked the beatification of a French priest and appointed a commission to investigate the priest's anti-Semitic writings, drawing praise from Jewish leaders who called it a sign of the new Pope's sensitivity to other religions. Last December, Pope John Paul II announced plans to beatify Father Leon Dehon. The ceremony would have been a major step toward sainthood for Dehon, who lived from 1843 to 1925 and founded the Priests of the Sacred Heart, a religious order that today has nearly 2,400 members world-wide. In February, a French historian drew attention to seven controversial texts by Dehon, one of them stating that Jews were "thirsty for gold" and that "lust for money is a racial instinct in them. Dehon called the Talmud "a manual for the bandit, the corrupter, the social destroyer;" and he recommended several measures later adopted by the Nazis, including that Jews wear special markings, live in ghettos and be excluded from land ownership, judgeships and teaching positions.