27 JULY 2002, Page 32

Massacre in Croatia

From Mr Benedict I3eresford

Sir: The words 'uncritical adulation' come to mind on reading John Laughland's interview with Father Gumpel about Pope Pius XII (Pius the hero', 20 July). It would have been helpful if Father Gumpel had been asked how Pius XII appears to have ignored what was going on in Croatia during the second world war, when Ante Pavelic, a Catholic dictator, was head of the much feared Ustase. It is estimated that 450,000 Jews, Serbs and Gypsies were massacred by the Ustase. All this happened in the Pope's own backyard without, as far as is known, a word of disapproval from the Vatican. Benedict Beresford

Liverpool