ROME (RNS) The Vatican has reprimanded a high ranking Catholic priest for suggesting that the sainthood of controversial wartime Pope Pius XII has been put on ice to avoid harming relations with Judaism.

The Rev. Peter Gumpel, the Vatican’s chief official investigating Pius’ sainthood cause, was effectively told to back off after complaining that Pope Benedict XVI was being swayed by pressure from Jewish groups.

“If the pope thinks that study and reflection on Pius XII’s cause should be further extended, his position must be respected without interference or unjustified and inopportune declarations,” read an unusually strongly worded statement from the Vatican press office.

Some Jewish groups and historians say Pius did not do enough to stop the Nazis’ murder of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust. The Vatican rejects the claim, arguing he did more to help the Jews with quiet diplomacy than would have been possible via confrontation.

Gumpel, a German Jesuit, suggested the stall was caused by Jewish groups’ requests for the sainthood procedure to be stopped until the Vatican fully opens its wartime archives.

“Representatives of Jewish groups told (the pope) loudly and clearly that if he did anything in favor of Pope Pius, relations between the Catholic Church and Jews would be definitively and permanently compromised,” Gumpel was quoted as saying by ANSA news agency.

The Vatican has temporarily suspended Pius’ case after a major step forward, when a Vatican department voted in 2007 in favor of a decree recognizing his “heroic virtues.”

The decree must be approved, and a miracle credited to Pius’ intercession, before he can be beatified. An additional miracle would be needed for canonization.

Rome’s chief rabbi, Riccardo De Segni, said he does not think Jewish opposition is stopping Pius from reaching sainthood.

“If it does not happen, I doubt it is the responsibility of the Jewish associations that have expressed reservations,” De Segni told the Rome newspaper Il Messaggero.