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Father Ambrosius Eszer, the Vatican official in charge of promoting Stein's cause, has no doubt that she "was killed to punish the Catholic Church." He argues that Teresa's beatification does not detract from her Jewish roots, and that "we're not denigrating anything." Indeed, the Vatican, sensitive to accusations that Rome stayed silent during the Nazi Holocaust, is eager to avoid disharmony with Jews. Two months ago, plans to establish a Carmelite convent within the Auschwitz camp, now a memorial, were dropped. The church was disturbed by criticism that such a presence was inappropriate on a site that is sacred to Jews.
Even Edith Stein's family disagrees about her beatification. Her nephew Ernst Biberstein, 64, a microbiologist at the University of California at Davis, says he will not attend the ceremony. But another nephew, Gerhard Stein, 85, of Sharon, Pa., will be there. He calls Rome's recognition "a spiritual monument to all those killed by the Nazis, a monument to all that suffering."