VATICAN CITY - Israel's ambassador to the Vatican has backed off his praise of Pope Pius XII, the World War II-era pope blamed by some Jews for having failed to speak out enough against the Holocaust.

Ambassador Mordechay Levy said in a statement Sunday that his personal judgment had been "premature."

Levy made headlines last week when he praised the pope and the Catholic Church in general for taking in Roman Jews during the Nazi occupation of the Italian capital. The Vatican newspaper ran his speech on the front page, giving the brief but significant remarks high visibility.

But some Jewish groups balked, saying Levy's comments were morally wrong and historically inaccurate.

Pope Benedict XVI is keen to see Pius beatified, the first step to sainthood.