Pope Criticises Holocaust Denial at Meeting With Us Jews

Pope Benedict XVI met American Jewish leaders yesterday in an attempt to defuse the outrage at his decision to lift the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying British bishop.

Speaking in the Vatican, he said the Nazis' attempt to wipe out European Jewry was a "crime against God" and that "any denial or minimisation" of it was "intolerable", especially from a cleric. The pope used the occasion to confirm a visit to Israel which is expected to be in May.

Jewish-Catholic relations had been in turmoil since the end of January when it emerged that one of four ultra-conservative bishops whose excommunication had been lifted by the pope had given an interview in which he cast doubt on the historical evidence for the Holocaust.

Bishop Richard Williamson, of the breakaway Society of St Pius X (SSPX), claimed there had been no gas chambers and that the number of deaths was 300,000 rather than 6 million.

In perhaps his strongest statement so far on the Holocaust, the pope said it was his "fervent prayer that the memory of this appalling crime will strengthen our determination to heal the wounds that for too long have sullied relations between Christians and Jews".

The affair cast a shadow over the American Jewish leaders' visit to Rome. "We travelled here with heavy hearts," said Rabbi Arthur Schneier, a survivor of the Budapest ghetto who hosted the pope at his New York synagogue last year. "But we are leaving with renewed hope of stronger bonds between Catholics and Jews."

A similar note was sounded by Rabbi David Rosen, president of the International Jewish Committee for Inter-religious Consultations. "In the end," he said, "we have strengthened our relations."

Talks have yet to be concluded between the Vatican and the traditionalist rebels on the future status of the SSPX in the Catholic church. Rabbi Rosen said he expected the Vatican to be "much more rigorous on the admission of the [SSPX]".

Some Catholic commentators have argued that the row has already forced the traditionalist renegades to isolate Williamson and the other Holocaust deniers. On January 27, the leader of the SSPX, Bernard Fellay, apologised to the pope and "all people of good will" (a phrase sometimes used by Roman Catholics to refer to non-Christians). He added that Bishop Williamson's comments did not reflect the attitude of his community.