Vatican demands Holocaust denier publicly recant

The Vatican yesterday ordered a traditionalist bishop who denies the Holocaust to publicly recant his views if he wants to serve as a prelate in the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican said Pope Benedict was not aware of Bishop Richard Williamson's denial of the Holocaust when the Pontiff lifted excommunications on him and three other traditionalist bishops last month.

It also said the traditionalist movement the bishop belongs to must accept all teachings of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council, which urged respect for Judaism and other religions, as well as all the teachings of Popes since 1958.

"Bishop Williamson, in order to be admitted to the episcopal functions of the Church, must in an absolutely unequivocal and public way distance himself from his positions regarding the Shoah," a Vatican statement said, using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust.

His views on the Holocaust were "absolutely unacceptable and firmly rejected by the Holy Father," it said.

On January 24, Pope Benedict lifted the excommunications of the four to try to heal a 20-year-old schism that began when they were thrown out of the Church for being ordained without the permission of Pope John Paul II.

Among those who condemned Bishop Williamson and the Pope's decision were Holocaust survivors, progressive Catholics, members of the US Congress, Israel's Chief Rabbinate, German Jewish leaders and Jewish writer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.

Bishop Williamson told Swedish television in an interview broadcast on January 21: "I believe there were no gas chambers". He said no more than 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, rather than the six million accepted by mainstream historians.

Bishop Williamson later apologised to the Pope "for the unnecessary distress" he caused him but has not yet recanted.

Jewish leaders welcomed the Vatican statement but said more was needed.

"(This) was the necessary step we have asked for in order to defuse the moral crisis caused by his readmission to the Church," said Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants.

"The process can now begin of healing the deep wound that this crisis caused to the Catholic-Jewish dialogue," he said.

Germany's Central Council of Jews said the Vatican's move was a positive signal and a reaction to Chancellor Angela Merkel's demand for clarification, adding it could lead to a resumption of ties with the Catholic Church.

The Council had said last week it was breaking off contact with the church over the controversy.