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World Jewish News
Pope tells Jewish leaders Holocaust denial is 'intolerable'
12.02.2009
Pope Benedict XVI, trying to defuse a controversy over his rehabilitation of a bishop who denies the Holocaust, told Jewish leaders on Thursday that "any denial or minimization of this terrible crime is intolerable."
The pope made the comments in his first meeting with Jews since the controversy over traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson began in late January. The Vatican had decided to lift Williamson's excommunication, despite the bishop's denial of the full extent of the Holocaust and statement that there were no gas chambers.
"The hatred and contempt for men, women and children that was manifested in the Shoah [Holocaust] was a crime against humanity. This should be clear to everyone, especially to those standing in the tradition of the Holy Scriptures," the pope told a group of about 60 Jewish leaders visiting the Vatican.
The German pope recalled his own visit to the death camp at Auschwitz in 2006 and, in some of the strongest words he has ever spoken about the Holocaust and relations with Jews, said:
"It is my 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."
He repeated the prayer that the late Pope John Paul used when he visited Jerusalem's Western Wall in 2000 and asked forgiveness from Jews for Christians who had persecuted them in past centuries. "I now make his prayer my own," he added in his own words.
"This terrible chapter in our history [the Holocaust] must never be forgotten," the Pope told the Jewish delegation from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, adding that he hoped relations between Catholics and Jews can now grow stronger.
The pope also confirmed that he was planning to visit Israel. Vatican sources say the trip is expected for May.
Catholic-Jewish relations have been extremely tense since January 24, when Benedict readmitted four renegade traditionalist bishops to the Catholic faith in an attempt to heal a schism that began in 1988 when they were ordained without Vatican permission.
The Jewish delegation to the Vatican was led by New York Rabbi Arthur Schneier, a Holocaust survivor.
In his address to the pope, Schneier, whose synagogue is to host the pontiff during a visit to New York in April, said:
"As a Holocaust survivor, these have been painful and difficult days, when confronted with Holocaust-denial by no less than a bishop of the Society of St Pius X."
"Victims of the Holocaust have not given us the right to forgive the perpetrators nor the Holocaust deniers. Thank you for understanding our pain and anguish."
Both the pope and Schneier expressed the hope that dialogue between Catholics and Jews could emerge from the crisis even stronger.
Before Thursday's meeting Schneier said he wanted to thank Benedict for his commitment to strong Catholic-Jewish ties, calling the controversy over Williamson was a temporary setback to relations between the two religions.
Williamson told Swedish television in an interview broadcast on January 21: "I believe there were no gas chambers." He also said no more than 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps during World War II.
The Vatican says Benedict did not know about the views of Bishop Williamson when he agreed to lift his excommunication and that of three other ultraconservative bishops last month.
However, the Vatican move has drawn much criticism from the international Jewish community and from world leaders.
Germany's Central Council of Jews is breaking off contact with the Catholic Church, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted that Pope Benedict make a stronger statement against Holocaust denial.
Williamson has apologized to the German-born pope for having stirred controversy, but he has not repudiated his comments.
Источник: Haaretz
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