Pope admits to mistake in lifting the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop

Pope Benedict XVI admits to mistake in lifting the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop.A letter has been sent to all Roman Catholic bishops apparently saying that insufficient checks were made beforehand and lessons will be learned. The Pope's decision in January caused a rift in Catholic-Jewish relations. The Vatican has asked the bishop, Richard Williamson, to recant his views, but he has not done so. Bishop Williamson has denied the existence of gas chambers and said only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews were killed by the Nazis. Church leaders said the Pope had not been aware when he lifted the excommunication that the bishop had voiced such views to a Swedish TV programme recorded last November. British bron Bishop Williamson, was one of four hardline conservative bishops to have their excommunications lifted.The move was a bid by the Pope to end a schism that began in 1988, when the four were ordained without Vatican permission.But it was then revealed that Bishop Williamson had aired his denial that six million Jews had died in the Holocaust in an interview for a Swedish television programme last November. The case led to protests from Holocaust survivors, world Jewish leaders and Jewish groups, as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Pope's letter comes shortly after confirmation that he will visit Israel in May. Bishop Williamson returned to Britain last month after he was asked to leave Argentina, where he had been the head of a seminary.
BBC News