In The News

February 4 - German Chancellor Calls on Pope to Publicly Reject Holocaust Denial

Article: Misc.

BERLIN � German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Pope Benedict XVI to make a "very clear" rejection of Holocaust denials after the Vatican's rehabilitation of a former bishop who questioned whether 6 million Jews were gassed by the Nazis.

Merkel's rare and public demand Tuesday came amid increasing outrage among Germany's Roman Catholic leaders over the German-born pope's decision to lift the excommunication of British-born Richard Williamson. Merkel said she "does not believe" there has been adequate clarification of the Vatican's position on the Holocaust amid the controversy.

Benedict last week expressed "full and indisputable solidarity" with Jews and warned against any denial of the horror of the Holocaust, but several leading German bishops have decried the decision and called for the rehabilitation to be revoked.

Merkel's stand was out of the ordinary, said Elan Steinberg, vice president of the New York-based American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants.

"When the German Chancellor admonishes a German-born Pope it is an extraordinary message," Steinberg said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

"Together with the expressions of outrage emanating from German and Austrian bishops, these developments have ironically strengthened relations between Germany and the world Jewish community."

The issue is particularly sensitive in Germany, where denial of the Holocaust is a crime and Roman Catholic leaders have worked hard to restore relations with the Jewish community.

As a young man in Germany, Benedict, then called Joseph Ratzinger, served briefly in the Hitler Youth corps