Pope says his solidarity with Jews 'unquestioned'

Pope Benedict yesterday reaffirmed his "full and unquestionable solidarity with Jews" in an attempt to relieve tensions with Jews after a Catholic bishop denied the Holocaust.

Speaking at his Wednesday audience, the Pope said the attempt to exterminate the Jews in the Holocaust should remain a warning for all people.

Briton Richard Williamson, one of four traditionalist bishops whose excommunications were lifted last week, denies the full extent of the Holocaust of European Jews. He has said: "I believe there were no gas chambers." Bishop Williamson's comments caused a storm of criticism from Jews, who say it set back Catholic-Jewish dialogue by half a century.

Meanwhile, Elie Wiesel, the death camp survivor, author and Nobel Peace Prize winner said that the Pope has given credence to "the most vulgar aspect of anti-Semitism" by rehabilitating a Holocaust-denying bishop. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Mr Wiesel also said there was no way the Vatican could have not known about the bishop's past and it may have been done "intentionally".