Israeli chief rabbinate cuts Vatican ties over bishop

JERUSALEM - Israel's chief rabbinate severed ties yesterday with the Vatican to protest a papal decision to reinstate a bishop who publicly denied that six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

The Jewish state's highest religious authority sent a letter to the Holy See expressing "sorrow and pain" at the decision by Pope Benedict XVI.

"It will be very difficult for the chief rabbinate of Israel to continue its dialogue with the Vatican as before," it said. Chief rabbis of both the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews were parties to the letter.

The rabbinate also canceled a March meeting with the Vatican. The rabbinate and Israeli government have separate ties with the Vatican; yesterday's move does not affect state relations.

The pope, faced with an uproar over the bishop, said yesterday that he felt "full and indisputable solidarity" with Jews and warned against any denial of the full horror of the Nazi genocide. The remarks were his first public comments on the controversy since it erupted Saturday.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the church hoped that in light of the pope's words, "the difficulties expressed by the Israeli Rabbinate can be subjected to further and deeper reflection." He expressed hope that dialogue between the two parties could continue "fruitfully and serenely."

Oded Weiner, director general of the chief rabbinate's office, called the pope's remarks "a big step toward reconciliation."

With his comments, the pope reached out to Jews angered by his decision to rehabilitate Richard Williamson, a British bishop who told Swedish TV that evidence "is hugely against six million Jews being deliberately gassed."

Williamson and three other bishops were excommunicated 20 years ago after they were consecrated by an ultraconservative archbishop without papal consent - a move that the Vatican at the time called an act of schism.

Benedict said yesterday that he had lifted the excommunication because the bishops had "repeatedly shown their deep suffering over the situation."