The president of Germany's Central Council of Jews, Charlotte Knobloch, accepted Friday an invitation to meet with the head of the German Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch.The general secretary of the Jewish umbrella organization, Stephan Kramer, confirmed that a meeting would take place "in the not too distant future."
He added that the disagreements over the re-admission to the church of four bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) were a matter between them and the Vatican, and did not affect their relationship to the German Bishops' Conference.
Last month, Pope Benedict XVI's attempt to heal a historic rift with the ultra-conservative SSPX brotherhood caused a huge uproar when an interview was aired in which Richard Williamson, one of four SSPX bishops, said "historical evidence" was against deliberate Nazi extermination of Jews in gas chambers.
Zollitsch criticized Thursday Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos and the decision process that led to the re-admission of the SSPX bishops.
Speaking in an interview with Germany's ZDF television, the archbishop said the pope had been left to walk into a trap, since Hoyos and his staff should have checked "what kind of people" the four bishops were.
The fact that this had not happened and Benedict had not been informed, he said, was "a clear failure."
Zollitsch stressed that the four bishops would need to recognize the Second Vatican Council, which liberalized the Catholic Church, before the pope's original re-admission could take effect.
He said, however, that he thought it were more likely that the SSPX would ultimately split from the Catholic Church.
Kramer said it remained to be seen whether dialogue between the Central Council of Jews and the Bishops' Conference could lead to developments in the rift with the Vatican.
Benedict announced Friday that he planned to visit Germany, for the third time during his papacy, to attend celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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(Source: TET)