A prominent Israeli rabbi on Thursday thanked Pope Benedict XVI for "clearly" condemning Holocaust denial after controversy over a Catholic bishop who denies Jews were killed in gas chambers."We thank the Holy See for making this renewal possible by the clear and unequivocal statements deploring Holocaust denial," Shear-Yashuv Cohen, the Grand Rabbi of Haifa, said in a statement after his audience with the pope.
The meeting "marks a positive turning point in the renewal of the dialogue between us," he said.
The pope, for his part, said: "Because we recognize a common rich spiritual patrimony, a dialogue based on mutual understanding and respect is ... necessary and possible."
At a subsequent press conference Cohen said that meeting the pope "has been a very special experience, marking the end of a crisis."
"We couldn't expect more" from Benedict, he added.
Cohen's meeting with the pope had been planned for late January, but Israel's chief rabbinate angrily called it off, saying it could not participate "in the current state of affairs."
The reference was to the pope's decision a week earlier to lift the excommunication of breakaway Holocaust-denying Bishop Richard Williamson.
To make matters worse, the decision was "announced nearly on the day that the international community commemorates the Holocaust," rabbinate's director general Oded Wiener told AFP.
Benedict on February 12 said while meeting with leaders of the Conference of American Jewish Organisations that it was "intolerable" to deny the Holocaust.
"Any denial or minimisation of this terrible crime is intolerable and altogether unacceptable," he said.
The 81-year-old pontiff, who is to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories in May, wrote in a letter to Catholic bishops published Thursday that he regretted "mistakes" in the handling of the Williamson affair.
The pope suggested that the Vatican was unaware of Williamson's claims that no Jews were killed in Nazi gas chambers, and should have consulted the Internet before deciding to lift his excommunication.
The pope "implied to us that perhaps the steps that were taken (in the Williamson affair) would have been different if the information (about Williamson) had been known," Cohen confirmed.
In his letter to the bishops the pope "has been very clear," he added.
Referring to Benedict's planned visit to the Holy Land, Cohen said it is "important because (...) Jews, Christians and Muslims will (be able) to remember that they have common roots."
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(Source: YRCN)