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Rabbi urges action against reinstatement of British Bishop Williamson
A prominent Los Angeles Jewish leader criticized a Roman Catholic bishop today for apparently refuting facts about the Holocaust during a recent TV interview. KPCC's Patricia Nazario pulled part of the exchange off YouTube and offers this context.
Patricia Nazario: A couple of weeks ago on Swedish state TV, Bishop Richard Williamson reaffirmed his long-held belief that Nazis didn't kill millions of Jews in gas chambers during World War II.
Bishop Richard Williamson (in video): Between 2- and 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps. But not one of them by gassing in a gas chamber.
Nazario: During a news conference in Los Angeles, Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Museum of Tolerance denounced those comments. Hier said Pope Benedict XVI should have used his authority to reaffirm the church's condemnation of the Holocaust. He said the Pope's inaction has strained Jewish/Catholic relations.
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Rabbi Marvin Hier: The criticism worldwide from Jews around the world, including Israel, has been very, very strong.
Nazario: Bishop Williamson made his remarks last week, days before Pope Benedict reinstated him and three other bishops the church had ex-communicated. Rabbi Hier said he wants to urge Pope Benedict to do more than communicate through the Vatican's official channels.
Hier: "...Let me tell all the billion, two-hundred million Catholics in the world that every day Jews were gassed during the Holocaust." That's what's needed from the Pope at this time.
Nazario: Rabbi Hier spoke as the United Nations prepared to observe Holocaust Remembrance Day. The founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center lamented that as the nations of the world plan to commemorate the Holocaust, a Catholic bishop claims it didn't happen.
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