We hear in this Sunday's psalm that "the Lord rebuilds Jerusalem." In an effort to rebuild relations with the Jewish community that were damaged last week, the Vatican on Wednesday issued a statement demanding that a prelate who denied the Holocaust recant his positions before being fully admitted as a bishop into the Roman Catholic Church.

The statement also said Pope Benedict XVI had not known about Bishop Richard Williamson's views when he agreed to lift his excommunication and that of three other traditionalist bishops.

The Vatican's Secretariat of State issued the statement a day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in an unprecedented move, strongly urged the German-born pope to make a clearer rejection of Holocaust denials, saying there had not been adequate clarification from the Catholic Church.

The Holy See on January 24 announced the rehabilitation of four bishops excommunicated in 1988 after being consecrated without papal consent [see the February 1 issue of this Preaching in Light of the News]. The bishops had been consecrated by the late traditionalist Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who in 1969 founded the Society of St. Pius X opposed to the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council, including its outreach to Jews.

Just days before his excommunication was lifted, Williamson was shown on Swedish state television saying historical evidence "is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed" during World War II.

Williamson has since apologized to the pope for having stirred controversy, but he did not repudiate his comments, in which he also said only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews were killed during World War II and none were gassed.

Though the Vatican quickly said it did not share Williamson's views when the controversy erupted, Jewish groups voiced outrage at his rehabilitation and demanded stronger action be taken in order to restore relations.

"This was the sign the Jewish world has been waiting for," said Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, after Wednesday's Vatican statement.

Earlier, Cardinal Walter Kasper, in charge of ecumenical relations for the Holy See, admitted different parts of the Vatican administration had not talked to each other enough and failed to check for potential problems.

Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, thanked Merkel for her "righteous comments" and said the process to heal the "deep wound that this crisis caused to the Catholic-Jewish dialogue" could now begin.

Source: Articles by BBC News and Nicole Winfield for the Associated Press.