Pope Benedict XVI told American Jewish leaders Thursday that he plans to visit Israel in May, coupling the long-awaited announcement with his strongest condemnation of Holocaust denial. The 81-year-old pope assured the group that the Catholic Church was “profoundly and irrevocably committed to reject all anti-Semitism,” helping to ease Jewish furor that followed the pope’s reinstatement of an ultraconservative bishop who questioned the extent of the Holocaust.
The trip, talked about since the start of the German pope’s papacy in 2005, has been up in the air for some time due to problems raised by both sides. The latest jolt came when Benedict last month lifted the excommunications of four ultraconservative bishops – one of whom denied that Jews were gassed by the Nazis during World War II.
“We came here with heavy hearts because of recent events, but we came away pleased and honored by the words of His Holiness,” Malcolm Hoenlein, vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told reporters.
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