VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Rome's chief rabbi has asked the Vatican to halt reported plans by Pope Benedict XVI to rehabilitate an ultraconservative bishop who denies the Holocaust.
Richard Williamson says in a Swedish state TV interview that historical evidence "is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed."
Rabbi Ricardo Di Segni says it is "inconceivable" the pope didn't know Williamson's views.
Two newspapers reported Thursday that Benedict will lift the excommunications of Williamson and three other bishops consecrated by the late French ultraconservative Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Lefebvre had rebelled against modernizing church reforms of the 1960s. Those who followed him were expelled. The Vatican declined comment.
(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWACH