A traditionalist bishop who was recently rehabilitated by Pope Benedict XVI but continues to deny the Holocaust should recant his ''nonsense'' as soon as possible, the head of his order told a German weekly on Wednesday.
Bishop Bernard Fellay, who heads the Society of Saint Pius X told Der Spiegel he had asked British bishop Richard Williamson to ''correct this nonsense'' after the polemics sparked by the lifting of his excommunication last month.
Williamson recently reiterated his belief that there were no gas chambers and that only 300,000 Jews died in the Holocaust, not six million.
On Monday, after refusing Benedict's call for a retraction, he was removed from his position as head of a seminary in Argentina.
Benedict's decision to readmit Williamson and three other bishops from the ultratraditionalist group that split with Rome over the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council has created tension within the Church and in Catholic-Jewish relations.
His rehabilitation has been criticised by the Israeli government and Holocaust survivors and spurred German Chancellor Angela Merkel to ask the Vatican for an explanation.
Fellay, who has already apologised to the pope for the problems Williamson's stance has created, admitted that ''in this case we have not been as tough as we ought to have been''.
''After seeing his interview, I immediately asked him to correct this nonsense...the sooner, the better''.
Williamson is a man of ''learning and culture'' so his stance is all that more hard to fathom, Fellay said.
The Vatican has stressed that Benedict was unaware of Williamson's stance when he lifted his excommunication, and called on the bishop to retract.
It said the bishop's remarks were ''absolutely unacceptable and firmly refuted by the Holy Father''.
''Bishop Williamson must distance himself in an unequivocal and public manner from his comments regarding the Holocaust, which were unknown by the Holy Father at the time of (Williamson's) rehabilitation,'' said a note issued by the Vatican earlier this month.
Without this retraction, the bishop will not be admitted ''to the episcopal functions of the church'', the Vatican said, explaining that the rehabilitation did not mean the bishop could act as a minister within the Church.
