Pope 'pained' by criticism
POPE Benedict has written an "anguished" letter to Church leaders admitting that the case of a Holocaust-denying bishop was mishandled and warning the Church risked "devouring itself" with internal squabbles.
In the letter, which the Vatican will release today, the Pope also says he was pained by Catholics' criticism of him.
In January he lifted the excommunication of the British-born bishop, Richard Williamson, to try to heal a 20-year-old schism that began when he was thrown out of the Church for being ordained without Vatican permission.
Mr Williamson had said in an interview that he believed there were no gas chambers and that no more than 300,000 Jews died in Nazi concentration camps.
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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