TREVISO, Italy, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- An Italian priest who belongs to a traditionalist Catholic group said Thursday the Holocaust never occurred.
The Rev. Floriano Abrahamowicz is a leader in the Catholic Society of Saint Pius X, ANSA, the Italian news agency, said. There was an outcry last week when the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI had lifted the excommunication of four bishops associated with the society, including an English Holocaust-denier.
''I know that gas chambers existed as a means to disinfect, but I cannot say for sure if they killed anyone because I really haven't looked into it,'' Abrahamowicz told the Tribuna di Treviso.
The Chief Rabbinate in Israel has threatened to break off ties with the Vatican because of the reinstatement of Bishop Richard Williamson. The pope, after the uproar began, described the Holocaust as a fact, saying he had seen the evidence with his own eyes at Auschwitz.
Bishop Bernard Fellay, the current head of the society, has ordered Williamson to be silent on the Holocaust. But Abrahamowicz defended Williamson, saying he believes 200,000 to 300,000 Jews were killed by the Nazis -- not 6 million, as historical records indicate.
