VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict decided to rehabilitate a bishop who denies the Holocaust with little consultation inside the Vatican, where some prelates fear his action will have a lasting impact on relations with Jews.
The move outraged Jews and progressive Catholics, and Church sources said it reflected Benedict's autocratic style in running the 1.1 billion-member Church, unlike his predecessor John Paul II who consulted widely.
"The pope obviously did not tell the people he knew would likely oppose it," said one Church source.
British-born Richard Williamson, one of four traditionalist bishops whose excommunications were lifted on Saturday, has made statements denying the full extent of the Holocaust of European Jews as accepted by mainstream historians.
Williamson told Swedish television: "I believe there were no gas chambers" and no more than 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, instead of 6 million.
"...only a handful of people knew this was coming," the source said, talking on condition of anonymity.
It was clear that Vatican spokesmen were not ready for the storm of criticism that followed Williamson's reinstatement. Some Jews said it could wipe out half a century of dialogue.
"The Vatican's damage control machine has gone into high gear," said one source. "It recalls the post-Regensburg period," he added, referring the controversial 2006 papal speech which Muslims saw as an insult to their religion.
Source: Reuters