Israel expects pope to visit in May

Pope Benedict XVI will visit Israel in May, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Sunday. Benedict’s visit to the region has been the subject of speculation for months, but Olmert’s statement at the beginning of his weekly Cabinet meeting was the first official confirmation. The pope mentioned Thursday that he was “preparing to visit Israel,” but the Vatican has not officially said when the trip will take place.

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Holocaust-denying bishop loses court battle

A German court Monday refused to intervene in the case of Bishop Richard Williamson, who is facing prosecution for denying the Holocaust — a crime in Germany. Williamson asked the court to order Swedish Public Television to restrict broadcast of an interview in which he doubts the existence of Nazi gas chambers and a systematic Nazi plan to annihilate European Jewry

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Merkel phones pope over Holocaust denier

German Chancellor Angela Merkel phoned Pope Benedict XVI Sunday over a Holocaust denier whom the pope welcomed back into the Roman Catholic Church last month. Neither side seems to have shifted its position over Bishop Richard Williamson, who, shortly before the pope lifted his excommunication, denied the Nazis had systematically murdered six million Jews during World War II

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