Krakow, Poland, Jan 29, 2010 / 18:11 pm
Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Tadeusz Pieronek of Sosnoviec, Poland, has roundly denied having referred to the Holocaust as “a Jewish invention.” Regarding what he called “a complete misunderstanding,” he explained that the Italian website “Pontifex,” which quoted him for an article this week, clearly failed to capture his meaning.
“I was referring to the fact that the Jews have created the term ‘Shoah’ to define the tragedy that didn’t have a precedent in history,” specified Bishop Pieronek to ANSA news agency. “The journalist interpreted my words as if I had been saying that the Jews had invented the Shoah.”
The bishop asked increduously, “How could I have said something so absurd?”
“Everyone who knows me knows my position on the crimes of the Nazis and on the horror of what happened,” added the 75-year-old former spokesman of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, who has previously publicly condemned anti-Semitism.