BERLIN - The German chancellor has called the pope after she demanded he clarify the Vatican's stance on the Holocaust.
The Vatican has lifted the excommunication of a bishop who denies six million Jews were killed.
A statement from Pope Benedict says Chancellor Angela Merkel initiated the conversation and it was characterized by concern about the perpetual warning of the Shoah for humanity.
The Vatican has lifted the excommunication of traditionalist British Bishop Richard Williamson who has said he doesn't believe any Jews were gassed during the Holocaust.
A day later, the Vatican demanded that Williamson recant his denial of the Holocaust before he can be admitted into the Roman Catholic Church as a bishop.
Merkel says she welcomes that stance.
The pope's action revived strains in relations between the Vatican and Jews.
Jewish groups have previously criticized Pope Benedict's decision to restore what they see as an offensive prayer for the conversion of Jews in Easter Week services of the old Latin Mass.
Some Jews accuse Second World War Pope Pius XII of not speaking out to try to prevent the Holocaust.
Israeli officials recently took offence when a senior cardinal said Gaza under the Israeli offensive seemed like a "big concentration camp."
Williamson is one of four bishops from the ultraconservative Society of St. Pius X whose excommunication was lifted by the Vatican last month.
He has apologized to the pope for having stirred controversy, but has not repudiated his comments, in which he also said only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews were killed during the Second World War.
