THE FRENCH Catholic hierarchy has condemned the country's most popular priest, Abbe Pierre, for supporting a "revisionist" historian who claims that Nazi crimes against the Jews have been exaggerated.
The bishops' statement followed a weekend interview in which the 83 year old priest, France's champion of the homeless, again defended the historian, Roger Garaudy, despite the latter being placed under investigation by a Paris court for "denying crimes against humanity". The priest and the former communist intellectual, now a Muslim, have been close friends for nearly 50 years.
The statement was issued in the name of the Bishop of Perigueux, Monsignor Gaston Poulain, who is president of the bishops' committee in charge of relations with the Jews.
It deplored the "very serious confusion and scandal" caused by Abbe Pierre's intervention. "The authority which he has gained by his words and his acts involves the French church in the eyes of public opinion. It cannot accept being compromised in this way."
The statement went on "Is it not immoral to lend a platform to authors who reject the firmest conclusions of the international scientific community using the challenging principles and methods of historical research?"
The bishops said the extermination of the Jews was "an undisputed fact" and "a matter of genocide ... The gas chambers existed and the Nazis used a coded language to hide their heinous crime.
However, Abbe Pierre defended himself issuing a statement that said he had never sought to falsify the Jewish genocide.
"I firmly condemn all those who for various reasons seek in whatever way to deny, falsify, or portray as unimportant the Shoah, which will always remain an indelible mark of shame in the history of our continent," his statement said.
On Monday the International League against Racism and Anti Semitism (LICRA) said it was "saddened" by the curate's views and called on Abbe Pierre to quit the group.
Mr Henri Hadjendberg, head of the French Jewish umbrella group CRIF, said Abbe Pierre was "expressing theories of an outdated Christian anti Judaism."