Rottenburg/Rome - A second German Catholic bishop Saturday raised unusual criticism of German Pope Benedict XVI for rehabilitating Holocaust denier Bishop Williamson, adding his objections to the pope's leading the church in an ultraconservative direction.

Bishop Gebhard Fuerst of Rottenburg-Stuttgart criticized as "totally unacceptable" remarks by Bishop Richard Williamson in recent weeks that there was no historical evidence for the Holocaust.

In a public declaration, Fuerst charged that Benedict's rehabilitation of Williamson had led to "external and internal alienation from the church on the part of many believers, to a betrayal of trust especially among Jewish sisters and brothers in their relationship to the church, and to a considerable disturbance in the Christian-Jewish dialogue."

To end a schism with ultraconservatives, Rome last week lifted its excommunication of four men who ran the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) outside the church for more than
20 years. British-born Williamson, who runs a seminary in Argentina, was one of them.

In related developments on Saturday, Israel's minister for religious affairs threatened to suspend relationships with the Vatican and the pope named an ultraconservative Austrian priest as bishop in Linz.

Earlier this week, Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, the Catholic bishop of the German city of Regensburg which is also the pope's home city, declared Williamson persona-non-grata in his district. Williamson has denied the Holocaust in recent weeks in Germany and Sweden.

Public prosecutors have opened an inquiry against Williamson over his remarks. Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany.

Bishop Fuerst called the pardoning of Williamson "a heavy burden for me as bishop and as spiritual pastor."

Fuerst charged that the rehabilitation of all four priests undermined the "precious" unity of the church, the upholding of which was among the "highest obligations of the pope and the bishops."

The four priests have defied changes made in the church after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) which, among other things, loosened strict adherence to Latin as the language of worship and started the ecumenical outreach to other Christian churches and other religions.

By denying the Council and being rehabilitated, the priests were threatening church unity, Fuerst said.

"The price of such denial is that many believers will innerly or externally turn away," Fuerst said.

"Without exception, the theology and pastorals of our diocese, for which I am responsible as bishop, are and remain the legacy of the Second Vatican Council and its central directives," Fuerst said. "The desire for real unity must come from cooperation. Whoever belongs to the church may not question the basic concepts of the Council."

Earlier Saturday, Israel's Minister for Religious Affairs, Yitzhak Cohen, threatened to suspend relationships with the Vatican following the pope's pardoning of Williamson, German news magazine Spiegel reported Saturday.

Cohen said he recommended "completely cutting off connections to a body in which Holocaust deniers and anti-Semites are members."

The timing of Benedict's pardon is considered particularly insensitive, as the announcement came just days before Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27.

The new Linz, Austria, bishop, Gerhard Wagner, has condemned the Harry Potter books and pronounced the destruction of five New Orleans clinics by Hurricane Katrina as God's punishment for their performance of abortions. (dpa)