The pope has acknowledged "mistakes" in the way the Vatican lifted the excommunication of four bishops from a breakaway group, including a prelate who had denied that Jews died in Nazi gas chambers.

The New York-based International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) has welcomed the Vatican's call for a Holocaust denying renegade bishop to disown his reported views.

An Israeli Jewish leader has welcomed Pope Benedict's support for a statement condemning Holocaust denial, but a German leader says the issue of the reinstatement of an anti-Semitic bishop is not resolved.

Catholic commentators have joined with Jewish leaders in criticising Pope Benedict XVI for bringing a Holocaust denying bishop back into the Church as part of a bid to heal a rift with a group of separatists.

Inciting racial and xenophobic hatred is now a crime across the European Union. But Britain's law is tougher and includes religion, Holocaust denial was not specified, though it is illegal in some countries.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the world's 77 million Anglicans, has denounced the political manipulation of the Nazi Holocaust for current political ends, and has called for a renewed struggle against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms.

As a record 5,300 events take place across Britain this weekend to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2007, organisers and supporters are warning about complacency over whether “it could happen again”.

United Nations member states are being urged this week to support the draft UN General Assembly resolution condemning Holocaust denial. A vote is expected on Friday 26 January 2007. The move is being supported by human rights and faith groups, as well as the American Jewish Congress.