Thursday was very busy for the Vatican, trying to distance itself from a brief meeting this week between Pope Benedict XVI and the Polish priest who has been accused of making anti-Semitic Statements.

A spokes person for the Vatican said in one brief sentence that the meeting consisted only of a “kiss of the hand” and that it did not “imply any change in the well known position of the Vatican and the relations between Catholics and Jews”.

Jewish groups around the world showed the anger against the pope’s meeting with the Reverend Tadeusz Rydzyk who is the head of Radio Maryja.
Radio Maryja is a Polish radio station that has angered Jews and the Vatican for being anti-Semitic.
Rydzyk in the past has released to a journalism student a recorded speech, in which he accused Jews of being greedy and the Polish government trying to accommodate them too much. He apologized after the tape was released a month later. Rydzyk is not the only priest having issues with Jewish community.
This week, the Italian Catholic Church also came under a fire after a priest tied to the nation’s political right. The Reverend Pierino Gelmini, blamed unspecified “Jewish radical-chic” groups for recent charges that he sexually abused several clients at a drug treatment center he runs.

An anger followed by a controversy appeared after the latest issue of a polish daily newspaper with photographs of the meeting, saying the pope has blessed Radio Maryja and its work.

The Vatican denies the allegations, saying that the pope had merely greeted several pilgrims at the audience. Rydzyk was among them, and their meeting was without a special significance.

The European Jewish Congress released a statement in which they have welcomed the pope’s affirmation “…. Relations between Catholics and Jews will remain in the future as they have been established over the past few decades. … Nevertheless we hope to see the Vatican strongly condemn the anti-Semitism that is still spread today by Radio Maryja…”