Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek of Cracow, one of Poland’s most prominent religious figures, said on Monday that he was misrepresented in an Italian Catholic news web site interview in which he was quoted as saying that the Holocaust was a "Jewish invention", according to the PAP Polish news agency. Bishop Pieronek told the Pontifex.Roma web site on Sunday, “Seeing the photographs of the [Gaza] wall we can conclude that a colossal injustice has been committed against the Palestinians, who are treated like animals and their rights are being violated." He continued. “Let them establish [the international lobby] a Memorial Day for them also.”

Pieronek says the interview printed on the Italian web site bares little resemblance to the one that he gave the journalist. He explained, “I have not seen the printed text of the interview, which I have given but have not authorized. But if I were to believe in what I hear from the media then it looks as though the final form of the interview was the idea of the journalist that I had spoken to, as the text is full of vague statements."