Catholic Radio Station Apologizes For Anti-Semitism

Radio Maryja, a Polish radio station which broadcasts primarily to the nation's Roman Catholics, has apologized for broadcasting anti-Semitic remarks, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported.

The station's Reverend Tadeusz Rydzyk apologized for broadcasting the views of one of its commentators, who suggested that Jews made a good business out of claiming compensation payments for being victims of the Holocaust, after the Vatican expressed deep concern that the Catholic station was transmitting anti-Semitic views. Warsaw's papal representative, Monsignor Jozef Kowalczyk, wrote to Polish bishops urging them to put pressure on Radio Maryja to withdraw the comment and apologize.

In a broadcast on March 27, one of the station's commentators, Stanislaw Michalkiewicz, accused Jews of "trying to force our government to pay extortion money disguised as 'compensation payments'" for property confiscated by the Nazis during and after World War II, the BBC reported.

In a broadcast on Wednesday, Rev Rydzyk told listeners, "We're sorry if anyone felt offended by the words of one of Poland's better known columnists."