A bishop whose recent rehabilitation by Pope Benedict XVI provoked global outrage has apologized for remarks in which he denied the Holocaust, a Catholic news agency reported on Thursday.

Some outside observers were not convinced by Bishop Williamson’s statement. “He does everything except confront the central issue of this whole crisis,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. “Has he changed his mind about the Holocaust, and does he believe that the Holocaust is a historic fact?”

A country in which many Nazi criminals sought refuge has expelled a Roman Catholic bishop who denies the scale of the Holocaust.

The Argentine government last week gave the bishop 10 days to leave the country or be expelled.

The government cited irregularities in his immigration application and condemned his remarks as ‘deeply offensive to Argentine society, the Jewish people and humanity.’