New York, NY, June 19, 1996...Calling the repeated anti-Semitic remarks of Abbe Pierre "insulting to both Jews and Catholics," the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) urged Catholic authorities to take action against the French priest. In a recent interview published this week in a Swiss newspaper, Abbe Pierre diminished the murdering of Jews by Nazis, compared the acts of ancient Israelites to the Holocaust and referred to Zionism as an American-based worldwide plot.

In a letter to His Eminence Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger of the Archdiocese of Paris, ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman wrote, "According to Pope John Paul II, anti-Semitism is a sin," and he questioned whether "Abbe Pierre is not in a state of sin that requires episcopal discipline and appropriate penalty."

Referring to Abbe Pierre's lifetime of service to the disadvantaged, Mr. Foxman wrote that now "it is very difficult for us to think of Abbe Pierre as the compassionate priest who helped so many people in France, feeding and clothing the homeless," and suggested the Church take disciplinary action in view of this latest in a series of continuing, insidious and prejudiced remarks.

Several months ago, Abbe Pierre stirred up controversy when he endorsed a book denying the Holocaust, entitled The Founding Myths of Israeli Policy, by his longtime friend, Roger Garaudy.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.