Vatican criticises Iran Holocaust conference

VATICAN CITY, Dec 12 (Reuters) The Vatican today criticised a conference in Iran debating the Holocaust, saying millions of Jews were killed in the ''immense tragedy'' for all humanity.

The statement said the Holocaust must remain forever a warning to all people to respect the rights of others.

''The last century saw an attempt to exterminate the Jewish people, which led to the killing of millions of Jews of all social categories merely because of the fact that they belonged to that people,'' the statement said.

It used the Hebrew word for the Holocaust, ''Shoah,'' and expressed ''great compassion'' for what happened to the Jews during World War Two.

''The Shoah was an immense tragedy before which one cannot remain indifferent,'' it said.

Iran is staging a conference to debate the Holocaust and question whether Nazi Germany used gas chambers, prompting charges that it was encouraging the denial of the killing of six million Jews during World War Two.

REUTERS SHB RN2002