Despite attempts by the ultra-traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) to repair the damage to Catholic-Jewish relations caused by the "Holocaust denial" row, another member of the fraternity today defiantly denied that gas chambers were used by the Nazis to exterminate Jews.

Father Floriano Abrahamowicz, head of the society in Treviso in northeast Italy, told a local paper: "I know that gas chambers existed as a means to disinfect. But I cannot say for sure if they killed anyone, because I really haven't looked into it." His remarks were widely reported in the Italian media.

This week Israel's Chief Rabbinate broke off dialogue with the Vatican after Pope Benedict XVI lifted an excommunication on four SSPX bishops, including Richard Williamson, who has repeatedly denied that the Holocaust took place. The SSPX was created in 1970 by the renegade Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who rejected the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

At his weekly audience in Rome this week the Pope condemned the Nazi Holocaust "unequivocally", saying it must never be forgotten, and expressed his solidarity with "our Jewish brothers".

Bishop Williamson last week told Swedish TV he did not believe in the existence of gas chambers, saying "only" 200,000 to 300,000 Jews died in Nazi concentration camps ''and not one of them in a gas chamber''. Bishop Bernard Fellay, the head of the order, who was also re-instated, said that such views did not reflect those of the order and he had apologised to the Pope.

Despite this Father Abrahamowicz said that, "all this fuss over Monsignor Williamson's statements is being exploited against the Vatican. Williamson simply expressed his doubts. He did not deny the Holocaust, as the press has mistakenly said he did, he only gave a technical opinion on the gas chambers."

He added: "Had Monsignor Williamson denied the genocide of 1.2 million Armenians by the Turks I don't think the press would have reacted the same way."

Monsignor Andrea Bruno Mazzoccato, the Archbishop of Treviso, said any stand on the Holocaust which differed from the Pope's, "has no foundation and is unconnected to Christian thought and an elementary sense of humanity". He said the pontiff had rightly warned against ''the unpredictable power which evil can exert on the hearts of man".

Giancarlo Galan, the centre Right President of the Veneto region, which includes Treviso, said: "I don't know if we're dealing with plain ignorance, madness or some horrifying political choice, but if any priest denies the Holocaust, denies the existence of gas chambers, then he'd do well to change jobs."