The Pope speaks Feb. 12 at the Vatican with a delegation of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. (CNS/Reuters)

It is a Christian spiritual axiom that out of every evil, God can create a greater good.

According to Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican’s spokesman, the working of that principle can be seen in the aftermath of the controversy that erupted last month when Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications of four bishops belonging to the Society of St. Pius X.

The Pope, and Vatican officials who failed to advise the Holy Father about the Holocaust-denying history of SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson, have come under withering criticism in the secular media for lifting Bishop Williamson’s excommunication.

But speaking yesterday with some Spanish communicators, Father Lombardi stressed that the controversy has actually had a positive effect on relations between the Church and Jewish leaders, Zenit reported Feb. 16.

After they realized that media claims that the lifting of the excommunications reflects an anti-Semitic bias within the Church are completely unfounded, Jewish leaders have responded positively, the Vatican spokesman said.

Father Lombardi cited as evidence last week’s Vatican meeting between the Holy Father and a group of Jewish leaders from the United States.

“I spoke with them and especially with Rabbi Rosen, who is the leader of the Jewish delegation that participates in interreligious dialogue with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity,” he said. “Not only had they understood that the position of the Pope had always been completely against negations of the Holocaust,” but this turmoil had confirmed “his warmth and personal affection for the Jewish people.”

The SSPX controversy, Father Lombardi said, “could also imply a new step forward between Judaism and Christianity, if it is lived positively.”