Pope Benedict XVI has written to senior clergy to acknowledge "mistakes" in the lifting of the excommunication of a bishop who has denied the Holocaust.
The Pope reportedly says in the letter that the move had been badly explained and the Vatican had not checked the bishop's background thoroughly enough.
But he also laments the "vehemence" of those who disagreed with the decision.
The Vatican has asked the British bishop, Richard Williamson, to recant his views, but he has not done so.
Bishop Williamson disputed that six million Jews had died at the hands of the Nazis during World War II, and claimed that none had died in gas chambers.
The bishop said last month that if he had known the full harm his comments would cause, he would not have made them.
the Vatican immediately rejected the apology and told him to "unequivocally and publicly" withdraw his remarks.
The case led to protests from Holocaust survivors, world Jewish leaders and groups, as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The four bishops have been asked by the Vatican to recognise the authority of the Pope and the Second Vatican Council and talks are planned to seek to resolve the "open questions" in the Church's relationship with the Society of St Pius X.
Bishop Williamson returned to the UK last month after he was asked to leave Argentina, where he had been the head of a seminary
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