Vatican: Williamson's comments are unacceptable, anti-Semitic

From the Associated Press:

The Vatican said Monday that comments by a recently rehabilitated bishop that no Jews were gassed during the Holocaust were unacceptable and violate Church teaching.

In a front-page article, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano reaffirmed that Pope Benedict XVI deplored all forms of anti-Semitism and that all Roman Catholics must do the same.

The article was issued amid an outcry from Jewish groups that Benedict last week lifted the excommunication of a traditionalist bishop, Richard Williamson, who has denied that 6 million Jews were murdered during World War II.

The Vatican has stressed that removing the excommunication by no means implied the Vatican shared Williamson's views.

Williamson and three other bishops were excommunicated 20 years ago after they were consecrated by the late ultraconservative Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre without papal consent — a move the Vatican said at the time was an act of schism.

Read the entire piece.

Tom McFeely of National Catholic Register writes:

Bishop Williamson, who is English, said he didn’t believe any Jews were gassed to death in Nazi Germany’s Second World War death camps. And the SSPX bishop suggested the aggregate death toll of Jews murdered by the Nazis was only a small fraction of the total of six million Jews who died, according to Holocaust historians.

But the Vatican wasn’t even aware of Bishop Williamson’s Holocaust-questioning comments on Jan. 21, the day Pope Benedict XVI signed the Vatican decree lifting the excommunications.

Furthermore, the Vatican subsequently stressed that the lifting of the SSPX excommunications had no connection to Bishop Williamson’s controversial statement.

On Jan. 24, the day the decree was publicly announced through a statement released by the Congregation for Bishops, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said, “Saying a person is not excommunicated is not the same as saying one shares all his ideas or statements.”

One hopes that this should be an obvious point. But, obviously, it's not obvious. McFeely also writes, "One final point: It should be remembered that the lifting of the excommunications was required because of a single ceremony of consecration, undertaken in 1988 without the permission of Pope John Paul II by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the SSPX."

Amy Welborn has an excellent post about this mess, in which she reflects on the Vatican's need to get up to speed when it comes to anticipating and handling media fall-out.

Comments

[Manuel G. Daugherty Razetto]

I think that Benedict XVI did a wonderful thing by lifting the excommunication of the four distanced bishops from the Pious X organization. It fits perfectly with the teachings shown in his books. It is time to reunite so many good priests that are distanced from Rome. Let us pray for the day when all Catholics are united under the blessing of Benedict XVI , our beloved Pope.

[Telemachus]

"But the Vatican wasn’t even aware of Bishop Williamson’s Holocaust-questioning comments on Jan. 21, the day Pope Benedict XVI signed the Vatican decree lifting the excommunications."

I don't see how this is even possible, or does it mean to say that "the Vatican wasn't aware of the comments that had been made the very day of lifting excommunication"?

I thought that many of the SSPXer's were well known to share anti-semitic and Holocaust-denying views, or have I been misinformed? If not, again, how could the Vatican not see this coming?

[san]

The church must have known about the revisionist ideas of Williamson and many members of the Lefebvre group. It would have been easy to make a caveat about these ideas in the decree lifting he excommunication. In not doing so the Pope has shown that his desire for reunification is more important than his rejection of the revisionist ideas.
Let us also not forget that as Cardinal Ratzinger, the Pope was the architect of the restauration of the post Concilium era.

[Brian Milliner, Israel]

Hi

I saw the interview with Bishop Williamson on our news channel where he proclaims that only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews were murdered by the Nazis: And, according to some gas expert, not by gasing. Are there any hanging or shooting experts that can maybe prove that they were killed by the one or both of those methods? Or maybe a club-expert that can prove that they were clubbed to death.

Bishop Williamson, you are probably as convinced of the non-occurance of the Holocaust as you believe that Jews used the blood of little Christian babies to make unleaven bread for Passover. As much as we will try to convince you that the latter is a baseless lie so I think it is a waste of time trying to convince you that the former is one as well. You will also notice that I have not made a comment on Bishop Williamson's. Quite honestly, I do not know what Bishop Williamson gets out of this. Would he think like this if he had a wife and children? A bit below the belt, hey? Imagine how I feel knowing that I lost family in Latvia.

Bishop Williamson, you are going to have a bit of explaining to St Peter at the gate. If that's where you think you are going. I'd like to think that you will not get that chance to explain, because you have a Just G_d: As is mine!
In the same breath, let me say that I was pleasantly surprised and thought that maybe there was a chance ...... when the Catholic church eventually, after 60 years, acknowledged the Holocaust: Today I wonder in dismay whether a future Pope will resind that.

Thank you

Brian Milliner

Ps. I wonder if the author's going to allow this to appear. Yes, I wonder. Based on history, more than likely not!!

[Mark Brumley]

Must have this, must have that. Lots of unsubstantiated assertions.

[Jeannine]

Please remember that the Roman Catholic Church may be God's church but it is also a very human, bureaucratic organization. Errors do occur. Or was it in this case?

I personally believe the Pope & his advisors had an idea about Bishop Williamson's beliefs. I believe the Pope's highest priorities is to be united w/SSPX. This is a major step & a very good one. That said, how can one be properly educated or disciplined if one is not part of the flock? I keep thinking of Cardinal Bernard Law & what happened to him: stripped of his powerful archdiocesan seat in Boston. He currently lives in Rome hopefully in constant penitential prayer. Look for some concrete action in the near future for Bishop Williamson.

[Adele]

Questioning an accepted-secular-historical fact has nothing to do with theology or the degree of one's Catholicity. Is there anything in Catholic teaching about whether one may question the validity of an accepted secular historical fact? Or anything specific on whether a good Catholic must believe that 6, 600, 6 million, or 6 trillion Jews were killed in WWII? I think not. If this is the new measure of Catholicity, then the crisis in the Church is graver than I previously thought.

[Jorge Morales]

Bp. Williamson is a saintly man. He can have whatever opinion he wills in any subject, as long as it's not against Church's teaching. Isn't this world about "freedom of speech?"....Why are people making such a big deal for an opinion?.. People kill, support abortions, actually DO bad things against other people and God, and nobody cares." Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye."... Let us pray for one another.