Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Pope Benedict XVI Pardons Holocaust-denying Bishop
British bishop – whose excommunication was lifted by the Pope - denies the Holocaust
European Jewish Press
http://www.ejpress.org/article/34054
Updated: 23/Jan/2009
STOCKHOLM/ROME (AFP)--A British bishop, whose excommunication has been canceled by Pope Benedict XVI, gave an interview to Swedish television in which he appeared to deny the Holocaust.
"I believe there were no gas chambers... I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps but none of them by gas chambers," said 68-year-old Richard Williamson during an interview with the SVT channel.
"There was not one Jew killed by the gas chambers. It was all lies, lies, lies!"
"There was certainly a great exploitation of these facts. Germany paid billions and billions of deutschmarks and now euros because Germans suffer from a culpability complex for having gassed six million Jews, but I don’t think that six millions died in gas chambers," he said in the interview aired Wednesday evening.
Lars-Goran Svensson, the programme's producer, said the interview had been pre-recorded in Germany last November and its airing at this time was "pure coincidence."
"Our reporter went to Germany and did this interview last November. The bishop agreed... we didn't know that the pope would make this decision (to lift his excommunication) yesterday. It's pure coincidence," Svensson said.
According to the Italian daily Il Giornale, Pope Benedict XVI has decided to cancel the excommunication of four bishops, including Williamson, ordained in 1998 by the controversial French bishop Marcel Lefebvre.
The pope has already signed the decree lifting the excommunication, which will be made public later in the week, said the paper's Vatican specialist Andrea Tornielli.
The Vatican has neither confirmed nor denied the report.
Since assuming office in April 2005, Benedict has made great efforts to heal the schism with the more traditionalist Catholic movement, granting a private audience to Bishop Fellay in mid-2005.
Lefebvre, who died in 1991, was excommunicated in 1988 by pope Jean Paul II for having ordained the bishops in defiance of the Vatican's authority.
Lefebvre led a schism from the Church over the more ecumenical approach reflected in the Vatican II reforms (1962-65) and in particular the abandonment of the traditional Latin mass.
He founded the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, which claims 150,000 followers across the world, mainly in France and Brazil.
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British bishop faces German probe for Holocaust denial
European Jewish Press
http://www.ejpress.org/article/34062
Updated: 23/Jan/2009
BERLIN (AFP)---German prosecutors said Friday they had launched a probe against a controversial British bishop on suspicion of inciting racial hatred for comments he made about the Holocaust on Swedish television.
A spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in the southern city of Regensburg said it had opened an investigation against Richard Williamson, 68, for remarks he made in an interview broadcast this week.
"I believe there were no gas chambers... I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps but none of them by gas chambers," said Williamson during an interview with the SVT channel.
"There was not one Jew killed by the gas chambers. It was all lies, lies, lies!"
Six million Jews were murdered by Nazi Germany during World War II including vast numbers by systematic extermination in gas chambers.
This week, Pope Benedict XVI reportedly decided to cancel the excommunication of four bishops who were consecrated in 1998 by the conservative French bishop Marcel Lefebvre, including Williamson.
The pope has already signed the decree lifting the excommunication, which will be made public later in the week, according to the Italian report Thursday which the Vatican neither confirmed nor denied.
Lefebvre, who died in 1991, was excommunicated in 1988 by pope Jean Paul II for having consecrated the bishops in defiance of the Vatican's authority.
Since assuming office in April 2005, Benedict has made great efforts to heal the schism with the more traditionalist Catholic movement.
Lars-Goran Svensson, the Swedish programme's producer, said the interview had been pre-recorded in Germany last November and its airing at this time was "pure coincidence."
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Yad Vashem slams rehabilitation of Holocaust denying bishop by Pope Benedict XVI
European Jewish Press
http://www.ejpress.org/article/34104
Updated: 25/Jan/2009
JERUSALEM (EJP)---Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem and the Simon Wiesenthal Centre on Sunday slammed a Holocaust-denying English bishop whose ex-communication has been cancelled by Pope Benedict XVI.
"The reinstatement is an internal Church matter.However, it is scandalous that someone of this stature in the Church denies the Holocaust.Denial of the Holocaust not only insults the survivors, memory of the victims, and the Righteous Among the Nations who risked their lives to rescue Jews, it is a brutal attack on Truth," Yad Vashem said in a statement, referring to Bishop Richard Williamson who has publicly denied the murder of six million Jews during World
War II.
"Even if the revocation of the excommunication is unrelated to Williamson’s comments regarding the Holocaust, what kind of message is this sending regarding the Church’s attitude toward the Holocaust? Although we understand that Williamson’s statements do not represent the Church’s stance, we continue to hope that the Church will vigorously condemn these unacceptable and odious comments.," it added.
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, an international Jewish human rights body, said: "The Pope's decision to welcome back such a hater into the Church lends moral credence to deniers of history's worst crime.
"In addition to Bishop Williamson's Holocaust denial looms the unchanging virulent anti-Semitism of the Society of Saint Pius as a whole," it said.
The pope cancelled the ex-communication of Williamson and three other bishops in a bid to heal a 20-year schism with traditionalists led by rebel French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
The Roman Catholic Church published an edict lifting the 1998 sanction on Lefebvre's successor Bernard Fellay and three other bishops in his breakaway conservative movement, including Williamson.
He is on record as denying the existence of the gas chambers.
"I believe there were no gas chambers.... I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps but none of them by gas chambers," Williamson was quoted as saying in an interview with Swedish SVT television.
"There was not one Jew killed by the gas chambers. It was all lies, lies, lies!"
Italian Jewish groups criticised the decision as a "negative, worrying and incomprehensible signal" on Saturday.
Uneasy relations between the Vatican and Israel have been further strained by plans to declare Nazi-era Pope Pius XII a saint, despite widespread criticism of his inaction during the Holocaust.
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Pope Lifts Excommunication Of Holocaust Denier
http://hamercaz.com/hamercaz/site/news_item.php?id=3603
Jan 22, 2009
Vatican -- According to local media sources, Pope Benedict XVI has signed a decree lifting the excommunication of four Catholic bishops of the ultra-conservative Society of St Pius X, including one who believes the Holocaust never happened and the gas chambers were a myth.
Richard Williamson, an English former Anglican and graduate of Winchester and Cambridge, gave an interview to Swedish TV this week in which he said: “There were no gas chambers.” He has also made comments endorsing the anti-Semitic forgery, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
The Vatican is neither confirming nor denying reports that the Pope has cancelled the excommunication. A source close to the Vatical told the media: “It is extremely sensitive. There is something going on.”
If Benedict XVI goes ahead with lifting the excommunication in spite of Bishop Williamson’s comments, he may wreak havoc on more than 40 years of attempts to rebuild relations with the Jewish community after centuries of Christian anti-Semitism.
The damage will be doubled, coming as it will on top of the Pope’s revival of the Tridentine Mass with its Good Friday prayer for the conversion of the Jews [see story HERE].
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Jewish-Catholic Relations Strained After Pope Forgives Holocaust Denier Bishop
http://hamercaz.com/hamercaz/site/news_item.php?id=3630
Jan 25, 2009
Vatican City, Rome -- Pope Benedict XVI's rehabilitation of a traditionalist bishop who denies the full extent of the Holocaust could lead to a crisis in Jewish-Catholic relations [see story HERE].
“By welcoming an open Holocaust denier into the Catholic Church without any recantation on his part, the Vatican has made a mockery of John Paul II's moving and impressive repudiation and condemnation of anti-Semitism," R' David Rosen, the chairman of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, said in a statement.
Over the weekend, the pope rescinded the 1988 excommunication of British-born Richard Williamson and three other traditionalist bishops who were followers of Marcel Lefebvre, the late French archbishop who rejected Vatican reforms including those recognizing the validity of Judaism as a living religion.
Williamson has made several statements over the years questioning the reality of the Shoah. Last week he told Swedish television, "I believe there were no gas chambers," adding that only up to 300,000 Jews were killed in Nazi camps.
The pope's action came just days before the annual international Holocaust Memorial Day on Jan. 27 – the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Jewish leaders in Italy and elsewhere had warned that rehabilitating Williamson could prove a serious setback to Jewish-Catholic relations, already strained by controversy over the wartime role of Pope Pius XII and last year's reintroduction of an Easter prayer that some see as calling for conversion of the Jews.
Rome's Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni said that rehabilitating Williamson would open a "deep wound."
Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, said in a statement released Sunday: "The reinstatement is an internal Church matter. However, it is scandalous that someone of this stature in the Church denies the Holocaust. Denial of the Holocaust not only insults the survivors, memory of the victims, and the Righteous Among the Nations who risked their lives to rescue Jews, it is a brutal attack on truth. Even if the revocation of the excommunication is unrelated to Williamson’s comments regarding the Holocaust, what kind of message is this sending regarding the Church’s attitude toward the Holocaust? Although we understand that Williamson’s statements do not represent the Church’s stance, we continue to hope that the Church will vigorously condemn these unacceptable and odious comments."
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Vatican Condemns Anti-Semitic Remarks Of Rehabiliated Bishop
http://hamercaz.com/hamercaz/site/news_item.php?id=3662
Jan 26, 2009
Vatican City -- The Vatican said Monday that comments by a recently rehabilitated bishop that no Jews were gassed during the Holocaust were "unacceptable."
The Vatican stressed in its newspaper, the Osservatore Romano, that removing the excommunication by no means implies that the Catholic Church shares Williamson's anti-Semitic and Holocaust-denying views.
The statement was issued after Pope Benedict XVI last week lifted the excommunication of a traditionalist bishop, Richard Williamson, who has denied that 6 million Jews were murdered during World War II [see story HERE]. Williamson has also made comments endorsing the anti-Semitic forgery, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
The rehabilitation prompted a storm of outrage from Jewish groups [see story HERE].
In a recent interview on Swedish television, Williamson said that historical evidence "is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler." He cited what he called the "most serious" revisionists who he said had concluded that "between 200,000-300,000 perished in Nazi concentration camps, but not one of them by gassing in a gas chamber."
On Monday, the head of the Italian bishops' conference, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, defended Benedict's decision to rehabilitate Williamson. But he decried Williamson's views as "unfounded and unjustified."
The German Bishops' Conference also denounced Williamson's views. "We object in the strongest terms to this explicit denial of the Holocaust," Bishop Heinrich Mussinghoff, the head of a commission at the German Bishops Conference responsible for relations with Jews, said in a statement.
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Pope decision to rehabilitate Holocaust-denying bishop sparks Jewish-Catholic row
By Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1058524.html
Last update - 25/01/2009
Pope Benedict is still due to visit to Israel in May, an Israeli official said on Sunday, despite angering Jews worldwide by re-admitting a bishop who has denied the full extent of the Nazi genocide of six million Jews.
The Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum and Memorial in Jerusalem decried as
"scandalous" Benedict's decision to lift excommunications on British-born bishop, Richard Williamson, who has said there were no gas chambers and only 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps in World War Two.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor, said, however, the pontiff's planned visit in May to Israel was not in doubt. "This has nothing to do with relations between states," he said.
The Israeli museum's fury marked another step in the row between the Catholic Church and world Jewish groups, who were outraged by announcements of the rehabilitation.
"The reinstatement is an internal Church matter...[however] denial of the Holocaust not only insults the survivors, memory of the victims, and the Righteous Among the Nations who risked their lives to rescue Jews, it is a brutal attack on truth," Yad Vashem said in a statement.
A senior official in the Jewish Agency on Sunday also slammed the decisions, calling it a "scandal."
"It is something we cannot understand," said Amos Hermon, head of the Task Force Against Anti-Semitism at the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency.
Bishop Williamson was one of four traditionalist bishops to have his excommunication lifted Saturday, just days after he was shown in a Swedish state TV interview saying that historical evidence is hugely against six million Jews having been deliberately gassed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
The four 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.
"Even if the revocation of the excommunication is unrelated to Williamson's comments regarding the Holocaust, what kind of message is this sending regarding the Church's attitude toward the Holocaust?" Yad Vashem wrote. "Although we understand that Williamson's statements do not represent the Church's stance, we continue to hope that the Church will vigorously condemn these unacceptable and odious comments."
Jewish groups denounced the Vatican for having embraced a Holocaust denier and warned that the pope's decision would have serious implications for Catholic-Jewish relations as well as the pontiff's planned visit to the Holy Land later this year.
"I do not see how business can proceed as usual," said Rabbi David Rosen,
Jerusalem-based head of interrelgious affairs at the American Jewish Committee and a key Vatican-Jewish negotiator late last week.
He called for the pope or a senior adviser to issue a clear condemnation of all Holocaust denials and deniers.
Shimon Samuels of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Paris said he understood the German-born pope's desire for Christian unity, but said Benedict could have excluded Williamson. He warned that his rehabilitation will have a political cost for the Vatican.
"I'm certain as a man who has known the Nazi regime in his own flesh, he
understands you have to be very careful and very selective," Samuels said.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Williamson's views were absolutely indefensible. But he denied that rehabilitating Williamson implied that the Vatican shared them.
"They are his personal ideas ... that we certainly don't share but they have nothing to do with the issue of the excommunication and the removal of the excommunication," Lombardi told AP Television News.
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Jewish leaders urge Pope not to rehabilitate Holocaust-denying bishop
By Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1058212.html
Sat., January 24, 2009 Tevet 28, 5769
Jewish leaders on Friday urged Pope Benedict not to rehabilitate a traditionalist bishop who denies the Holocaust, saying it would foment anti-Semitism and open a deep wound in Christian-Jewish relations.
Italian media have said the pope could this weekend revoke the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops from the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) in his latest attempt to heal a 20-year-old schism in the Roman Catholic Church.
The rift became a crisis in 1998, when the late French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre illegally consecrated four bishops in defiance of the late Pope John Paul.
One of the four bishops, the British-born Bishop Richard Williamson, has made a number of statements denying the full extent of the Nazi Holocaust of European Jews, as accepted by most mainstream historians. In comments to Swedish television
broadcast on Wednesday, he said: "I believe that the historical evidence is hugely against 6 million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler...I believe there were no gas chambers".
Williamson said he agreed with "revisionists" who say that "between 200,000 and 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, but not one of them by gassing in a gas chamber".
Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, said the possibility that the pope would accept Williamson back into the mainstream church "has been received with shock and consternation".
"For the Jewish people and all persons who feel the pain of the terrible years of the Shoah, this development marks a dangerous blow to interfaith dialogue and encourages hate-mongers everywhere," he said.
Rome's chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, said he was "shocked by such a horror of denial, which is even more grave since it comes from a bishop".
Di Segni told the newspaper La Stampa that Williamson's re-admission into the Church would open "a deep wound in dialogue with Judaism".
The traditionalists bishops reject many reforms of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council, notably its decision that Mass should be said in local languages rather than Latin, and its advocacy of dialogue with other religions.
A statement from the traditionalists said the implication they are racist was "entirely false and unjust".
But it said the group had the right to "pray for conversion (of Jews) to the true faith, to study their recent and tragic history, or to question some of their political objectives".
At the end of the Swedish interview, William says he realizes he could go to jail for Holocaust denial in Germany.
Pope Benedict has already made several gestures of reconciliation to the schismatic group, including allowing the unconditional return of the old-style Latin Mass.
That move angered Jews because the ceremony includes a Good Friday prayer for their conversion.
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Bishop Who Denied Holocaust Apologizes to Pope Without Retracting
Vosizneias.com
News Source BBC
Published on: January 31st, 2009
Vatican City - A UK-born cleric who denied the existence of Nazi gas chambers has apologised to the Pope for causing any distress - but without retracting.
Richard Williamson also thanked Pope Benedict for allowing him to rejoin the Roman Catholic Church after being excommunicated on an unrelated issue.
He apologised for his "imprudent remarks" in a Swedish TV interview.
Pope Benedict has reiterated his "full and indisputable solidarity" with Jews on the subject of the Nazi death camps.
He has been under pressure from Nobel Peace Prize winner and death camp survivor Elie Wiesel among others to distance himself from Mr Williamson, who was promoted to bishop along with others by the breakaway Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre of France.
Mr Williamson, who lives in Argentina, blogged his apology in an open letter to Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, the mediator between the Vatican and the breakaway Catholic faction.
"Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of you to accept... my sincere regrets for having caused to yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems," he said.
He made no mention of the Holocaust in the brief letter.
In an interview with Swedish TV, he had said: "I believe there were no gas chambers... I think that two to three hundred thousand Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps but none of them by gas chambers."
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, contacted by AFP news agency, refused to comment on the content of the letter, saying only: "The Vatican has asked nothing of Monsignor Williamson, who is not an 'ordinary bishop' of the Catholic Church."
Mr Williamson and three other "bishops" whose excommunications were lifted are members of the Society of St Pius X, which was founded by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1970 as a protest against the Second Vatican Council's reforms on religious freedom and pluralism.
The late Archbishop Lefebvre made them bishops in unsanctioned consecrations in Switzerland in 1988, prompting the immediate excommunication of all five by the late Pope John Paul II.
When it recently lifted their excommunication, the Vatican said the four men had been asked to recognise the authority of the Pope and the Second Vatican Council.
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German-born pope under fire in his homeland over tolerance of Holocaust denial
By Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1061193.html
Last update - 03/02/2009
Nearly four years after a rare outburst of national pride over the election of a German pope, Germans are falling out of love with Pope Benedict because of his rehabilitation of a bishop who denies the Holocaust.
Prominent Catholics, politicians and newspaper commentators in Joseph Ratzinger's homeland are pulling no punches in their criticism of his lifting of the excommunications of four bishops, including one who denies the extent of the Holocaust.
In a rare move, even Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized him, saying that the Vatican must make clear that it does not tolerate any denial of the Holocaust.
"I do not believe that sufficient clarification has been made," Merkel said.
"Worldwide criticism of the Pope," read the front page of top-selling German daily Bild which devoted most of its second page to the furore. It was a stark contrast to the jubilant "We are the pope!" headline in April 2005 to celebrate his election.
"The pope has made a serious mistake. That he is a German pope makes the matter especially bad," read its editorial.
"Pope Benedict XVI is inflicting great damage on Germany... The pope must correct his mistake, reverse his decision and excuse himself," it said, in comments echoed by other papers.
Former foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher wrote in the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung: "Poles can be proud of Pope John Paul II. At the last papal election, we said "We are the pope!" But please -- not like this."
The Vatican on Tuesday moved quickly to counter any suggestion that the pope has been unclear in his stance on the Holocaust. "The pope's thinking on the subject of the Holocaust has been expressed very clearly," said Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi.
He cited Benedict's visit to a synagogue during his first visit to Germany as pope in 2005, a visit to Auschwitz in 2006 and his remarks during last week's general audience.
Lombardi quoted from what he called the pope's unequivocal words at that public audience. "I hope that the memory of the Shoah leads humanity to reflect on the unpredictable power of evil when it conquers the heart of men," he quoted the pope as saying. "May the Shoah be a warning for all against oblivion, against denial or reductionism."
Lombardi said that during the audience the pope himself clearly explained the purpose of lifting the excommunication, which has nothing to do with any legitimization of positions denying the Holocaust, which were clearly condemned by Benedict.
More than 60 years after the end of World War Two, Germans are still struggling to come to terms with the legacy of the Holocaust, in which Nazis deliberately killed 6 million European Jews, and relations with the Jewish community are highly charged.
Last week, Germany's Central Council of Jews said it was breaking off ties with the Catholic Church over the pope's move.
The rehabilitated bishop at the centre of the storm is Richard Williamson, who belongs to the ultra-traditional Society of Saint Pius X and denies the extent of the Holocaust.
Last month, the British-born bishop told a Swedish broadcaster he believed there were no gas chambers and no more than 300,000 Jews perished in concentration camps.
Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany and state prosecutors in the southern city of Regensburg are investigating Williamson for incitement. German neo-Nazi websites and blogs have published contributions supporting Williamson's stand.
In his commentary, Genscher argued that Ratzinger, forced to join the Hitler Youth as a boy though his parents opposed the Nazis, was making a habit of offending non-Catholics.
He has shown little respect to Protestants and angered Muslims by hinting Islam was violent and irrational in a 2006 speech in Regensburg, Genscher said.
"This is a deep moral and political question. It is about respect for the victims of crimes against humanity," he wrote.
Other politicians joined in and in an unusual intervention Chancellor Merkel, daughter of a Protestant pastor, called on him to make clear he rejected any Holocaust denial.
"It is a fundamental question if, through a decision by the Vatican, the impression arises that the Holocaust can be denied," she said, adding she wanted the pope to issue a clarification.
The pope has also faced harsh criticism from German Catholics. Hamburg Archbishop Werner Thissen was quoted as saying the decision risked undermining trust in the church.
Cardinal Karl Lehmann, former chair of Germany's Catholic bishops' conference and head of Germany's 26 million Catholics, has described the affair as a catastrophe. Others say it has exposed flaws in the pope's detached governing style.
"It's an unforgivable mistake, and also a political error that Swiss, German and French bishops' conferences, where most people of the brotherhood live, were not informed beforehand," widely respected theologian Hans Maier told Vatican Radio.
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Cardinal slams Pope for restoring bishop who denied Holocaust
By Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1061178.html
Tue., February 03, 2009 Shvat 9, 5769
The cardinal in charge of relations with Jews has acknowledged that the Vatican handled the rehabilitation of a Holocaust-denying bishop very badly and complained that Pope Benedict did not consult him.
"There wasn't enough talking with each other in the Vatican and there are no longer checks to see where problems could arise," said Cardinal Walter Kasper in a blunt interview with Vatican Radio's German program, broadcast on Monday night.
Benedict on Jan. 24 lifted the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops, including Richard Williamson, a Briton who denies the full extent of the Holocaust, to try to heal a 20-year-old schism in the Church.
Among those who condemned Williamson and the pope's decision were Holocaust survivors, progressive Catholics, members of the U.S. Congress, Israel's Chief Rabbinate, German Jewish leaders and Jewish writer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.
Vatican sources and officials had said privately the decision was taken without wide consultation. Kasper, who was left in the dark, appeared to be venting his frustration.
"Of course, explaining something after the fact is always much more difficult than if one did it right away. I would have also liked to see more communication in advance," said the cardinal, who like Pope Benedict is German.
"I'm watching this debate with great concern. Nobody can be pleased that misunderstandings have turned up. Mistakes in the management of the curia (Vatican administration) have certainly also been made. I want to say that very clearly," he said.
Leading Catholic commentators have said the Williamson affair shows fundamental flaws in Benedict's governing style.
"This and other controversies point to a fatal systemic flaw in the Benedict papacy that is destroying his effectiveness as pope: He does not consult experts who might challenge his views and inclinations," said Father Tom Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.
"He is surrounded by people who are not as smart as he is and who would never think of questioning him."
Father Eberhard von Gemmingen, head of Vatican Radio German service, said: "There are obviously shortcomings in the Vatican's organization and communications ... Such a misunderstanding and debacle must never happen again."
Williamson told Swedish television in an interview broadcast on Jan. 21: "I believe there were no gas chambers". He said no more than 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, rather than the 6 million accepted by mainstream historians.
He later posted on his blog a letter apologizing to the pope for the "unnecessary distress" he caused him but he did not take back the comments. Jews said the apology was not enough.
The controversy has led many to take a closer look at the traditionalist group, the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), its view of Jews and its future place in the Church.
Traditionalists reject most of the teachings of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council. One of its key documents, "Nostra Aetate" (In Our Times) repudiated the concept of collective Jewish guilt for Christ's death and urged dialogue with all major religions.
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Vatican: Holocaust denier must recant
AP
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3666849,00.html
Published: 02.04.09
Day after German chancellor calls for clear rejection of Holocaust denials, Vatican demands bishop who denied Shoah recant before being fully admited to Roman Catholic Church.
Pope Benedict XVI reportedly unaware of bishop's views when lifting excommunication
The Vatican demanded Wednesday that a bishop who denied the Holocaust recant his positions before being fully admitted into the Roman Catholic Church.
The Vatican also said in a statement that Pope Benedict XVI didn't know about Bishop Richard Williamson's views when he agreed to lift his excommunication and that of three other ultraconservative bishops January 21.
The statement was issued by the Vatican's Secretariat of State a day after German Chacellor Angela Merkel urged the pope to make a clearer rejection of Holocaust denials, saying there hadn't been adequate clarification from the Vatican.
Williamson was shown on Swedish state television days before his rehabilitation was made public saying historical evidence "is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed" during World War II.
Williamson subsequently apologized to the pope for having stirred controversy, but he did not repudiate his comments, in which he also said only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews were killed during World War II and none were gassed.
The Holy See said when it announced the rehabilitation of the bishops January 24 that removing the excommunication did not mean the Vatican shared Williamson's views. But Jewish groups voiced outrage and demanded that Williamson recant his views.
In the statement Wednesday, the Vatican said that while Williamson's excommunication had been lifted, he still had no canonical function in the church because he was consecrated illegitimately by Lefebvre.
"Bishop Williamson, in order to be admitted to episcopal functions within the church, will have to take his distance, in an absolutely unequivocal and public fashion, from his position on the Shoah, which the Holy Father was not aware of when the excommunication was lifted," the statement said.
In addition, the Vatican said that the society as a whole must fully recognize the teachings of Vatican II and the teachings of all the popes who came during and after it in order to have a legitimate canonical function in the church.
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Top cardinal: Vatican botched Shoah affair
Reuters
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3666160,00.html
First Published: 02.03.09
Cardinal in charge of relations with Jews says in radio interview that Catholic Church handled rehabilitation of Holocaust denying Bishop Richard Williamson badly, adds he was not consulted by Pope Benedict
The cardinal in charge of relations with Jews has acknowledged that the Vatican handled the rehabilitation of a Holocaust-denying bishop very badly and complained that Pope Benedict did not consult him.
"There wasn't enough talking with each other in the Vatican and there are no longer checks to see where problems could arise," said Cardinal Walter Kasper in a blunt interview with Vatican Radio's German program, broadcast on Monday night.
Benedict on January 24 lifted the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops, including Richard Williamson, a Briton who denies the full extent of the Holocaust, to try to heal a 20-year-old schism in the Church.
Among those who condemned Williamson and the pope's decision were Holocaust survivors, progressive Catholics, members of the US Congress, Israel's Chief Rabbinate, German Jewish leaders and Jewish writer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.
Vatican sources and officials had said privately the decision was taken without wide consultation. Kasper, who was left in the dark, appeared to be venting his frustration.
"Of course, explaining something after the fact is always much more difficult than if one did it right away. I would have also liked to see more communication in advance," said the cardinal, who like Pope Benedict is German.
"I'm watching this debate with great concern. Nobody can be pleased that misunderstandings have turned up. Mistakes in the management of the curia (Vatican administration) have certainly also been made. I want to say that very clearly," he said.
'Fatal systematic flaw'
"This and other controversies point to a fatal systemic flaw in the Benedict papacy that is destroying his effectiveness as pope: He does not consult experts who might challenge his views and inclinations," said Father Tom Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.
"He is surrounded by people who are not as smart as he is and who would never think of questioning him."
Father Eberhard von Gemmingen, head of Vatican Radio German service, said: "There are obviously shortcomings in the Vatican's organisation and communications ... Such a misunderstanding and debacle must never happen again."
Williamson told Swedish television in an interview broadcast on January 21: "I believe there were no gas chambers". He said no more than 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, rather than the 6 million accepted by mainstream historians.
He later posted on his blog a letter apologising to the pope for the "unnecessary distress" he caused him but he did not take back the comments. Jews said the apology was not enough.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Pope Benedict XVI for a "very clear" rejection of Holocaust denial after he rehabilitated a bishop who questioned its existence.
Merkel said Tuesday that she does not believe there has been sufficient clarification after the rehabilitation of Richard Williamson, who questioned whether 6 million Jews were gassed. The German-born pope has expressed solidarity with Jews and warned against any denial of the horror of the Holocaust.
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Rabbinate cuts ties with Vatican
Reuters
http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3663261,00.html
Published: 01.28.09
Chief Rabbinate of Israel cuts ties with Vatican over pardon of Holocaust denier until apology is made, Vatican's position clarified. Survivor Eli Wiesel also comes out against pontiff's pardon of known Holocaust denying bishop, says slight may even have been 'intentional.' Pope reaffirms 'solidarity' with Jewish people
Reuters
The chief Rabbinate of Israel sent a letter to the Vatican saying that dialogue with Catholics could not continue as before "without a public apology from Bishop Williamson and recanting his deplorable statements".
The Rabbinate said it would not attend a meeting scheduled for March "until this matter is clarified".
Chief Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said he hoped the pope's words at the audience would be "sufficient to respond to the doubts expressed about the position of the pope and the Catholic Church" on the Holocaust.
Lombardi said he hoped the Israeli Rabbinate would now rethink its position and continue "fruitful and serene dialogue".
British-born Richard Williamson, one of four traditionalist bishops whose excommunications were lifted on Saturday, has made several statements denying the full extent of the Holocaust of European Jews, as accepted by mainstream historians.
Williamson told Swedish television: "I believe there were no gas chambers" and only up to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, instead of 6 million. His comments caused an uproar among Jewish leaders and progressive Catholics, many of whom said it had cast a dark shadow over 50 years of Christian-Jewish dialogue.
Pope Benedict has given credence to "the most vulgar aspect of anti-Semitism" by rehabilitating a Holocaust-denying bishop, said Elie Wiesel, the death camp survivor, author and Nobel Peace Prize winner.
In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Wiesel also said there was no way the Vatican could have not known about the bishop's past and it may have been done "intentionally".
"What does the pope think we feel when he did that? That a man who is a bishop and Holocaust denier - and today of course the most vulgar aspect of anti-Semitism is Holocaust denial - and for the pope to go that far and do what he did, knowing what he knows, is disturbing," Wiesel said by phone from New York.
"The result of this move is very simple: to give credence to a man who is a Holocaust denier, which means that the sensitivity to us as Jews is not what it should be," he said late on Tuesday.
"It's a pity because Jewish-Catholic relations, thanks to John XXIII and John Paul II, had never been as good, never in history," Wiesel said, referring to the popes who revolutionized relations with Jews after 2,000 years of persecution and mistrust.
Vatican 'had to know'
Asked if he believed it was possible that the Vatican did not know that Williamson was a Holocaust denier, Wiesel, who won the Nobel in 1986 and survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald, said, "Oh no! The Church knows what it does, especially on that level for the pope to readmit this man, they know what they are doing. They know what they are doing and they did it intentionally. What the intention was, I don't know."
Since the fury over the pope's decision to lift the excommunication, the Vatican has condemned Williamson's comments as "grave, upsetting (and) unacceptable", restating the Church's -- and Benedict's -- teachings against anti-Semitism.
Wiesel said he could not offer the Vatican any advice on how to put things right with Jews but something had to be done.
On Tuesday, Williamson's superior in the traditionalist movement publicly apologised to the pope and said William had been disciplined and ordered to remain silent on political or historical issues.
Pope Benedict on Wednesday reaffirmed his "full and unquestionable solidarity with Jews" in an attempt to relieve tensions with Jews after a Catholic bishop denied the Holocaust.
Speaking at his Wednesday audience, the pope said the attempt to exterminate the Jews in the Holocaust should remain a warning for all people.
----
German Leader Talks With Pope About Holocaust
By RACHEL DONADIO
The New York Times
Published: February 8, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/world/europe/09pope.html?ref=world
ROME — Pope Benedict XVI and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany have had a “cordial and constructive” phone conversation, just days after Mrs. Merkel openly criticized the pope for rehabilitating a bishop who has denied that the Holocaust happened, the German government and the Vatican said Sunday.
Two weeks ago, Benedict provoked wide outrage by revoking the excommunications of four schismatic bishops from a traditionalist society, including one, Richard Williamson, who has said he does not believe the Nazis had gas chambers.
A joint statement issued Sunday by the Vatican and the chancellor’s office said that both the pope and Mrs. Merkel referred to Benedict’s Jan. 28 remarks condemning Holocaust denial and expressing solidarity with Jews.
A statement released Wednesday by the Vatican Secretariat of State called on Bishop Williamson to recant his comments. In a rare case of the Vatican’s diplomatic arm furthering remarks by the pope, the Secretariat of State also made clear that the traditionalist bishops would not be welcomed back into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church unless they accepted the liberalizing teachings of the Second Vatican Council.
Last week’s statement by the Secretariat of State seemed to repair relations with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which said it planned to continue its dialogue with the Vatican, according to the Chief Rabbinate’s director general, Oded Wiener. The body had asked to postpone a March meeting with the Vatican in protest.
Vatican officials are expected to meet Thursday with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, an umbrella organization.
----
Holocaust-denier removed from Argentine seminary
Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5180FH20090209
Sun Feb 8, 2009
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An ultra-traditionalist Roman Catholic bishop who has drawn sharp criticism from the Vatican and Jewish groups for denying the extent of the Holocaust was removed as the head of an Argentine seminary, a Catholic Church official said on Sunday.
Pope Benedict angered Jewish leaders and progressive Catholics last month when he lifted excommunications on the bishop, Richard Williamson, and three other traditionalists to try to heal a 20-year-old schism within the Church.
The Vatican has since ordered the bishop to publicly recant his views questioning whether the Nazis used gas chambers and the number of Jews who died.
But Williamson, who is British-born, recently told Germany's Spiegel magazine he must first review historical evidence before considering an apology.
In a statement, Father Christian Bouchacourt, the head of the Latin American chapter of the Catholic Society St. Pius X, said Williamson had been relieved as the head of the La Reja seminary on the outskirts of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.
"Monsignor Williamson's statements do not in any way reflect the position of our congregation," it said.
The decision came hours after Pope Benedict and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who publicly criticized the pontiff for his decision to rehabilitate the bishop, spoke by telephone.
The two had a "cordial and constructive" conversation on the issue, the Vatican said.
The Vatican has been at pains since the excommunications of the four bishops were lifted on January 24 to contain damage provoked by Williamson's comments, which he made during an interview with Swedish television last month.
The Vatican has said Pope Benedict, who expressed his full solidarity with Jews, was not aware of Williamson's denial of the Holocaust when he rehabilitated the bishops.
(Writing by Kevin Gray, additional reporting by Silvia Aloisivy, editing by Vicki Allen)
European Jewish Press
http://www.ejpress.org/article/34054
Updated: 23/Jan/2009
STOCKHOLM/ROME (AFP)--A British bishop, whose excommunication has been canceled by Pope Benedict XVI, gave an interview to Swedish television in which he appeared to deny the Holocaust.
"I believe there were no gas chambers... I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps but none of them by gas chambers," said 68-year-old Richard Williamson during an interview with the SVT channel.
"There was not one Jew killed by the gas chambers. It was all lies, lies, lies!"
"There was certainly a great exploitation of these facts. Germany paid billions and billions of deutschmarks and now euros because Germans suffer from a culpability complex for having gassed six million Jews, but I don’t think that six millions died in gas chambers," he said in the interview aired Wednesday evening.
Lars-Goran Svensson, the programme's producer, said the interview had been pre-recorded in Germany last November and its airing at this time was "pure coincidence."
"Our reporter went to Germany and did this interview last November. The bishop agreed... we didn't know that the pope would make this decision (to lift his excommunication) yesterday. It's pure coincidence," Svensson said.
According to the Italian daily Il Giornale, Pope Benedict XVI has decided to cancel the excommunication of four bishops, including Williamson, ordained in 1998 by the controversial French bishop Marcel Lefebvre.
The pope has already signed the decree lifting the excommunication, which will be made public later in the week, said the paper's Vatican specialist Andrea Tornielli.
The Vatican has neither confirmed nor denied the report.
Since assuming office in April 2005, Benedict has made great efforts to heal the schism with the more traditionalist Catholic movement, granting a private audience to Bishop Fellay in mid-2005.
Lefebvre, who died in 1991, was excommunicated in 1988 by pope Jean Paul II for having ordained the bishops in defiance of the Vatican's authority.
Lefebvre led a schism from the Church over the more ecumenical approach reflected in the Vatican II reforms (1962-65) and in particular the abandonment of the traditional Latin mass.
He founded the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, which claims 150,000 followers across the world, mainly in France and Brazil.
----
British bishop faces German probe for Holocaust denial
European Jewish Press
http://www.ejpress.org/article/34062
Updated: 23/Jan/2009
BERLIN (AFP)---German prosecutors said Friday they had launched a probe against a controversial British bishop on suspicion of inciting racial hatred for comments he made about the Holocaust on Swedish television.
A spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in the southern city of Regensburg said it had opened an investigation against Richard Williamson, 68, for remarks he made in an interview broadcast this week.
"I believe there were no gas chambers... I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps but none of them by gas chambers," said Williamson during an interview with the SVT channel.
"There was not one Jew killed by the gas chambers. It was all lies, lies, lies!"
Six million Jews were murdered by Nazi Germany during World War II including vast numbers by systematic extermination in gas chambers.
This week, Pope Benedict XVI reportedly decided to cancel the excommunication of four bishops who were consecrated in 1998 by the conservative French bishop Marcel Lefebvre, including Williamson.
The pope has already signed the decree lifting the excommunication, which will be made public later in the week, according to the Italian report Thursday which the Vatican neither confirmed nor denied.
Lefebvre, who died in 1991, was excommunicated in 1988 by pope Jean Paul II for having consecrated the bishops in defiance of the Vatican's authority.
Since assuming office in April 2005, Benedict has made great efforts to heal the schism with the more traditionalist Catholic movement.
Lars-Goran Svensson, the Swedish programme's producer, said the interview had been pre-recorded in Germany last November and its airing at this time was "pure coincidence."
----
Yad Vashem slams rehabilitation of Holocaust denying bishop by Pope Benedict XVI
European Jewish Press
http://www.ejpress.org/article/34104
Updated: 25/Jan/2009
JERUSALEM (EJP)---Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem and the Simon Wiesenthal Centre on Sunday slammed a Holocaust-denying English bishop whose ex-communication has been cancelled by Pope Benedict XVI.
"The reinstatement is an internal Church matter.However, it is scandalous that someone of this stature in the Church denies the Holocaust.Denial of the Holocaust not only insults the survivors, memory of the victims, and the Righteous Among the Nations who risked their lives to rescue Jews, it is a brutal attack on Truth," Yad Vashem said in a statement, referring to Bishop Richard Williamson who has publicly denied the murder of six million Jews during World
War II.
"Even if the revocation of the excommunication is unrelated to Williamson’s comments regarding the Holocaust, what kind of message is this sending regarding the Church’s attitude toward the Holocaust? Although we understand that Williamson’s statements do not represent the Church’s stance, we continue to hope that the Church will vigorously condemn these unacceptable and odious comments.," it added.
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, an international Jewish human rights body, said: "The Pope's decision to welcome back such a hater into the Church lends moral credence to deniers of history's worst crime.
"In addition to Bishop Williamson's Holocaust denial looms the unchanging virulent anti-Semitism of the Society of Saint Pius as a whole," it said.
The pope cancelled the ex-communication of Williamson and three other bishops in a bid to heal a 20-year schism with traditionalists led by rebel French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
The Roman Catholic Church published an edict lifting the 1998 sanction on Lefebvre's successor Bernard Fellay and three other bishops in his breakaway conservative movement, including Williamson.
He is on record as denying the existence of the gas chambers.
"I believe there were no gas chambers.... I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps but none of them by gas chambers," Williamson was quoted as saying in an interview with Swedish SVT television.
"There was not one Jew killed by the gas chambers. It was all lies, lies, lies!"
Italian Jewish groups criticised the decision as a "negative, worrying and incomprehensible signal" on Saturday.
Uneasy relations between the Vatican and Israel have been further strained by plans to declare Nazi-era Pope Pius XII a saint, despite widespread criticism of his inaction during the Holocaust.
----
Pope Lifts Excommunication Of Holocaust Denier
http://hamercaz.com/hamercaz/site/news_item.php?id=3603
Jan 22, 2009
Vatican -- According to local media sources, Pope Benedict XVI has signed a decree lifting the excommunication of four Catholic bishops of the ultra-conservative Society of St Pius X, including one who believes the Holocaust never happened and the gas chambers were a myth.
Richard Williamson, an English former Anglican and graduate of Winchester and Cambridge, gave an interview to Swedish TV this week in which he said: “There were no gas chambers.” He has also made comments endorsing the anti-Semitic forgery, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
The Vatican is neither confirming nor denying reports that the Pope has cancelled the excommunication. A source close to the Vatical told the media: “It is extremely sensitive. There is something going on.”
If Benedict XVI goes ahead with lifting the excommunication in spite of Bishop Williamson’s comments, he may wreak havoc on more than 40 years of attempts to rebuild relations with the Jewish community after centuries of Christian anti-Semitism.
The damage will be doubled, coming as it will on top of the Pope’s revival of the Tridentine Mass with its Good Friday prayer for the conversion of the Jews [see story HERE].
----
Jewish-Catholic Relations Strained After Pope Forgives Holocaust Denier Bishop
http://hamercaz.com/hamercaz/site/news_item.php?id=3630
Jan 25, 2009
Vatican City, Rome -- Pope Benedict XVI's rehabilitation of a traditionalist bishop who denies the full extent of the Holocaust could lead to a crisis in Jewish-Catholic relations [see story HERE].
“By welcoming an open Holocaust denier into the Catholic Church without any recantation on his part, the Vatican has made a mockery of John Paul II's moving and impressive repudiation and condemnation of anti-Semitism," R' David Rosen, the chairman of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, said in a statement.
Over the weekend, the pope rescinded the 1988 excommunication of British-born Richard Williamson and three other traditionalist bishops who were followers of Marcel Lefebvre, the late French archbishop who rejected Vatican reforms including those recognizing the validity of Judaism as a living religion.
Williamson has made several statements over the years questioning the reality of the Shoah. Last week he told Swedish television, "I believe there were no gas chambers," adding that only up to 300,000 Jews were killed in Nazi camps.
The pope's action came just days before the annual international Holocaust Memorial Day on Jan. 27 – the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Jewish leaders in Italy and elsewhere had warned that rehabilitating Williamson could prove a serious setback to Jewish-Catholic relations, already strained by controversy over the wartime role of Pope Pius XII and last year's reintroduction of an Easter prayer that some see as calling for conversion of the Jews.
Rome's Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni said that rehabilitating Williamson would open a "deep wound."
Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, said in a statement released Sunday: "The reinstatement is an internal Church matter. However, it is scandalous that someone of this stature in the Church denies the Holocaust. Denial of the Holocaust not only insults the survivors, memory of the victims, and the Righteous Among the Nations who risked their lives to rescue Jews, it is a brutal attack on truth. Even if the revocation of the excommunication is unrelated to Williamson’s comments regarding the Holocaust, what kind of message is this sending regarding the Church’s attitude toward the Holocaust? Although we understand that Williamson’s statements do not represent the Church’s stance, we continue to hope that the Church will vigorously condemn these unacceptable and odious comments."
----
Vatican Condemns Anti-Semitic Remarks Of Rehabiliated Bishop
http://hamercaz.com/hamercaz/site/news_item.php?id=3662
Jan 26, 2009
Vatican City -- The Vatican said Monday that comments by a recently rehabilitated bishop that no Jews were gassed during the Holocaust were "unacceptable."
The Vatican stressed in its newspaper, the Osservatore Romano, that removing the excommunication by no means implies that the Catholic Church shares Williamson's anti-Semitic and Holocaust-denying views.
The statement was issued after Pope Benedict XVI last week lifted the excommunication of a traditionalist bishop, Richard Williamson, who has denied that 6 million Jews were murdered during World War II [see story HERE]. Williamson has also made comments endorsing the anti-Semitic forgery, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
The rehabilitation prompted a storm of outrage from Jewish groups [see story HERE].
In a recent interview on Swedish television, Williamson said that historical evidence "is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler." He cited what he called the "most serious" revisionists who he said had concluded that "between 200,000-300,000 perished in Nazi concentration camps, but not one of them by gassing in a gas chamber."
On Monday, the head of the Italian bishops' conference, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, defended Benedict's decision to rehabilitate Williamson. But he decried Williamson's views as "unfounded and unjustified."
The German Bishops' Conference also denounced Williamson's views. "We object in the strongest terms to this explicit denial of the Holocaust," Bishop Heinrich Mussinghoff, the head of a commission at the German Bishops Conference responsible for relations with Jews, said in a statement.
----
Pope decision to rehabilitate Holocaust-denying bishop sparks Jewish-Catholic row
By Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1058524.html
Last update - 25/01/2009
Pope Benedict is still due to visit to Israel in May, an Israeli official said on Sunday, despite angering Jews worldwide by re-admitting a bishop who has denied the full extent of the Nazi genocide of six million Jews.
The Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum and Memorial in Jerusalem decried as
"scandalous" Benedict's decision to lift excommunications on British-born bishop, Richard Williamson, who has said there were no gas chambers and only 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps in World War Two.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor, said, however, the pontiff's planned visit in May to Israel was not in doubt. "This has nothing to do with relations between states," he said.
The Israeli museum's fury marked another step in the row between the Catholic Church and world Jewish groups, who were outraged by announcements of the rehabilitation.
"The reinstatement is an internal Church matter...[however] denial of the Holocaust not only insults the survivors, memory of the victims, and the Righteous Among the Nations who risked their lives to rescue Jews, it is a brutal attack on truth," Yad Vashem said in a statement.
A senior official in the Jewish Agency on Sunday also slammed the decisions, calling it a "scandal."
"It is something we cannot understand," said Amos Hermon, head of the Task Force Against Anti-Semitism at the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency.
Bishop Williamson was one of four traditionalist bishops to have his excommunication lifted Saturday, just days after he was shown in a Swedish state TV interview saying that historical evidence is hugely against six million Jews having been deliberately gassed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
The four 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.
"Even if the revocation of the excommunication is unrelated to Williamson's comments regarding the Holocaust, what kind of message is this sending regarding the Church's attitude toward the Holocaust?" Yad Vashem wrote. "Although we understand that Williamson's statements do not represent the Church's stance, we continue to hope that the Church will vigorously condemn these unacceptable and odious comments."
Jewish groups denounced the Vatican for having embraced a Holocaust denier and warned that the pope's decision would have serious implications for Catholic-Jewish relations as well as the pontiff's planned visit to the Holy Land later this year.
"I do not see how business can proceed as usual," said Rabbi David Rosen,
Jerusalem-based head of interrelgious affairs at the American Jewish Committee and a key Vatican-Jewish negotiator late last week.
He called for the pope or a senior adviser to issue a clear condemnation of all Holocaust denials and deniers.
Shimon Samuels of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Paris said he understood the German-born pope's desire for Christian unity, but said Benedict could have excluded Williamson. He warned that his rehabilitation will have a political cost for the Vatican.
"I'm certain as a man who has known the Nazi regime in his own flesh, he
understands you have to be very careful and very selective," Samuels said.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Williamson's views were absolutely indefensible. But he denied that rehabilitating Williamson implied that the Vatican shared them.
"They are his personal ideas ... that we certainly don't share but they have nothing to do with the issue of the excommunication and the removal of the excommunication," Lombardi told AP Television News.
----
Jewish leaders urge Pope not to rehabilitate Holocaust-denying bishop
By Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1058212.html
Sat., January 24, 2009 Tevet 28, 5769
Jewish leaders on Friday urged Pope Benedict not to rehabilitate a traditionalist bishop who denies the Holocaust, saying it would foment anti-Semitism and open a deep wound in Christian-Jewish relations.
Italian media have said the pope could this weekend revoke the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops from the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) in his latest attempt to heal a 20-year-old schism in the Roman Catholic Church.
The rift became a crisis in 1998, when the late French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre illegally consecrated four bishops in defiance of the late Pope John Paul.
One of the four bishops, the British-born Bishop Richard Williamson, has made a number of statements denying the full extent of the Nazi Holocaust of European Jews, as accepted by most mainstream historians. In comments to Swedish television
broadcast on Wednesday, he said: "I believe that the historical evidence is hugely against 6 million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler...I believe there were no gas chambers".
Williamson said he agreed with "revisionists" who say that "between 200,000 and 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, but not one of them by gassing in a gas chamber".
Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, said the possibility that the pope would accept Williamson back into the mainstream church "has been received with shock and consternation".
"For the Jewish people and all persons who feel the pain of the terrible years of the Shoah, this development marks a dangerous blow to interfaith dialogue and encourages hate-mongers everywhere," he said.
Rome's chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, said he was "shocked by such a horror of denial, which is even more grave since it comes from a bishop".
Di Segni told the newspaper La Stampa that Williamson's re-admission into the Church would open "a deep wound in dialogue with Judaism".
The traditionalists bishops reject many reforms of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council, notably its decision that Mass should be said in local languages rather than Latin, and its advocacy of dialogue with other religions.
A statement from the traditionalists said the implication they are racist was "entirely false and unjust".
But it said the group had the right to "pray for conversion (of Jews) to the true faith, to study their recent and tragic history, or to question some of their political objectives".
At the end of the Swedish interview, William says he realizes he could go to jail for Holocaust denial in Germany.
Pope Benedict has already made several gestures of reconciliation to the schismatic group, including allowing the unconditional return of the old-style Latin Mass.
That move angered Jews because the ceremony includes a Good Friday prayer for their conversion.
----
Bishop Who Denied Holocaust Apologizes to Pope Without Retracting
Vosizneias.com
News Source BBC
Published on: January 31st, 2009
Vatican City - A UK-born cleric who denied the existence of Nazi gas chambers has apologised to the Pope for causing any distress - but without retracting.
Richard Williamson also thanked Pope Benedict for allowing him to rejoin the Roman Catholic Church after being excommunicated on an unrelated issue.
He apologised for his "imprudent remarks" in a Swedish TV interview.
Pope Benedict has reiterated his "full and indisputable solidarity" with Jews on the subject of the Nazi death camps.
He has been under pressure from Nobel Peace Prize winner and death camp survivor Elie Wiesel among others to distance himself from Mr Williamson, who was promoted to bishop along with others by the breakaway Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre of France.
Mr Williamson, who lives in Argentina, blogged his apology in an open letter to Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, the mediator between the Vatican and the breakaway Catholic faction.
"Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of you to accept... my sincere regrets for having caused to yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems," he said.
He made no mention of the Holocaust in the brief letter.
In an interview with Swedish TV, he had said: "I believe there were no gas chambers... I think that two to three hundred thousand Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps but none of them by gas chambers."
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, contacted by AFP news agency, refused to comment on the content of the letter, saying only: "The Vatican has asked nothing of Monsignor Williamson, who is not an 'ordinary bishop' of the Catholic Church."
Mr Williamson and three other "bishops" whose excommunications were lifted are members of the Society of St Pius X, which was founded by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1970 as a protest against the Second Vatican Council's reforms on religious freedom and pluralism.
The late Archbishop Lefebvre made them bishops in unsanctioned consecrations in Switzerland in 1988, prompting the immediate excommunication of all five by the late Pope John Paul II.
When it recently lifted their excommunication, the Vatican said the four men had been asked to recognise the authority of the Pope and the Second Vatican Council.
----
German-born pope under fire in his homeland over tolerance of Holocaust denial
By Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1061193.html
Last update - 03/02/2009
Nearly four years after a rare outburst of national pride over the election of a German pope, Germans are falling out of love with Pope Benedict because of his rehabilitation of a bishop who denies the Holocaust.
Prominent Catholics, politicians and newspaper commentators in Joseph Ratzinger's homeland are pulling no punches in their criticism of his lifting of the excommunications of four bishops, including one who denies the extent of the Holocaust.
In a rare move, even Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized him, saying that the Vatican must make clear that it does not tolerate any denial of the Holocaust.
"I do not believe that sufficient clarification has been made," Merkel said.
"Worldwide criticism of the Pope," read the front page of top-selling German daily Bild which devoted most of its second page to the furore. It was a stark contrast to the jubilant "We are the pope!" headline in April 2005 to celebrate his election.
"The pope has made a serious mistake. That he is a German pope makes the matter especially bad," read its editorial.
"Pope Benedict XVI is inflicting great damage on Germany... The pope must correct his mistake, reverse his decision and excuse himself," it said, in comments echoed by other papers.
Former foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher wrote in the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung: "Poles can be proud of Pope John Paul II. At the last papal election, we said "We are the pope!" But please -- not like this."
The Vatican on Tuesday moved quickly to counter any suggestion that the pope has been unclear in his stance on the Holocaust. "The pope's thinking on the subject of the Holocaust has been expressed very clearly," said Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi.
He cited Benedict's visit to a synagogue during his first visit to Germany as pope in 2005, a visit to Auschwitz in 2006 and his remarks during last week's general audience.
Lombardi quoted from what he called the pope's unequivocal words at that public audience. "I hope that the memory of the Shoah leads humanity to reflect on the unpredictable power of evil when it conquers the heart of men," he quoted the pope as saying. "May the Shoah be a warning for all against oblivion, against denial or reductionism."
Lombardi said that during the audience the pope himself clearly explained the purpose of lifting the excommunication, which has nothing to do with any legitimization of positions denying the Holocaust, which were clearly condemned by Benedict.
More than 60 years after the end of World War Two, Germans are still struggling to come to terms with the legacy of the Holocaust, in which Nazis deliberately killed 6 million European Jews, and relations with the Jewish community are highly charged.
Last week, Germany's Central Council of Jews said it was breaking off ties with the Catholic Church over the pope's move.
The rehabilitated bishop at the centre of the storm is Richard Williamson, who belongs to the ultra-traditional Society of Saint Pius X and denies the extent of the Holocaust.
Last month, the British-born bishop told a Swedish broadcaster he believed there were no gas chambers and no more than 300,000 Jews perished in concentration camps.
Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany and state prosecutors in the southern city of Regensburg are investigating Williamson for incitement. German neo-Nazi websites and blogs have published contributions supporting Williamson's stand.
In his commentary, Genscher argued that Ratzinger, forced to join the Hitler Youth as a boy though his parents opposed the Nazis, was making a habit of offending non-Catholics.
He has shown little respect to Protestants and angered Muslims by hinting Islam was violent and irrational in a 2006 speech in Regensburg, Genscher said.
"This is a deep moral and political question. It is about respect for the victims of crimes against humanity," he wrote.
Other politicians joined in and in an unusual intervention Chancellor Merkel, daughter of a Protestant pastor, called on him to make clear he rejected any Holocaust denial.
"It is a fundamental question if, through a decision by the Vatican, the impression arises that the Holocaust can be denied," she said, adding she wanted the pope to issue a clarification.
The pope has also faced harsh criticism from German Catholics. Hamburg Archbishop Werner Thissen was quoted as saying the decision risked undermining trust in the church.
Cardinal Karl Lehmann, former chair of Germany's Catholic bishops' conference and head of Germany's 26 million Catholics, has described the affair as a catastrophe. Others say it has exposed flaws in the pope's detached governing style.
"It's an unforgivable mistake, and also a political error that Swiss, German and French bishops' conferences, where most people of the brotherhood live, were not informed beforehand," widely respected theologian Hans Maier told Vatican Radio.
----
Cardinal slams Pope for restoring bishop who denied Holocaust
By Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1061178.html
Tue., February 03, 2009 Shvat 9, 5769
The cardinal in charge of relations with Jews has acknowledged that the Vatican handled the rehabilitation of a Holocaust-denying bishop very badly and complained that Pope Benedict did not consult him.
"There wasn't enough talking with each other in the Vatican and there are no longer checks to see where problems could arise," said Cardinal Walter Kasper in a blunt interview with Vatican Radio's German program, broadcast on Monday night.
Benedict on Jan. 24 lifted the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops, including Richard Williamson, a Briton who denies the full extent of the Holocaust, to try to heal a 20-year-old schism in the Church.
Among those who condemned Williamson and the pope's decision were Holocaust survivors, progressive Catholics, members of the U.S. Congress, Israel's Chief Rabbinate, German Jewish leaders and Jewish writer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.
Vatican sources and officials had said privately the decision was taken without wide consultation. Kasper, who was left in the dark, appeared to be venting his frustration.
"Of course, explaining something after the fact is always much more difficult than if one did it right away. I would have also liked to see more communication in advance," said the cardinal, who like Pope Benedict is German.
"I'm watching this debate with great concern. Nobody can be pleased that misunderstandings have turned up. Mistakes in the management of the curia (Vatican administration) have certainly also been made. I want to say that very clearly," he said.
Leading Catholic commentators have said the Williamson affair shows fundamental flaws in Benedict's governing style.
"This and other controversies point to a fatal systemic flaw in the Benedict papacy that is destroying his effectiveness as pope: He does not consult experts who might challenge his views and inclinations," said Father Tom Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.
"He is surrounded by people who are not as smart as he is and who would never think of questioning him."
Father Eberhard von Gemmingen, head of Vatican Radio German service, said: "There are obviously shortcomings in the Vatican's organization and communications ... Such a misunderstanding and debacle must never happen again."
Williamson told Swedish television in an interview broadcast on Jan. 21: "I believe there were no gas chambers". He said no more than 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, rather than the 6 million accepted by mainstream historians.
He later posted on his blog a letter apologizing to the pope for the "unnecessary distress" he caused him but he did not take back the comments. Jews said the apology was not enough.
The controversy has led many to take a closer look at the traditionalist group, the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), its view of Jews and its future place in the Church.
Traditionalists reject most of the teachings of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council. One of its key documents, "Nostra Aetate" (In Our Times) repudiated the concept of collective Jewish guilt for Christ's death and urged dialogue with all major religions.
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Vatican: Holocaust denier must recant
AP
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3666849,00.html
Published: 02.04.09
Day after German chancellor calls for clear rejection of Holocaust denials, Vatican demands bishop who denied Shoah recant before being fully admited to Roman Catholic Church.
Pope Benedict XVI reportedly unaware of bishop's views when lifting excommunication
The Vatican demanded Wednesday that a bishop who denied the Holocaust recant his positions before being fully admitted into the Roman Catholic Church.
The Vatican also said in a statement that Pope Benedict XVI didn't know about Bishop Richard Williamson's views when he agreed to lift his excommunication and that of three other ultraconservative bishops January 21.
The statement was issued by the Vatican's Secretariat of State a day after German Chacellor Angela Merkel urged the pope to make a clearer rejection of Holocaust denials, saying there hadn't been adequate clarification from the Vatican.
Williamson was shown on Swedish state television days before his rehabilitation was made public saying historical evidence "is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed" during World War II.
Williamson subsequently apologized to the pope for having stirred controversy, but he did not repudiate his comments, in which he also said only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews were killed during World War II and none were gassed.
The Holy See said when it announced the rehabilitation of the bishops January 24 that removing the excommunication did not mean the Vatican shared Williamson's views. But Jewish groups voiced outrage and demanded that Williamson recant his views.
In the statement Wednesday, the Vatican said that while Williamson's excommunication had been lifted, he still had no canonical function in the church because he was consecrated illegitimately by Lefebvre.
"Bishop Williamson, in order to be admitted to episcopal functions within the church, will have to take his distance, in an absolutely unequivocal and public fashion, from his position on the Shoah, which the Holy Father was not aware of when the excommunication was lifted," the statement said.
In addition, the Vatican said that the society as a whole must fully recognize the teachings of Vatican II and the teachings of all the popes who came during and after it in order to have a legitimate canonical function in the church.
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Top cardinal: Vatican botched Shoah affair
Reuters
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3666160,00.html
First Published: 02.03.09
Cardinal in charge of relations with Jews says in radio interview that Catholic Church handled rehabilitation of Holocaust denying Bishop Richard Williamson badly, adds he was not consulted by Pope Benedict
The cardinal in charge of relations with Jews has acknowledged that the Vatican handled the rehabilitation of a Holocaust-denying bishop very badly and complained that Pope Benedict did not consult him.
"There wasn't enough talking with each other in the Vatican and there are no longer checks to see where problems could arise," said Cardinal Walter Kasper in a blunt interview with Vatican Radio's German program, broadcast on Monday night.
Benedict on January 24 lifted the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops, including Richard Williamson, a Briton who denies the full extent of the Holocaust, to try to heal a 20-year-old schism in the Church.
Among those who condemned Williamson and the pope's decision were Holocaust survivors, progressive Catholics, members of the US Congress, Israel's Chief Rabbinate, German Jewish leaders and Jewish writer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.
Vatican sources and officials had said privately the decision was taken without wide consultation. Kasper, who was left in the dark, appeared to be venting his frustration.
"Of course, explaining something after the fact is always much more difficult than if one did it right away. I would have also liked to see more communication in advance," said the cardinal, who like Pope Benedict is German.
"I'm watching this debate with great concern. Nobody can be pleased that misunderstandings have turned up. Mistakes in the management of the curia (Vatican administration) have certainly also been made. I want to say that very clearly," he said.
'Fatal systematic flaw'
"This and other controversies point to a fatal systemic flaw in the Benedict papacy that is destroying his effectiveness as pope: He does not consult experts who might challenge his views and inclinations," said Father Tom Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.
"He is surrounded by people who are not as smart as he is and who would never think of questioning him."
Father Eberhard von Gemmingen, head of Vatican Radio German service, said: "There are obviously shortcomings in the Vatican's organisation and communications ... Such a misunderstanding and debacle must never happen again."
Williamson told Swedish television in an interview broadcast on January 21: "I believe there were no gas chambers". He said no more than 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, rather than the 6 million accepted by mainstream historians.
He later posted on his blog a letter apologising to the pope for the "unnecessary distress" he caused him but he did not take back the comments. Jews said the apology was not enough.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Pope Benedict XVI for a "very clear" rejection of Holocaust denial after he rehabilitated a bishop who questioned its existence.
Merkel said Tuesday that she does not believe there has been sufficient clarification after the rehabilitation of Richard Williamson, who questioned whether 6 million Jews were gassed. The German-born pope has expressed solidarity with Jews and warned against any denial of the horror of the Holocaust.
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Rabbinate cuts ties with Vatican
Reuters
http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3663261,00.html
Published: 01.28.09
Chief Rabbinate of Israel cuts ties with Vatican over pardon of Holocaust denier until apology is made, Vatican's position clarified. Survivor Eli Wiesel also comes out against pontiff's pardon of known Holocaust denying bishop, says slight may even have been 'intentional.' Pope reaffirms 'solidarity' with Jewish people
Reuters
The chief Rabbinate of Israel sent a letter to the Vatican saying that dialogue with Catholics could not continue as before "without a public apology from Bishop Williamson and recanting his deplorable statements".
The Rabbinate said it would not attend a meeting scheduled for March "until this matter is clarified".
Chief Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said he hoped the pope's words at the audience would be "sufficient to respond to the doubts expressed about the position of the pope and the Catholic Church" on the Holocaust.
Lombardi said he hoped the Israeli Rabbinate would now rethink its position and continue "fruitful and serene dialogue".
British-born Richard Williamson, one of four traditionalist bishops whose excommunications were lifted on Saturday, has made several statements denying the full extent of the Holocaust of European Jews, as accepted by mainstream historians.
Williamson told Swedish television: "I believe there were no gas chambers" and only up to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, instead of 6 million. His comments caused an uproar among Jewish leaders and progressive Catholics, many of whom said it had cast a dark shadow over 50 years of Christian-Jewish dialogue.
Pope Benedict has given credence to "the most vulgar aspect of anti-Semitism" by rehabilitating a Holocaust-denying bishop, said Elie Wiesel, the death camp survivor, author and Nobel Peace Prize winner.
In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Wiesel also said there was no way the Vatican could have not known about the bishop's past and it may have been done "intentionally".
"What does the pope think we feel when he did that? That a man who is a bishop and Holocaust denier - and today of course the most vulgar aspect of anti-Semitism is Holocaust denial - and for the pope to go that far and do what he did, knowing what he knows, is disturbing," Wiesel said by phone from New York.
"The result of this move is very simple: to give credence to a man who is a Holocaust denier, which means that the sensitivity to us as Jews is not what it should be," he said late on Tuesday.
"It's a pity because Jewish-Catholic relations, thanks to John XXIII and John Paul II, had never been as good, never in history," Wiesel said, referring to the popes who revolutionized relations with Jews after 2,000 years of persecution and mistrust.
Vatican 'had to know'
Asked if he believed it was possible that the Vatican did not know that Williamson was a Holocaust denier, Wiesel, who won the Nobel in 1986 and survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald, said, "Oh no! The Church knows what it does, especially on that level for the pope to readmit this man, they know what they are doing. They know what they are doing and they did it intentionally. What the intention was, I don't know."
Since the fury over the pope's decision to lift the excommunication, the Vatican has condemned Williamson's comments as "grave, upsetting (and) unacceptable", restating the Church's -- and Benedict's -- teachings against anti-Semitism.
Wiesel said he could not offer the Vatican any advice on how to put things right with Jews but something had to be done.
On Tuesday, Williamson's superior in the traditionalist movement publicly apologised to the pope and said William had been disciplined and ordered to remain silent on political or historical issues.
Pope Benedict on Wednesday reaffirmed his "full and unquestionable solidarity with Jews" in an attempt to relieve tensions with Jews after a Catholic bishop denied the Holocaust.
Speaking at his Wednesday audience, the pope said the attempt to exterminate the Jews in the Holocaust should remain a warning for all people.
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German Leader Talks With Pope About Holocaust
By RACHEL DONADIO
The New York Times
Published: February 8, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/world/europe/09pope.html?ref=world
ROME — Pope Benedict XVI and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany have had a “cordial and constructive” phone conversation, just days after Mrs. Merkel openly criticized the pope for rehabilitating a bishop who has denied that the Holocaust happened, the German government and the Vatican said Sunday.
Two weeks ago, Benedict provoked wide outrage by revoking the excommunications of four schismatic bishops from a traditionalist society, including one, Richard Williamson, who has said he does not believe the Nazis had gas chambers.
A joint statement issued Sunday by the Vatican and the chancellor’s office said that both the pope and Mrs. Merkel referred to Benedict’s Jan. 28 remarks condemning Holocaust denial and expressing solidarity with Jews.
A statement released Wednesday by the Vatican Secretariat of State called on Bishop Williamson to recant his comments. In a rare case of the Vatican’s diplomatic arm furthering remarks by the pope, the Secretariat of State also made clear that the traditionalist bishops would not be welcomed back into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church unless they accepted the liberalizing teachings of the Second Vatican Council.
Last week’s statement by the Secretariat of State seemed to repair relations with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which said it planned to continue its dialogue with the Vatican, according to the Chief Rabbinate’s director general, Oded Wiener. The body had asked to postpone a March meeting with the Vatican in protest.
Vatican officials are expected to meet Thursday with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, an umbrella organization.
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Holocaust-denier removed from Argentine seminary
Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5180FH20090209
Sun Feb 8, 2009
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An ultra-traditionalist Roman Catholic bishop who has drawn sharp criticism from the Vatican and Jewish groups for denying the extent of the Holocaust was removed as the head of an Argentine seminary, a Catholic Church official said on Sunday.
Pope Benedict angered Jewish leaders and progressive Catholics last month when he lifted excommunications on the bishop, Richard Williamson, and three other traditionalists to try to heal a 20-year-old schism within the Church.
The Vatican has since ordered the bishop to publicly recant his views questioning whether the Nazis used gas chambers and the number of Jews who died.
But Williamson, who is British-born, recently told Germany's Spiegel magazine he must first review historical evidence before considering an apology.
In a statement, Father Christian Bouchacourt, the head of the Latin American chapter of the Catholic Society St. Pius X, said Williamson had been relieved as the head of the La Reja seminary on the outskirts of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.
"Monsignor Williamson's statements do not in any way reflect the position of our congregation," it said.
The decision came hours after Pope Benedict and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who publicly criticized the pontiff for his decision to rehabilitate the bishop, spoke by telephone.
The two had a "cordial and constructive" conversation on the issue, the Vatican said.
The Vatican has been at pains since the excommunications of the four bishops were lifted on January 24 to contain damage provoked by Williamson's comments, which he made during an interview with Swedish television last month.
The Vatican has said Pope Benedict, who expressed his full solidarity with Jews, was not aware of Williamson's denial of the Holocaust when he rehabilitated the bishops.
(Writing by Kevin Gray, additional reporting by Silvia Aloisivy, editing by Vicki Allen)
Labels: Antisemitism in Great Britain, Holocaust, Holocaust denial, Holocaust deniar, Holocaust revisionism, Pope Benedict XVI, Roman Catholic Church, The Holocaust
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