German court fines SSPX Bishop Williamson for denying Holocaust
Ultra-traditionalist Catholic bishop Richard Williamson was fined 6,500 euros Monday by a German court for publicly denying the Holocaust in 2009, a court spokesman said. British-born Williamson, 71, who belongs to a controversial Catholic splinter group, the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), was appealing a 2010 fine of 10,000 euros for telling Swedish TV that no more than 300,000 Jews perished in the Holocaust.
He also denied in the interview the existence of gas chambers at Nazi concentration camps. Holocaust denial is a hate crime in Germany. Consensus among historians is that the Nazis killed six million Jews in the Holocaust.
Williamson’s statements became an embarrassment for the Vatican which readmitted him after a 22-year excommunication only days following the interview. In his 2010 book, Light of the World, Pope Benedict XVI said he would not have lifted the ban on Williamson if he had known of his far-right views, adding that the Vatican’s poor communications in the matter was a “total meltdown.”
German prosecutors demanded increasing the fine to 12,000 euros during the appeals process.
Read the full story by Kalina Oroschakoff here.
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Jewish group urges pope to shut Holocaust denier Williamson out again
A Holocaust survivors group urged Pope Benedict on Saturday to ban an arch-traditionalist bishop from the Catholic Church because he hired a lawyer close to neo-Nazi groups to defend him in court in Germany. Bishop Richard Williamson, one of four rebel bishops re-admitted to the Church in January 2009, recently hired a far-right lawyer to conduct his appeal against a 12,000 euro fine imposed last year for denying the Holocaust.
His ultra-traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), which is now negotiating its return to the Church with Vatican officials, also threatened to expel Williamson from its ranks if he did not distance himself from the lawyer.
Williamson’s re-admission to the Church only days after he denied the Holocaust on Swedish television sparked protests across Europe and created major problems for Pope Benedict, especially with Jewish groups outraged by the move.
In a book due out next week, Benedict says he would not have lifted the 22-year excommunication ban on Williamson if he had known of his far-right views. The pope said the Vatican’s poor communications in that row was a “total meltdown.”
“Holocaust survivors call on Pope Benedict to categorically assert moral authority and reinstate the excommunication of Bishop Williamson which was lifted last year,” Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, said in a statement. “Williamson’s grotesque comments denigrating the tragedy of the Holocaust are now compounded by his engaging a notorious right-wing extremist as his lawyer.”
The SSPX issued a statement saying the society’s leader, Bishop Bernard Fellay “has expressly ordered Bishop Williamson to withdraw this decision (to hire the lawyer) and not let himself be used by political theses that have absolutely nothing to do with his tasks as a Catholic bishop in the service of the society.”
The Catholic Church has not had the will to remain true to its beliefs for many years. It is too committed to keeping its numbers up and is struggling to maintain sufficient numbers of leaders.
And it is not just the Holocaust deniers it cannot afford to purge, , or those who say the word of the Pope is NOT the word of God and choose to believe they can decide what is right and moral for themselves in disagreement with the Pops and still call themselves Catholic (that used to be called Protestant).
THEN there are also the many priests and other leaders and workers if they cleared out the child molesters.
Yup, , the Church is hurting.
Condoms, Pius XII, sex abuse and other main points in pope book
Pope Benedict says in a new book, Light of the World, that condoms may be used in certain limited cases to prevent the spread of AIDS. He also addressed several issues facing the Church in the book, which is based on a long interview with German Catholic journalist Peter Seewald.
Here are some of the main points in the new book:
* CONDOM USE – Pope Benedict says the Church does not see condom use as “a real or moral solution” to the AIDS problem. But it could be justified in some cases, such as a prostitute who uses one to reduce the risk of infection and thus take responsibility for his actions (see an excerpt here).
* SEXUAL ABUSE SCANDALS – Recent scandals of sexual abuse of minors by priests were “an unprecedented shock,” even though he had followed the issue for several years. He adds he can understand why people would quit the Church in protest.
* WILLIAMSON – The Vatican did not know in January 2009, when it lifted excommunications on four ultra-traditionalist bishops, that one of them was a Holocaust denier and would not have done it for him if it had known, the pope says.
* PIUS XII – The wartime Pope Pius XII, who critics accuse of not saving Jews during the Holocaust, was “one of the great righteous men (who) saved more Jews than anyone else.”
* PAPAL RESIGNATION – The pope indicates he would be ready to resign voluntarily if he were “no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office,” thus becoming only the second to do so since Celestine V in 1294.
Bishop Williamson says Vatican-SSPX talks “dialogue of the deaf”
Bishop Richard Williamson, the ultra-traditionalist prelate whose denial of the extent of the Holocaust created an uproar in the Catholic Church and with Jews early last year, has said the discussions at the Vatican to rehabilitate his Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) are a “dialogue of the deaf.” Williamson, one of the four SSPX bishops whose bans of excommunication were lifted by Pope Benedict only days after his controversial views were aired on Swedish television, said the two sides had “absolutely irreconcilable” positions.
In a 15-minute interview posted on the French video-sharing website Dailymotion, Williamson discussed a number of issues with a man identified by the Paris Catholic daily La Croix as a minor French far-right politician named Pierre Panet. When asked about the negotiation under way at the Vatican to reintegrate the once-shunned SSPX into the Roman church, he said in fluent French:
“I think that will end up as a dialogue of the deaf. The two positions are absolutely irreconcilable. 2+2=4 and 2+2=5 are irreconcilable. Either those who say 2+2=4 renounce the truth and agree that 2+2=5 — that is, the SSPX abandons the truth, which God forbids us to do — or those who say 2+2=5 convert and return to the truth. Or the two meet halfway and say that 2+2=4-1/2. That’s wrong. Either the SSPX becomes a traitor or Rome converts or it’s a dialogue of the deaf.”
Williamson’s negationist views of the Holocaust caused such an uproar early last year that the head of the SSPX, Bishop Bernard Fellay, issued a gag order for him. It was so embarrassing for Benedict that he had to issue a letter to Catholic bishops around the world explaining his decision. Williamson was quickly removed from his post as head of the SSPX seminary in Argentina and sent home to Britain, where he lives in an SSPX home in the Wimbledon section of London. Asked about his life there, he said with dry British humour: “This is an unexpected but quite agreeable sabbatical year.”
Asked how he spends his days, he said: “Dormir et manger” (sleeping and eating), as well as writing his blog Dinoscopus, which was quickly turned into a private blog after the controversy last year.
When Panet asked for his views about Israel, Williamson said: “Many people think this state is legitimate, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is.”
La Croix quoted a Rev. Jacques Masson, a former member of the SSPX, as saying of Williamson: “He belonged to the group that was the most intransigent with Rome. I suspect that they pushed (SSPX founder) Archbishop (Marcel) Lefebvre to harden his line and finally go into schism.” The SSPX, which rejects the Second Vatican Council and the Catholic Church’s reconciliation with the Jews, broke from Rome in 1988 when Lefebvre disobeyed Pope John Paul and consecrated four bishops, including Williamson. Pope Benedict lifted the excommunications in 2009 and the negotiations with the Vatican aim at finding a way to reintegrate these traditionalists into the Church.
I work on the basis that Mr Wilensky is a nice man, an honest man who writes in good faith and then I say to him and to all who will listen that the Catholic Church has not repudiated any previous doctrines. In that, he is simply wrong. Now, admittedly from many years ago I know Bp Williamson whom I judge not only to be a nice man but also a highly intelliegnt and truthful man. I do not say his is preserved from all error – so he can, indeed, be wrong – but I have never heard of him erring in terms of the doctrine of the Faith. What he says may be unpalatable to some but the bitterness of some orange juice does not mean that it is not orange juice. It does not cease to be orange juice because I do not think it sweeet enough. I choose whether I drink it or not, of course, just as each must decide (if he has enough true knowledge and judgement) whether he accepts the entireity of the Catholic Faith or not. The Doctrine of the Faith is not a pick-and-mix candy stall. You take the prescribed package – assembled over the millenia, you assent to it and you are a Roman Catholic. Refuse it, abjure it, fail to teach it, pervert it, adulterate it and you are something else – you are not a Roman Catholic although you may be a neo-modernist ‘bishop’ of a new church that denies its past, and thus denies itself. Simple. No difficulty there. Bishop Williamson simply passes on what he has received. That is what a Bishop does. He who does not do that is at fault, not Bishop Williamson.
UPDATE: SSPX to ordain new priests despite Vatican warning
The Vatican warning to the ultra-traditionalist SSPX not to ordain new priests this month without Roman approval had no discernible effect on the rebel Catholic group. Soon after the Vatican declared the ordinations would be illegitimate, Father Yves Le Roux, rector of the SSPX’s St Thomas Aquinas seminary in Winona, Minnesota, said the ordination of 13 new priests there would go ahead on Friday.
“Absolutely. We are doing it,” he told our Vatican correspondent Philip Pullella by telephone. “This is something the Vatican feels it has to say. It’s a political statement but the reality is totally different.”
The SSPX seminary at Zaitzkofen, in the German state of Bavaria, declared its intention to go ahead with its June 27 ordinations in a statement posted on its website on Monday (here in German original and in English). It argued that Pope Benedict’s decision in January to lift the excommunications of the four SSPX bishops was a “confidence-building measure for the coming theological discussions with representatives of the Holy See” meant to thrash out an official position in the Church for the SSPX.” Further ordinations are due at the SSPX headquarters in Écône, Switzerland on June 29.
Defying a papal warning against ordaining new priests before its official status was clarified seems to be the opposite of a confidence-building measure on the SSPX’s part. As the BBC’s David Willey put it in his report from Rome tonight, Pope Benedict “gave them an inch and they took a mile.”
So the SSPX has thrown the ball back into the Vatican’s court. The Vatican statement said “the ordinations should still be considered illegitimate” and “doctrinal and, consequently, also disciplinary questions still remain open.” That leaves open the option of a further reaction from Rome, or possibly from Regensburg Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller. Or there might be no reaction, just that curious Vatican silence that caused it such trouble after the Regensburg speech and the readmission of the Holocaust-denying SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson. That would leave the narrow issue unresolved and pose wider questions about Pope Benedict’s leadership.
This article is so wrong. The SSPX is NOT outside the church. I am of the Society, and we are under the Holy Father, despite what anyone might say. One day you’ll all see that the SSPX has the only true Catholic Churches after all… God bless everyone. xx
SSPX set to push the envelope against the Vatican again
The ultra-traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), recently in the headlines for having a Holocaust denier as one of its four bishops recently readmitted to the Roman Catholic Church, looks set to push the envelope with Rome again by ordaining 21 new priests in three different countries on June 27.* Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller of Regensburg, the German diocese where the SSPX seminary at Zaitzkofen plans to ordain three of those men, has declared the planned ordinations a violation of Church law and has urged the Vatican to warn the SSPX not to go through with them. He told Bavarian Radio on Sunday that he hadn’t heard back from Rome yet and would bring up the issue with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) personally on his next monthly trip there.
*CORRECTION: Not all will be ordained that day — 13 priests will be ordained in Minnesota on June 19.
In the subtle ways of the Vatican, a non-response from Rome to a bishop’s query is like the yellow signal on a traffic light. It’s neither yes nor no, in that vague way that says if it’s not openly forbidden, one might be able to live with it, but, uh, we don’t want to put that in writing, so over to you. The question now is whether the Vatican will opt to live with this latest challenge to its authority.
The Vatican has made several concessions to the SSPX, the biggest being the lifting in January of the 1988 excommunications of its four bishops. This meant they were back in good standing as Catholics, but they had no official function as bishops and therefore (presumably) should not use their episcopal privileges without permission from their ecclesiastical superiors. But once the uproar over the Holocaust denials by SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson died down, the SSPX announced it would go ahead with the planned ordinations — three in Zaitzkofen, 13 at the St Thomas Aquinas Seminary at Winona, Minnesota and the rest at the SSPX headquarters at Ecône, Switzerland. “The benevolent act of the Holy See cannot be interpreted as a desire to asphyxiate the Society of St. Pius X,” it said in a statement.
Pope Benedict, in an extraordinary mea culpa letter after the uproar over Williamson, called the lifting of the excommunications a “discreet gesture of mercy” and “a gesture of reconciliation.” He then asked: “Can it be completely mistaken to work to break down obstinacy and narrowness, and to make space for what is positive and retrievable for the whole?” He said that welcoming back other rebel communities had “changed their interior attitudes” and “enabled them to move beyond one-sided positions and broke down rigidity so that positive energies could emerge for the whole.” So Benedict seems to see the lifting of the excommunications as a magnanimous gesture that would be matched by more flexibility from the steadfast SSPX.
In an June 1 interview with Vatican Radio, Bishop Müller said he contacted the Zaitzkofen seminary after learning of the planned ordinations. “I told them the ordinations violated canon law and that, in such a precarious situation, one must let Rome say how to proceed … One must simply suspend everything until this society’s position in canon law is cleared up. In the letter the society wrote to the pope in January, it said it fully accepted the pope’s primacy … they are not prepared to accept the consequences.”
On Bavarian Radio, he said the CDF “should say, in a theologically clear way, that both those seeking and those performing the ordinations are not acting legally and the ordinations are therefore not allowed, even if they are formally valid.” He said he wanted to ask the prefect of the CDF, Cardinal William Levada, about this.
Thank you to the SSPX to have started the Restauration of the Holy Church,to have saved the Tridentine Mass of all time.Yes, the SSPX is a truly Catholic Society that is obedient to the Pope,that PRAYS for the Pope at every Tridentine mass,that has a picture of the Pope in all sacrities,that says the 3 Hail Marys at the end of all low masses,that prays for the Pope in all Benedictions.These ordinations(this month) have been planned months ago,they are an annual event world-wide.I have no doubt that the new priests are seen by the modernists as a threat…what else can it be ? The SSPX is helping the Holy Church to stay afloat,after having saved the Tridentine mass from extinction. My money is on the SSPX and its wise,patient, gentle, firm, and learned Superior-General,H.E.Bishop B.Fellay.
Vatican statement accompanying papal letter to bishops
The Vatican’s official spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi S.J., has issued the following statement on the letter Pope Benedict has sent to Roman Catholic bishops around the world about the controversy over the readmission of four excommunicated ultre-traditionalist bishops to the Church. In view of the controversy surrounding that step and the Vatican’s admittedly clumsy handling of its announcement, we wanted to run the statement in full below. Again, any comments on how you see this controversy are welcome.
The difficult commitment to reconciliation
The “Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church concerning the remission of the excommunication of the four Bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre” is definitely an unusual document and deserves all our attention. Never before in his Pontificate has Benedict XVI expressed himself in such a personal manner and intensity on a controversial subject. There isn’t the slightest doubt: this Letter bears his mark, from beginning to end.
Official text of pope’s letter to bishops on Williamson affair
The Vatican published today the official text of an unprecedented letter Pope Benedict has sent to Roman Catholic bishops around the world explaining his reasons for readmitting four ultra-traditionalist bishops to the Church and his dismay at the uproar caused by the Holocaust denial of one of them, British-born Bishop Richard Williamson. Papal protocol usually keeps a safe buffer around the pope, shielding him from the rough and tumble of daily disputes, but Benedict broke with that tradition to write about his dismay at the Williamson controversy, admit it was mishandled and reveal how isolated he was from information anyone could easily find on the Internet. Given its unusually personal nature, we reprint it here. The text and translations into other languages are available in the Vatican’s daily bulletin.
Do you find this convincing? Should he have said more? Or should this now close the Williamson controversy?
LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI
TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
I do empathize the dilemma the Pope is experiencing at this point in time. He cannot please everyone whether the traditionalists or the liberals. The Pope is now experiencing the Passion of Christ where his very own people condemns and hate him. But I do believe that God is with him. The Church through the Pope is guided by the Holy Spirit to what is true and just. The successor of Peter is given the keys of the kingdom of heaven such that whatever he binds on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever he loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. It is Peter whom Christ had prayed that he may strengthen his brothers.
Pope Benedict XVI has the first hand understanding about Vatican II which has been misinterpreted by both the traditionalists and liberals. Both of them must understand that Vatican II Council did not abrogate the Council of Trent down to the Council of Jerusalem. Vatican II must be interpreted and understood in light of the Church’s tradition and not as an isolated act otherwise all of us will be misled. For both the traditionalists and liberals, Vatican II is just an approach on how to deal the modern world that advocates tolerance without sacrificing the truth that our forefathers had believed. The Church cannot impose its belief to others since we are now on the age where people has the right to believe what he wants to believe. However, the Church will not allow that nonbelievers would remain unbelievers, and our separated brethren would remain separated forever. In light of this scenario, the Church has to plant its seeds on this people through ecumenical dialogue by capitalizing the beliefs which we share in common with other denominations and religions. The Vatican II decided to reform the mass such that the Priest must now faces the congregation and allow the people to participate the mass, and use a language that the Congregation understands.
On the other hand, the Church never abandoned its tradition which it believed and preached for several centuries. The Church still maintains the gesture of the Tridentine Mass and still gives emphasis on reverence to the Eucharist and condemns any abuses committed in the liturgy. Vatican II did not intend to tolerate liturgical abuses. Neither did it intends to do away from tradition.
As to the mass apostasy, precisely this was the reason why Vatican II was convened. It was not the Vatican II that caused the mass apostasy as what the traditionalists would like to put it. Since the time of Martin Luther, many had fallen away from the faith. False Prophets had proliferated. They preached another gospel to misled the faithful. The ideology of relativism dominated the world and the people no longer knows what is right and what is evil. How do we deal with this? The answer was Vatican II Council.
I hope all Bishops, Priests and lay persons will understand the Pope’s action which is just a response to the Call of Christ for oneness, just as the Father and Jesus are one. Instead of questioning the Pope, let us instead help him that he may be able to fulfill his mission as the Vicar of Christ – to feed the lambs, tend the sheep and feed the sheep. Pax Tecum
Tens of thousands sign petitions backing or criticising pope
Tens of thousands of people have signed petitions either backing or criticising Pope Benedict for readmitting ultra-traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson into the Roman Catholic Church. The supporters are ahead in statistical terms, but this isn’t really a representative sample so it’s hard to draw any firm conclusions. It does give some idea, though, of how much interest the issue has created.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung in Munich reports today that about 30,000 people, including many theologians, have signed a petition criticising the readmission of ultra-traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson and urging Pope Benedict to defend the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The petition (here in English translation) was launched by the lay reform movement Wir sind Kirche (We are Church), which the SZ says will present it to German bishops holding an assembly in Hamburg next week.
Searching on the support side, I found a French-based petition claiming 47,222 signatures so far. It praises Benedict for lifting the excommunications of the four SSPX bishops and adds: “By this brave gesture, You acted (as) the Good Shepherd of the flock entrusted to You by God.” The site includes a “letter of encouragement” by Rev. Régis de Cacqueray, head of the large French chapter of the SSPX, and sports a selection of logos from traditionalist websites — mostly not SSPX — supporting the petition.
One other petition that popped up on a google search was on the website of the French Catholic weekly La Vie, this one critical of the move as its title signals: “No negationists in the Church.” It doesn’t tally its figures but it has 90 intellectuals as initial signatories and over 6,000 comments from readers.
Any other petitions like this out there?
What a horrible example to set. Welcoming back a person who denies mass killings! No wonder pedophiles had such free rein in the church. It seems these nut cases have more compassion for abusers and bigots than honest, good people.
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Resident FaithWorld Expert
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I wonder if hitler would have readmitted the ghosts of 6 million Jews to life?
Yes sure, ugh
Benedict was born in 1928 and grew up in the nazi era. He learned his lessons well in their hitler youth core, even if he was drafted.
Just note that now that this issue has been exposed, we have all these complicated lies appearing.
The church will do anything to preserve its money and power. Its been reported that Williamson has about 600,000 neo nazi followers.
The church needs the money to pay off the victims of the endless hidden molestation of children.