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Holy See demands Williamson retract before full communion

Published: February 05, 2009

The Vatican Secretariat of State has said that Pope Benedict was unaware of Bishop Richard Williamson's Holocaust minimising positions prior to lifting his excommunication and has demanded that the SSPX prelate recant his views prior to full communion.

The statement was issued by the Vatican's Secretariat of State a day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the pope to make a clearer rejection of Holocaust denials, saying there hadn't been adequate clarification from the Vatican.

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 of St Pius X as a whole must fully recognise 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.

SOURCE

Vatican: Holocaust denier must recant (International Herald Tribune)

'Holocaust bishop' told to recant(BBC News)

 

 

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Recent Comments

  1. Congratulations and blessings on all those people who work tirelessly to present evidence of the very real Holocaust.
    This is in contrast to alleged traditionalists who give most traditionalists a bad name by minimising or denying the facts. Denial of history on issues such as this seem to approach one of the sins against the Holy spirit ( "resisting the known truth"). To resist the KNOWN and KNOWABLE truth is not traditional.
    Some 'traditionalists' have created a false tradition all of their own.

    Posted By: Michael Webb

  2. It's not just a case of the subject matter which this Bishop denied, it's the mentality of someone who would do so.
    The issue of the Holocaust relates to matter of fact. It's way past opinion.
    The Bishop's denial....or minimalisation...is almost equal to a belief in a flat earth.

    Haven't there been calls for psychological testing of people seeking to be clerics or religious in the Church?

    I saw the footage of this Bishop being interviewed by the BBC.
    If he were applying for a secular job, alarm bells would ring, because of his behaviours in expressing himself & communicating.

    Posted By: Marie H

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