Bishop Richard Williamson apologizes for Holocaust comments

The ultra-conservative Catholic Bishop Richard Williamson, who was reinstated by Pope despite heavy criticisms, has written a public apology for his remarks denying the existence of the gas chambers and the Holocaust.

Bishop Williamson, who belongs to the ultra-conservative group Fraternita’ San Pio, wrote the apology today in his blog Dinoscopus and begged forgiveness for his insensitive remarks he said earlier. In the blog he wrote to his Eminence Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos:

Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of you to accept, only as is properly respectful, my sincere regrets for having caused to yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems.

For me, all that matters is the Truth Incarnate, and the interests of His one true Church, through which alone we can save our souls and give eternal glory, in our little way, to Almighty God.

In the blog, he also thanked the Pope for accepting him and his group after a 20-year separation from the main Catholic Church.

Please also accept, and convey to the Holy Father, my sincere personal thanks for the document signed last Wednesday and made public on Saturday. Most humbly I will offer a Mass for both of you.

But there is another controversy brewing in the Catholic Church. The Pope promoted another ultraconservative clergyman, Gerhard Maria Wagner, 54, to bishop. Wagner had called the Hurricane Katrina “God’s punishment” and criticized Harry Potter books for spreading “Satanism”.