The Vatican demands that UK bishop Richard Williamson, whose excommunication was partially lifted, must publicly recant his Holocaust-denialist statements.This was the demand issued by the Vatican in an official statement on Wednesday.
Bishop Williamson, who belongs to the ultra-conservative group Fraternita’ San Pio, (Pius X brotherhood) only wrote an apology in his blog
Dinoscopus in which he merely 'begged forgiveness for his insensitive remarks.'
However he did not recant his Holocaust-denialism in this written 'apology' at all. The Vatican said in a statement Wednesday that they did demand an immediate and very public, recant from the UK bishop.
Williamson would have to do this before he could 'perform any official duties in any capacity for the Vatican.'
see Dutch news report from De Telegraaf newspaper
Williamson, who belongs to the Pius X brotherhood, of whom four controversial members had their previous excommunication orders partially lifted by the Pope earlier this week, said among other statements, which can be widely seen on YouTube videos:
"I believe that the historical evidence is strongly against six-million Jews having been gassed in the gas chambers, I believe there were no gas chambers, ' he said. "I have studied the evidence. Revisionists conclude that between 200,000 to 300,000 Jews died in concentration camps, and not in gas chambers.'
[b
](see his further explanation about the 'scientific aspects' he based this belief on in the interview on the video above).
German chancellor Angela Merkel, Dutch foreign affairs minister Maxime Verhagen and other Western leaders this week called on the (German) Pope to very clearly denunciate Williamson's claims and to force the British bishop to recant these Holocaust-Revisionist statements as publicly as he had done when making them. They are widely available on YouTube.
The Pope also said the following about this matter after his audience on February 4, speaking in Italian
"...I decided several days ago to grant the remission of the excommunication to which the four Bishops, ordained in 1988 by Archbishop Lefebvre without a Papal mandate, were subject. I fulfilled this act of paternal compassion because these Bishops repeatedly manifested their active suffering for the situation in which they had found themselves.
" I hope that this gesture of mine will be followed by
an earnest commitment on their behalf to complete the necessary further steps to achieve full communion with the Church, thus witnessing true fidelity to, and true recognition of, the Magisterium and the authority of the Pope and the Second Vatican Council.
"... in these days when we remember the Shoah (Holocaust), images come to mind from my repeated visits to Auschwitz, one of the concentration camps in which the heinous slaughter of millions of Jews occurred, innocent victims of a blind racial and religious hatred.
As I affectionately renew the expression of my full and unquestionable solidarity with our fellow receivers of the First Covenant, I hope that the memory of the Shoah will lead humanity to reflect upon the unfathomable power of evil when it conquers the heart of man.
"May the Shoah be a warning for all against forgetfulness, denial or reductionism, because violence committed against one single human being is violence against all. No man is an island, as a famous poet wrote.
"May the Shoah especially teach both old and new generations that only the arduous path of listening and dialogue, of love and forgiveness leads peoples, cultures and religions of the world to the desired goal of fraternity and peace in truth. May violence no longer degrade the dignity of man."
see
In the Netherlands today - where many Catholics are influential captains of industry - Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen responded positively to the Vatican's statement. He had called in the Vatican ambassador in The Netherlands last week and urged to take a message to the Pope that Williamson had to publicly recant his Holocaust-denialism.
Father Carlo de Beer, speaking on behalf of the Pius X brotherhood in The Netherlands also agreed with the decision.
"A public mistake must be recanted publicly, '' he told De Telegraaf newspaper.
Resigned from Catholic Church in protest:
However cultural theologian Jean-Pierre Wils of the Radboud University in Nijmegen says the papal viewpoint 'does not go nearly far enough. It's inadequate and awkward,' he said. Wils felt so strongly about the matter that he has now officially announced his resignation as a member of the Catholic church.
Meanwhile Marcel Poorthuis, a specialist in Jewish-Catholic relations at Tilburg University, also felt that the pope should 'take further step to regain the trust in the church's integrity.' He slammed the Pius X brotherhood as 'heavy fundamentalists'.
Bishop Van Luyn of Rotterdam on the other hand, said he 's convinced that 'the Pope did not know about Williamson's holocaust-denialist statements when he decided to lift the excommunication orders against the Pius X brotherhood.
