< Back to front page Text size – +

Bishop apologizes for Holocaust remarks

E-mail|Link|Comments (4) Posted by Michael Paulson February 26, 2009 12:25 PM

Bishop Richard Williamson, whose assertion on Swedish Television that the Nazis did not use gas chambers to kill Jews has caused an enormous controversy for the Vatican, has issued an apology of sorts. Here is the text, from the traditionalist Catholic blog Rorate Caeli.

"The Holy Father and my Superior, Bishop Bernard Fellay, have requested that I reconsider the remarks I made on Swedish television four months ago, because their consequences have been so heavy.
Observing these consequences I can truthfully say that I regret having made such remarks, and that if I had known beforehand the full harm and hurt to which they would give rise, especially to the Church, but also to survivors and relatives of victims of injustice under the Third Reich, I would not have made them.

On Swedish television I gave only the opinion (..."I believe"..."I believe"...) of a non-historian, an opinion formed 20 years ago on the basis of evidence then available and rarely expressed in public since. However, the events of recent weeks and the advice of senior members of the Society of St. Pius X have persuaded me of my responsibility for much distress caused. To all souls that took honest scandal from what I said before God I apologise.

As the Holy Father has said, every act of injust violence against one man hurts all mankind.

+Richard Williamson
London, 26 February 2009."

Williamson is a bishop of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X -- he is not recognized as a bishop by the Vatican, because he was ordained without Vatican permission in 1988. But his excommunication, along with that of three other SSPX bishops, was lifted recently by Pope Benedict XVI as a first step in an attempt toward reconciling the schismatic Society with Rome.

(Photo, by Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP, shows Bishop Richard Williamson being escorted out of Heathrow airport in London yesterday after being expelled from Argentina.)

« Back to front page

4 comments so far...

The lifting of excommunication for SSPX members is conditional on their acceptance of all Church teachings, including the reforms of Vatican II and its pronouncements on the Jews.

The goal of the gesture by the pope is Christian unity, a concept threatening apparently to mainstream media outlets that love to distort his words, and virulent anti-Catholics who read them with equally hateful fervor.

If the Globe spent nearly as much energy covering the words from the Iranian Mullahs, Saudi clerics and even Imams in the UK, as they do the pope, I wonder what the readers would think.

Posted by Steve February 26, 09 01:50 PM

He neither disavowed his remarks, indicated that he has changed his opinion,nor acknowledged the normative reading of history and the living and material relics of the Second World War. He merely indicated that had he known how poorly his remarks were to be received, he would have kept them to himself. "Of sorts" indeed. Time for the Pope to show some responsibility.

Posted by I can read English February 26, 09 01:53 PM

I agree with Steve, the media have been trashing the Church over Williamson's remarks. But the Mullahs, Saudi Clerics, and Imams have been saying much worse against the Jewish for years with virtually no backlash or media coverage.

Attacking the Muslim faith is politically incorrect while attacking the Catholic church is supposedly great journalism. Our media is full of anti-Catholic hypocrites.

I also think that Williamson's apology is weak at best. He should not be recognized as a bishop until he properly recants apologizes for his foolish statements.

Posted by Rob A February 26, 09 02:04 PM

I agree with Read English and Steve, this is obviously a pseudo-apology from a pseudo-bishop.

But I also agree with Steve and Rob that: enough already! This whacko has already gotten more than his Warholian 15 minutes of fame. The Pope has strongly and unequivocally condemned Williamson's words. 'The other blog entry about Cardinal Kasper coming to Boston is an extremely high-level response. Should we make an exception to Catholic doctrine and execute the b%@#%rd? He made his remarks 4 months ago; the Pope said he hadn't heard about them. There might have been 10 people in Sweden watching such a show; is the Pope of a billion Catholics to be held responsible for something said on East Podunk Cable access channel? Williamson is about as representative of Catholicism as Bernie Madoff is of Judaism, or David Koresh of Americans.

What makes me sad is that apparently not enough trust has yet been built up into the Catholic-Jewish relationship, that such a non-event could seem to roil the waters so much. As Steve said above, the most important dogmatic statements of respect and even love of Judaism by Catholicism are found in the documents of Vatican II (1962-65), and are shared by 99% of the Catholics of the world. We consider the documents of the 21 Councils as "guided" by the Holy Spirit, which is only one step down from the "inspired" Bible. These doctrines cannot and will not change.

Posted by gaudete February 26, 09 05:55 PM

You must be logged in to submit a comment.

This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.

Blogger

Michael Paulson covers religion for The Boston Globe. He shared in the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, won the Mike Berger, Templeton and Supple awards in 2008, and is a four-time winner of the Wilbur Award.
E-mail mpaulson@globe.com.

Articles of Faith on Twitter

Follow GlobePaulson on Twitter

views

Harvey Cox, the Hollis professor of divinity at Harvard University, marks his retirement by asserting a little-used right of his professorship -- to graze a cow in Harvard Yard. Photo, by Barry Chin of the Globe staff, taken on Sept. 10, 2009 in Cambridge, Mass.