Kasper, in Braintree, speaks of Holocaust

Condoms increase the risk for AIDS and other STDs. The Holocaust didn't happen. Molesting young children isn't all that bad.

And the Catholic Church wonders why people have lost faith?

Are they all morons?

Ignorance and Hate is alive and well with Bishop Richard Williamson. My parents were holocaust survivors, having lived in various concentration camps, including Auschwitz, Dachau and Bergen Belsen for over 6 years. All and only because they were born of Jewish descent. My parents were the only known survivors of their respective families, because most of their loved ones, including parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins etc. were gassed in the gas chambers. My mother's story is on video. I thank God for her bravity in telling her story to her family and to the world.

I have no idea why the Pope would revoke the excommunication of people who deny the holocaust happened. An incredibly insensitive move by a supposedly intelligent individual.

BRAINTREE _ With a touch of flickering flame to the top of a bronze candelabrum, a top Vatican official today sought to reassure the Jewish community that there is no room in the Catholic church for anti-Semitism or Holocaust denial.

I am quite sure that Mr. Paulson does not believe that it is only "with a touch of flickering flame" that Cardinal Kasper, and through him, the entire Catholic Church, seeks to reassure the Jewish community of its 100% condemnation of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. Much more important than that flickering
flame are the teachings of the 2nd Vatican Council and every subsequent official Catholic teaching, that anti-Semitism is a grave sin, if for no other reason than it impugns salvation history, which comes through the Jewish people, especially the Messiah, Jesus and his mother, Mary. It surprises me that still into the 21st century, our beloved Jewish neighbors need reassurances of our love, and that we consider freaks like Williamson et al. to be marginalized, insane crackpots as representative of Catholicism as Timothy McVeigh is of Americans. At a certain point, a level of trust should develop, wherein one party (here, the Jewish people) should say "hmmm, this does not accord with Catholic Christian teaching or practice, there must be something amiss; I will go to my friend Bishop or Cardinal such and such, there must be a rational explanation, something behind the scenes which i don't see."

And the Anti-Defamation League is recognizing the Armenian Genocide when?

Gaudete,
That's all well and good, but Jewish people (and others) will continue to need assurances due to the all the wackos (i.e. revisionists) out there who want to argue specifics of the atrocities (namely the existence of gas chambers and lack of a documented final solution plan detailing the eradication of Jews). Future generations need this reinforcement as well, most notably from the highest levels of the Catholic church. And with all that's going on in current events with Israelis and Palestinians, anti-zionists (I'm looking in your direction BG Globewatcher) just love to argue the historical record under the guise of historical accuracy.

Regarding comment 5, didn't they already recognize it? See:

http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3440382,00.html

Check out why Bishop Williamson believes the way he does.
Nazigassings.com
May he knows something you don't...

Why would the Pope reinstall cardinals who deny the Holocaust? Well this Pope was a member of the Hitler Youth, was he not?

"O'Malley, who organized the event, called the Holocaust "the greatest act of inhumanity ever perpetrated on this planet,''

No Cardinal, the greatest act of inhumanity ever perpetrated was the KILLING of JESUS CHRIST on the CROSS. I'm a catholic and it really upsets me that a catholic bishop could make such a statement. That shows that he either doesn't really know his faith or that he is more concerned about making people "feel good" than telling the truth. The killing at the Nazi's camps were horrible and should have never happened but IT WAS NOT "the greatest act of inhumanity ever perpetrated on this planet." And all those of you out there trying to make the Holocaust become a dogma of the Catholic faith. Give up, it is no going to happen! A Catholic doesn't have to recognize the so called "holocaust" to be Catholic the same way that the Jews are not obligated to believe that Jesus is the Son of God to be Jews.

can this subject possibly be blown out of proportion any more...who cares. Jews get over it...move on.

Paulo,
The belief in Christ by Catholics is fundamental to that religion. You're missing the point here. The point of this whole article is the Catholic church standing side by side with their Jewish bretheren and denouncing Holocaust denial and anti-semetism. Surely you don't have a problem with that? It should go with out saying, for Christians, that Jesus died for your sins. What do you think he would have to say about the Holocaust? That his death was any worse?

"The point of this whole article is the Catholic church standing side by side with their Jewish bretheren and denouncing Holocaust denial and anti-semetism."

Eric,

The main problem is that the many Jews (not all) and a few others seems not to be satisfied with anything. It doesn't matter how many apologies they get. They are just never satisfied. Why don't we see more Jews like Rabi Thomas Paul Moses Baum http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/irwin_kula/2009/02/jewish_reaction_to_pope_dispro.html how says that the Jewish reaction to the Pope is disproportionate??? Why didn't this statement make the headline news??? Well, because it is no convenient for the anti-catholic media. Also, the Holy Father has done enough to condemn the killing of the Jews in the Nazi camps as you can see in the following links:
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0900414.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/12/pope-condemns-holocaust-d_n_166277.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/world/europe/13pope.html

Come on. Enough is enough!!!!

Don't get me wrong. The two people that I most love in my life are Jews. Jesus Christ and Mother Mary. ;-)

Ps. Yes, Jesus' death was much worst simply because he had no sin and was God who made himself man to come and save us and he was REJECTED by his own people. The holocaust of the unborn babies caused by the abortion industry is also much worst because it is an ongoing thing that has killed HUNREDS of MILLIONS of people worldwide!

M_S:
"Why would the Pope reinstall cardinals who deny the Holocaust? Well this Pope was a member of the Hitler Youth, was he not?"

I just wanted to clarify that the Pope did not reinstall Williamson as a bishop or Cardinal. He lifted an excommunication that was from an unrelated issue. He was ordained a bishop without the Pope's consent which is why he was excommunicated. When that was lifted, the Pope clearly stated that Williamson holds no post or authority in the Catholic church and will not until he recants his statements about the Holocaust.

Also, while the Pope was a member of Hilter Youth, all boys aged 14 at the time were required by law to join. He resented being a member and did not attend many meetings. He and his father were strongly opposed to the Nazis because it conflicted with their Catholic beliefs. At age 16 he deserted the Nazi troops and returned home.

Gaudette wrote:
"It surprises me that still into the 21st century, our beloved Jewish neighbors need reassurances of our love,"
Why should this be of surprise when the Pope--the head of the RCC himself--decides to re-embrace an outspoken holocaust survivor?
Moreover, your assertion that Vatican II provides sound defense against antisemitism made me chuckle. This current Pope has for decades (when he was Cardinal Ratzinger and was the official "defender of the faith") attempted to rollback the "updating" of the church brought on by the second Vatican Council.

Bishop Williamson was correct. There is no forensic or empirical evidence that there were "homocidal gas chambers" at any of the German administered camps. This is a fallacy, perhaps the greatest mankind has ever known. And no, I'm not anti-semitic. I'm pro- veracity.

Doesn't surprise me that I submitted a comment 3 hours ago and it hasn't been published yet. Once again the anti-catholic media doing its "thing" to silence any voice raised against it. Clap! Clap! Clap!

Somethings never CHANGE!!!!

Ps. I hope the moderator publishes my previous message otherwise I will publish a video on youtube that will clearly show that I sent a reply about 3 hours ago and that Boston.com was unwilling to publish it so that it could continue its anti-catholic campaign. As always...

M_S: All German kids were required to be a part of the Hitler Youth; nothing he could have done about that. You have to remember, the Jews were not the only people who were opressed by the Nazis. Being half-Polish and Catholic, my whole family would have been persecuted, if not murdered, as well.

"Bishop Williamson was correct. There is no forensic or empirical evidence that there were "homocidal gas chambers" at any of the German administered camps. This is a fallacy, perhaps the greatest mankind has ever known. And no, I'm not anti-semitic. I'm pro- veracity."

Hey Helen, you confirm why people, in general, are evil, and your statement illustrates why the Holocaust happened in what was considered at the time a very sophisticated and enlightened society in Germany. And you are anti-semetic. I bet you believe noone has ever walked on the moon because you've never been there yourself.

To those anti-semitic, Holocaust history denier posters out there, who keep bringing up statements like "why isn't there the same uproar against the Armenian massacre" ? The rank and file of the world who are half well read acknowledge and denouse the Turks for their butchering of the Armenians. Shame on internantional organizations for not beating Turkey over the head to make an official apology, but people have to keep raising a stink to their own elected officials to raise the issue with Turkey. But to deny or diminish the Jewish Holocaust as not the worst case of genocide is to illustrate your ignornance about why it was so evil: in the case of the Turks, they were not considered a particularly civilized society at the time; the Turks could be considered to have the potential for such evil as they committed against the Armenians. But the insideous fact about the Jewish Holocaust is that it was perpetrated by what was considered one of the most advanced and cultured societies of the day, and that it was an act of one neighbor trying to extinguish the entire culture of another neighbor. Particularly in Germany, Jews were part of society, integrated as much as any other culture (although anti-semitisim was always lurking). Jewish German men fought alongside their Protestant and Catholic fellow German citizens in World War I. To think German society would launch such a calculated, industrialized murder campaign agaist fellow citizens, and export this effort it to countries they exported and find willing accomplices in said conquered countries, in such a current period of history (ie: the phone, radio, airplanes, etc. all existed- it was a pretty advanced time)- is so chilling. We have to think that such an act is more than likely, than less likely, to occur again in the future as to be on guard to vigorously challenge those who deny history.

The issue is not wheather the Holocaust happened. Thats missing the point. The point is if we as a global society need to remember what has happened so that we can prevent that from happening again.

Unfortunatly it has happened since then in Cambodia, Sudan, Baglisdesh, Kosovo. So those who say get over it, we have not because it reoccurs. If you go to the Holocaust memorial in Washington this is what we are reminded of and it purpose

Robroy,
While fighting a world war on two fronts, do you really believe the Nazis would waste the time, money and resources just to gather up jews, put them on trains, travel them 100's of miles, bed them, feed them, cloth them, delouse them, just so they could kill them in the least most practical way (gassing)?

This is the stupidest fight going today. You have to be kidding. It amazes me that the wisdom of the bible (both testaments) is completely lost on most people who have ever walked the face of the earth. Yes, Jesus was a Jew, he might have been any religion on earth, it doesn't matter. Yes, he was given up by his friends and the Jews. His story is one of sacrifice and love, it doesn't matter who betrayed him. That he was betrayed, is all that matters. The actors could have been anyone, in any time, as long as they are man. The story and the lesson is what God has provided. The story would be much different if it had no antagonist! Don't you get it? It was predestined, created by GOD for YOUR benefit. That's it. It's THE lesson, THE example of human love, of fatherly love. That's it.

I just don't understand why this is so complicated for people. It wasn't complicated for Christ. It was the simplest lesson, so simple a child could understand it.

All you want to talk about is who did what to whom. Distractions.

Who really cares what the catholic church cares about anything.

I might also mention, that the Jews would be well served by dropping the whole us and them world view and start testifying on behalf of all the people who were murdered under the Nazis, specifically the Russians, Poles and others who were also killed in those same death camps. This was a human tragedy. If this tragedy is narrowly defined as a Jewish one, then it will not serve as an adequate reminder to all. Silly.

P.S. Germans are not inherently evil. There is a tendancy in man to move away from his own divinity to live the good life in a group setting- just ask Adam. Fear is a real problem for us humans.

Hey Tom,

After you finish your date with Helen, can the both of you write a letter to be published in the Globe that outlines all of your evidence to back up your assertions that the Holocaust never happed as you posted above, to be reviewed by your peers. In fact, I bet you are willing to assert World War II never happened; its just a small skirmish that the history books have blown out of proportion so that publishers of history books can make lots of money- right?

Hippydippy,
First off, not everyone grew up in your Church or believes in the things you do. I respect your beliefs just as you should respect mine. Jesus symbolizes a faith for over 1 billion people on this planet. I understand that. I for one do not believe he was anything other than a Jew that died under a common Roman form of execution, the crucifix. I would not begin to argure with you on this point as it is a matter of faith and if believing in this makes you a better person I'm all for it.

Jews have every right to single themselves out in the atrocity that was the holocaust just as they were singled out by the Nazis. Sure others were unfortunately included, but by and large the focus was the eradication or Eurpoean Jewery. They were not trying to eliminate all Russians or all Poles, but they were trying to eliminate ALL Jews. See the difference? Perhaps not. Check with your Pope, he sees the difference. Jews have always been and will always be seen as different. Why, I do not know. They are the only people where their religion is an ethnicity. Jews also make up 0.2% of the world population so if they do not speak up for themselves, who will?

Mr. Paulson,
Every time you post articles about the Holocaust there are inevitably those deniers and revisionists who come out of the wood work. You put a stop to another thread which involved the same topic which was starting to get a little out of hand. I would closely monitor this one as well as people get brave when hid under the cloak of anominity. This one is shaping up to get ugly quickly.

Hey hey Robroy,
Your assertion of WWII is too moronic for a rebuttal, and the same goes for your statement about Helen and I believing the 'Holocaust never happening'. And by the way, why did you capitalize the letter 'H' when you spelled 'holocaust'? I didn't know a one time word meaning 'mass killings' has been changed and is now the name of an historical event, an event so taboo that no major media outlet would dare to publish the findings and evidence of a revisionist (which answers your second stupid point)

Tom,
The Holocaust or holocaust IS the name of a historical event. Say the word and ask people what they associate it with and most if not everyone will say WWII, Nazis, Jews being killed. Not Armenia or Sudan or any other mass killing. That's the way it is. I agree it is taboo to deny it happened or to offer up a revisionist account of what transpired. Illegal in fact in 13 countries. I don't necessarily agree with this restriction but that's they way it is. I do not know why you would even want to refute the history as you bring no research of your own to the table, just conjecture and hypothesis based on your imagination. Why don't you talk to a living witness of the event. How can you argue a first hand account after all? There are still some out there. Tell them your ideas. Tell them it didn't happen or there weren't gas chambers or that the numbers reported are overstated. Or continue to be the ignorant person you are.

Tom, your criticism of Robroy for capitalizing Holocaust with reference to the World War II Nazi genocidal campaign is simply wrong. Lowercased, holocaust means a whole burnt offering ( from the Greek holos, whole, and kaustos, burnt), and by extension agreat destruction of life, especially by fire. Capitalized, it refers to the unique event of the Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jews in World War II -- just as in the United States the Civil War refers to our North-South conflagration over slavery in the 1860s or the Constitution refers to the federal constitution of the United States.. Check any dictionary. You will find Holocaust (capitalized) as defining that World War II event.