Pope Should Excommunicate Holocaust-Denying Bishop Williamson

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I am aghast at the comments here that minimize the evil of Richard Williamson's remarks & the damage done to Christian-Jewish relations. Holocaust denial is sinful because its intent is to deny that a sin occurred in order to avoid having to examine culpability. Denial is the perpetrators' first defense against taking responsibility for their actions. Holocaust denial further dehumanizes the victims of these murders & genocide by implying that there must be something wrong or sinister about the victims of the crime. Otherwise, why would they make "false accusations" against "innocent" people? As a Christian (non-Catholic) I join the good-willed of the world in demanding that Pope Benedict take the strongest actions possible against Williamson. The Pope has demanded that he recant his views (not just his statements) or he cannot perform any priestly functions, which nullifies his status as Bishop. If he chooses not to recant, his followers in the Society of Pius X will be required to either continue to follow him as roque unauthorized bishop or reaffirm thier Catholicism. The Lord works in mysterious ways. The world will now see where these Christians stand on the evils of the Holocaust. We must not be so naive as to think that people & societies are not capable of such evil. We are, and we must confront this reality, repent & seek healing & reconciation. We must declare denial of the evil of the Holocaust to be evil itself. There is no room for equivocation in this case. I pray for enlightenment for the Pope & for Williamson's followers to not budge an inch in their total condemnation of Holocaust denial & deniers.

Jill Kerper Mora of CA 1:38PM February 05, 2009

Three questions:
1. What would have happened if Bishop Williamson had ‘denied’ the Shabra and Scatilla massacres, the recent merciless killing of Palestinians?
2. What would be the implications for the Jews and their western hangers on like Merkel if it turned out that the holocaust really is a hoax?
3. Lanzmann, the Jewish director of Shoa said that you can either believe in Christ of the Holocaust. How come so many Christians believe in the Holocaust?

Herbert Jackson 12:46PM February 05, 2009

The function of the Church is to bring people to the knowledge and belief in the One True God made incarnate in Christ Jesus.... The Jews were up in arms that our Pope freed the TRADITIONAL Roman Mass because it contains a prayer asking God for the conversion of the Jews.
That was 'bad' for Christian - Jewish relations... ! SO???? We are to fear God and not Man so the hell with Christian - Jewish 'relations if that means hiding our faith in the One True God and One True Religion!

Peter 12:34PM February 05, 2009

This fiasco concerning one man's opinions is so absurd. In this article, Bonnie Erbe doesn't know what the heck she's talking about(I can tell she's not Catholic). You can't excommunicate somebody for personal opinions about historical events (for example, what if someone denied the fact that Napoleon died on the island of St. Helena?) The holocaust is NOT "De Fide" in Catholicism. This bishop is wrong about the holocaust but you can't excommunicate someone connerning his opinions regarding things not of Faith or Morals (and by the way, he just said he thought the numbers were exaggerated some what!).

Devon of ME 12:26PM February 05, 2009

I feel he should be taken back in the church for voicing his opinion even though it differs from many people.
The reason is that the holocaust's true numbers in the causes of casaulties are exaggerated and misstated which was started by the propaganda during and following WW2. The mindset of the time was to stop the axis powers at the time. That meant convention and incidenary bombing of cities that killed 40,000 citizens in a single evening was acceptable. That meant if a soldier or pilot saw a farmer cultivating his crop he was fair game to kill (I saw a documentary of Chuck Yeager supporting this). The idea was preventing the axis from carrying on the war in any and all means possible, even if that meant shutting down their food supply.
My father survived WW2 as a boy in Poland. He was reduced to skin and bone, nearly a miracle he survived. He was NOT a prisoner of war, nor was he jewish or in a concentration camp. He was a normal civilian boy living in Poland at the time. There was extremely little food to be had...by anyone. At a time when he was catching pigeons for food to survive and others carving dead horses that lie on the roadside, one can imagine the lack of food and clean water in a prison camp of any kind.
With near-stavation diet you get diseases, infestations and general sicknesses that were typical of the time, especially in eastern europe (in 1918-1922 the typhus epidemic killed approximately 3 million people). History books rarely mention these as the main true causes of death in camps and only concentrate on the dramatics of nazis in uniforms and the huge killing camps that allegedly murdered millions of only jewish people.

Mark of CA 12:25PM February 05, 2009

here is something interesting. one third of the nazi psychiatrists came here to america to work and now living happily ever after. why not put the energy there of opposition

pat of OH 12:25PM February 05, 2009

Interestingly, there is a call for Bp. Williamson's excommunication for not being PC. No matter what evidence you are not allowed to question the veracity of the Holocaust as presented--not even if it were only a mild modification in numbers (say, 5.99 million). Even if stupid, Williamson merits excommunication while pedophile-hiding Bernard Law of Boston gets amnesty in the Vatican?
Excommunication is for serious breaches of morality and/or faith. Those openly heretical such as Hans Kung and those openly pederastic (too many to count), receive no calls for excommunication. They want the Vatican II establishment to reserve that for the politically incorrect.

Ralph Healey of NY 12:14PM February 05, 2009

The Church should not be able to be forced to excommunicate someone for their personal historical and political views. The Holocaust is not a matter of Faith or Morals. When other religions and religious leaders speak against the Catholic faith nothing is done. But suddenly the Pope is a bad guy for not squashing one controversial statement. What is the world coming to!

gabster of OH 12:11PM February 05, 2009

Why don't the Jews apologize for their own holocaust of Gaza. They used white phosphorous that burns down to the bone! They should clean their own house before pointing fingers.
Excuse me, but I think the Pope has said 1 trillion times that he does not accept what Williamson said! Point final.

Sean Weisner of MD 12:03PM February 05, 2009

You sometimes (perhaps often) get tone-deaf leaders in arrangements where, such as in Catholicism, ordinary followers are not permitted to elect the leader. Benedict was never the right guy and almost everyone knows it.

Muser of NM 11:49AM February 05, 2009