Vatican rebukes bishop
<http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20090127_Vatican_rebukes_bishop.html>http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20090127_Vatican_rebukes_bishop.html Its newspaper, in a front-page article, said his Holocaust remarks were "unacceptable." By Nicole Winfield Associated Press VATICAN CITY - The Vatican said yesterday that comments by a recently rehabilitated bishop that no Jews were gassed during the Holocaust were "unacceptable" and violate church teaching. The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano reaffirmed in a front-page article that Pope Benedict XVI deplored all forms of anti-Semitism and that all Roman Catholics must do the same. The article was issued amid an outcry from Jewish groups that Benedict last week lifted the excommunication of a traditionalist bishop, Richard Williamson, who has denied that six million Jews were murdered during World War II. The Vatican has stressed that removing the excommunication by no means implied it shared his views. Williamson and three other bishops were excommunicated 20 years ago after they were consecrated by ultraconservative Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre without papal consent. Benedict has made clear that he wanted to reconcile with Lefebvre's traditionalist Society of St. Pius X and bring it back into the Vatican's fold. Lefebvre, who died in 1991, had rebelled against the Vatican and founded the society in 1969. He opposed the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, which brought liberal changes to the church. One of the key documents issued by Vatican II was Nostra Aetate, which said the church deplored all forms of anti-Semitism. The document revolutionized the church's relations with Jews. L'Osservatore said Benedict and his predecessors had all made clear the church's teaching on Nostra Aetate and said its contents "are not debatable for Catholics." Williamson's statements, broadcast last week in a Swedish interview, "contradict this teaching and are thus very serious and regrettable," it said. In the interview, Williamson said historical evidence "is hugely against six million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler." Williamson praised Benedict's decision as a "great step forward for the church." In a blog from his base in La Reja, Argentina, he thanked the pope for issuing the decree despite what he said was a "media uproar orchestrated and timed to prevent it." <*}}}>< <http://astore.amazon.com/halthekin-20>Catholic on Amazon <*}}}>< <*}}}>< <http://www.holypostage.com/>Holy Postage <*}}}>< <*}}}><<http://www.halfthekingdom.org/>Half the <http://www.halfthekingdom.org/>Kingdom!<*}}}>< + "The fruit of abortion is nuclear war" - Bl. Mother Teresa + <*}}}>< <http://astore.amazon.com/halthekin-20>Catholic on Amazon <*}}}>< <*}}}>< <http://www.holypostage.com/>Holy Postage <*}}}>< <*}}}><<http://www.halfthekingdom.org/>Half the <http://www.halfthekingdom.org/>Kingdom!<*}}}>< + "The fruit of abortion is nuclear war" - Bl. Mother Teresa + --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Please note that I do not send or open attachments sent to this list. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Catholics on Fire" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Catholics-on-Fire May the blessing of Jesus and our Blessed Mother be with you -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
