[presidio9]

The author of this article seems to be laboring under the assumption that Popes have the power to excommunicate men for ignorance. And like a lot of Anglicans these days she is very preoccupied with a reconciliation between the two churches. She should start by understanding the limits of Papal authority.

[Perdogg]

ping

[Mr. Lucky]

Golly, did you know that the Holocaust was the result of Christian anti-semitism?

[mnehring]

Wasn’t Williamson excommunicated for unlawful (church law) extra-church consecrations in an attempt to make some sort of antisemitic bastard offshoot of the Church? It wasn’t that he was excommunicated for ignorance, he was trying to create basically, a neo-Nazi type church sect.

[StonyMan451]

Exactly!

Whether or not Hitler tried to exterminate all the Jews is not a matter of faith. It is a matter of history. The pope cannot excommunicate people for ignorance of history.

[livius]

Williamson is a nutcase and has rejected several overtures from Rome. I think Rome will go ahead with this one, the other bishops will accept, he won’t, and that’s how they’ll finally get rid of him.

But I see the attack dogs have been called out. Why is it so important to the left that this reunion between a relatively obscure movement, from a world stage point of view, and Rome be prevented or disparaged?

[Alberta's Child]

If Benedict XVI goes ahead with lifting the excommunication in spite of Bishop Williamson’s comments, that will in turn wreak havoc on more than 40 years of attempts to rebuild relations with the Jewish community after nearly two millenniums of Christian anti-Semitism culminating in the Holocaust.

Williamson's excommunication had nothing to do with his statements about the Holocaust, so they will have nothing to do with the Vatican's decision about whether or not his excommunication is lifted.

And no, "Christian anti-Semitism" had nothing to do with the Holocaust, either.

[Zetman]

The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) is for the most part very good, from what I have heard. There may be some wacko’s in the group (who should be dealt with), but if you look at left-wing of the Church as a whole (80% to 90% of the Church!!), the libs certainly seem to have the SSPX beat in the wacko department!! Strangely, one never sees stories of this type in the mainstream media about the lefties.

The Catholic Church is currently at war with itself, as the liberals try to take over once and for all, similar to what is happening in the Anglican Church. Anytime a Conservative part of the Catholic Church (frequently, but not always, people associated with the Traditional Latin Mass) is presented in the media, they are always presented in some sort of negative light. Such seems to be the case with the SSPX.

The SSPX is technically in schism from the Church (although there is a lot of debate about that too, but I will leave that discussion to others!!). Hence, I have stayed away from their Chapels. However, I have heard very good things about them from Catholics who DO elect to attend their Chapels on occasion. They run schools and seminaries all over the world, and were in full communion with the Church until about 20 years ago. They have done a lot of good work out in the world. It would be good to have the SSPX back in the fold, as they are a large organization, and a Conservative one, and we will need them for what lies ahead (militant Conservative Christianity seems to be so lacking nowadays).

The liberals within the Church, of course, know all of this too. The last thing they want are more Conservatives in the Church, and rather militant ones at that. It is expected that the left will oppose the lifting of the excommunications with every weapon in their arsenal. However, the Pope is the Pope, and he can do as he sees fit.

In addition, there might be even more politics at work here, beyond what I mentioned above. There are those within the SPPX itself who DO oppose reunion with the Church, because they really have gone off the FAR deep end on the right side of the pool (or so I have read). They feel that they represent the Church in exile. One writer on the Web yesterday suggested that Williamson is one of these, and wishes to prevent the SSPX from coming back into communion with the Church. That writer suggested that Williamson gave this interview on purpose, to try to scuttle a reunification that he does not want to happen.

So who knows?? We will probably never know the full truth. One thing for certain is that too many people in this situation seem to have some sort of agenda they are trying to push (mostly on the left). My overall feeling is that it would be good to have the SSPX back in the fold, as long as they are willing to play nice within the hierarchy, like all Catholics are supposed to (it is mainly the liberals who feel they are exempt from this!!).

It will be interesting to watch this unfold. If the excommunications are lifted, and the SSPX returns to full communion, I may even pop over to their local Chapel myself to attend Mass.

Pray the God's will may be done in this, and in all situations.

[rmlew]

The Pope may do as wishes religiously. I think it would behoove him and the Church, for this former conscript of the Hitler youth to denounce the non-religious historical lunacy of the Holocaust denier.
It is wrong to blame the type of traditional Catholic anti-Jewish beliefs for the Holocaust (see post #26). But it is undeniable that interpretations which have led to SSPX's belief that Jews are evil enemies of society who should be segregated certainly make extermination viable. Frankly, I consider SSPX to be an insult to the memory Pope Puis X and I cannot understand why Pope Benedict would allow the return of unrepentant schismatics.