Posted on 01/30/2009 10:11:08 PM PST by appleseed
A Catholic traditionalist bishop who recently had his excommunication lifted by Pope Benedict XVI expressed regret Friday to the pontiff for the "distress and problems" he caused by denying the Holocaust.
In a letter to the Vatican, Bishop Richard Williamson, who recently denied in a TV interview that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, called his remarks "imprudent."
"Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of you to accept, only as is properly respectful, my sincere regrets for having caused to yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems," Bishop Williamson wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I remember as a kid growing up that I saw films of the atrocities, and this was most certainly before the digital age where you can make anything look exactly like it is not. So, to any idiot that would deny the historical footage of, well, anything, you do not have my apoligy, or respect, or absolution, the fact that the pope gives it to this dolt infuriates me. I think the pope is being a dope. It’s the same thing as apoligizing to AQuamaniadenijab for thinking hat he thinks.
Chet don’t play that.
Imprudent?
How about an act of extreme ignorance? How about an act of extreme insult, both to Jews and the Pontiff? How about an act of extreme self-destruction?
What is this guy, 12?
Now will the Pope have the courage to excommunicate Nasty Pelosi?
There is destruction here, but I'm not sure if its the Bishop, or the media:
In a letter to the Vatican, Bishop Richard Williamson, who recently denied in a TV interview that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, called his remarks "imprudent."
This could be a set up. The implication in this statement is that he denied Jews were killed. But literally the articles statement only claims he denied a specific number (6 million) were killed. I am suspicioius about a media that for the last few years have been studiously slanting the news to form a moral equivlence between Islamic radicals and decent people.
As far as I know at this point, the guy may have been nuts, or he may have thought 5.7 million was a better estimate than 6 million and then the drive-by media assinated his character by hyped implication.
The Pope lifted an excommunication. The excommunication was originally put in place because the SPPX had become formally schismatic, and now - they are not.
Their revisionist beliefs about the Shoah played no part in their excommunication, and they play no part in it being lifted.
A Rabbi has every right to criticize Holocaust deniers - but he doesn't get a say in who may be a member of the Universal Church.
He has publicly stated that he believes that roughly only 300,000 Jews died in the war... and that there were no ‘death’ camps.
Get a clue. The Pope isn’t “forgiving” this bishop for his Holocaust denial, but is rescinding his excommunication for having been in rebellion against the Church. In order to have the excommunication removed, the bishop has place himself once again under the authority of the Pope and the Church, which most emphatically does NOT deny the Holocaust.
“Imprudent?”
Nice word choice. Translation=I wish I hadn’t said it but I stand by those thoughts.
“Get a clue. The Pope isn’t “forgiving” this bishop for his Holocaust denial, but is rescinding his excommunication for having been in rebellion against the Church. In order to have the excommunication removed, the bishop has place himself once again under the authority of the Pope and the Church, which most emphatically does NOT deny the Holocaust.”
You can understand though how politically it was not a very smart move on the Pope’s part.
To His Eminence Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos
Your Eminence
Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of you to accept, only as is properly respectful, my sincere regrets for having caused to yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems.
For me, all that matters is the Truth Incarnate, and the interests of His one true Church, through which alone we can save our souls and give eternal glory, in our little way, to Almighty God. So I have only one comment, from the prophet Jonas, I, 12:
“Take me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”
Please also accept, and convey to the Holy Father, my sincere personal thanks for the document signed last Wednesday and made public on Saturday. Most humbly I will offer a Mass for both of you.
Sincerely yours in Christ
+Richard Williamson
Hey, mayby I’m a dolt, but how is it that any member of a certian clegy could absolve something that flies in the face of what thier supposed to be about? Maybe I’m an idiot, I always thought that if you think that the hundreds of thousands of Poles, Lugans, and others that died alongside the Jews was absolute evil in our time, and for some person that in my opinion is a dolt, to say elstwise or whatever, and, in the end get forgiveness, I for one would like to hear this persons sermon, for I think I would reject it. I admit I have not heard it, but there are so many idiots out there that I have to generally side on a certain sort of decency, and devide my time, “Excommunicated from the Catholic Church” , to me means bad stuff. Power to you if you like this guy, I don’t have the time to “Reconcile”.
Where does it say anything about the Pope "absolving" the Bishop?? Removing excommunication is NOT absolution, all it does is recognize that the former Catholic is once more a member of the Church.
"Maybe I’m an idiot, I always thought that if you think that the hundreds of thousands of Poles, Lugans, and others that died alongside the Jews was absolute evil in our time, and for some person that in my opinion is a dolt, to say elstwise or whatever, and, in the end get forgiveness, I for one would like to hear this persons sermon, for I think I would reject it.
Being a dolt doesn't prevent one from being Catholic (or any other religion, for that matter.
"I admit I have not heard it, but there are so many idiots out there that I have to generally side on a certain sort of decency, and devide my time, “Excommunicated from the Catholic Church” , to me means bad stuff. Power to you if you like this guy, I don’t have the time to “Reconcile”."
What you really mean is that you can't be bothered to actually think through and understand the situation. The Bishop wasn't excommunicated because of his views on the Holocaust, and the excommunication wasn't removed because of his views on the Holocaust, but because he rebelled against the Church. To rejoin the Church, he has to put himself once more under Church authority, and acknowledge all that the Church teaches and believes. And one thing that the Church teaches is that the Holocaust was real. Or did you miss that the Pope has REQUIRED him to recant and apologize for any such statements??
...expressed regret Friday to the pontiff... In a letter to the Vatican, Bishop Richard Williamson, who recently denied in a TV interview that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, called his remarks "imprudent.""I'm sorry I got caught." Thanks ChetNavVet, missed this one.
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