Posted on 01/28/2009 2:25:27 PM PST by NYer
(ANSA) - Vatican City, January 28 - Pope Benedict XVI acted quickly on Wednesday to counter a threat from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel to indefinitely sever relations with the Vatican over his decision to lift the excommunication for a traditionalist bishop who continued to deny the existence of the Holocaust.
The move was announced by the Chief Rabbinate director general, Oded Weiner, who also said that a March 2-4 meeting in Rome with the Catholic Church's Commission for Religious Relations with Jews had been cancelled.
At the center of the dispute is British-born Bishop Richard Williamson, one of four traditionalist bishops whose excommunications were lifted Saturday. Williamson, a member of the ultra-conservative Society of Saint Pius X, recently reiterated his belief that there were no gas chambers and only 300,000 Jews died in the Holocaust, not six million.
News of the rabbinate's decision appeared first on the Jerusalem Post website and the pope quickly responded by reiterating his full support for his ''Jewish brothers'' and said the Holocaust must not be denied because ''the memory of the Shoah regenerates our humanity and helps us reflect on the unexpected power which evil can exert on the hearts of man''.
The importance of the Shoah, he added, cannot be denied nor diminished because ''violence committed against even one man is violence against all men''.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardo expressed his hope that the pope's words would be ''more than sufficient for anyone who had any doubts over the views of the Holy Father and the Church'' on the Holocaust.
He added that he also hoped that this will be sufficient to avoid any break in relations between the Holy See and the Rabbinate.
Williamson was one of four bishops excommunicated in 1988 along with the late dissident French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the society's founder, who had ordained them without permission from the Vatican The Society of Pius X was created in 1970 and broke with Rome over the changes made at the Second Vatican Council, the ground-breaking meeting of all the world's Catholic bishops in the early 1960s.
Among the changes the group opposed was the decision to celebrate Mass in local languages rather than Latin and Jews should not be blamed for the death of Christ.
Speaking at his Wednesday audience, the pope said the four bishops who were let back into the Church's graces would have to respond to his gesture by renewing their loyalty to the Church and its teachings, including the changes made by the Vatican Council.
On Tuesday the head of the society of Pius X, Bishop Bernard Fellay, denied that Williamson's views reflected those of the order and apologised to the pope for any problems his statements may have created.
Several leading rabbis in Israel are demanding that Williamson, who lives in seclusion in Argentina, himself make a public apology.
Is this the present day equivalent of the Sanhedrin?
I mean who really cares what they do? They are always whining and blaming everyone else for every thing anyways.
You can’t be excommunicated for being a cretin, only for formal heretical acts - such as getting made a Bishop outside of the Apostolic line.
The Holocaust happened, but denying that it happened is not a heresy: it is a falsehood.
The Jews have a way of making stars out of nobodies such as Farrakhan. I never even heard of Farrakhan until the Jews made a star out of him and made him a leader in the black community. No one even heard of Calypso Louie before he made a remark against the Jewish community.
I’m really surprised the rabbinate would respond this way. The excommunication had nothing to do with the (stupid) Bishop Williamson’s (stupid) opinions on the Holocaust, and the lifting of the excommunication had nothing to do with it, either. It’s an internal, in-house, purely ecclesial matter between the SSPX and the Catholic Church.
The rabbis and the Vatican ought to have conferred about this privately, instead of launching this communication-via-prickly-press-release routine which benefits nobody.
Williamson lives in seclusion in Argentina... now that is irony you can sink your teeth into!
Let us pray for the perfidious Jews: that our God and Lord may remove the veil from their hearts; that they also may acknowledge Our Lord Jesus Christ. Almighty and Eternal God, Who does not exclude from Thy mercy even the perfidious Jews: hear our prayers, which we offer for the blindness of that people; that acknowledging the light of Thy Truth, which is Christ, they may be delivered from their darkness.
How bout you pray for the perfidious bishop and the arrogant Catholics?
Good lord, daily, and for many bishops.
Pray for yourself as well. Seems to be a very large beam in the ol' eye.
Lol .... now here's a story your can truly appreciate. Nearly 30 years ago, I purchased a new home on LI. One day I saw an elderly gentleman standing in front of the mailbox he had just erected in front of the new house across the street. I introduced myself. He had a heavy german accent. When I asked him where he was from, he responded "Argentina". He walked with a limp. This he explained was an old 'war injury' from his service in the Argentinian military. I never bought that story. Several years later, he sold the house. With time I got to know the new owners. The wife asked me about the previous owners and I gave a brief description, noting the heavy german accent. "Oh that would explain it.", she said. And with that she pulled out a photograph she found in the back of a closet. It was a picture of the prevoius owner, in a Nazi uniform.
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Good for Pope Benedict.
Not that I am aware of. But we do recite a "Prayer for the State of Israel," authored by some Chief Rabbi sometime, once a week.
ML/NJ
“The Jews have a way of making stars out of nobodies such as Farrakhan. I never even heard of Farrakhan until the Jews made a star out of him and made him a leader in the black community. No one even heard of Calypso Louie before he made a remark against the Jewish community.”
You sound about one step up from Williamson. I’d withdraw fangs about this if I were you. It’s unbecoming of a Christian or a Catholic. You give justification to the concerns of the Jews about Catholics who think in anti-semitic terms.
There are quite a few of "them" on FR, good conservatives all. Do you usually veer into bigotry at the drop of a hat?
God of Abraham, the prophets, Jesus Christ, in You everything is embraced, toward You everything moves, You are the end of all things. Hear the prayers we extend for the Jewish nation which thanks to its forefathers is still very dear to you.
Instill within it a constant, ever livelier desire to deepen your truth and love. Help it, as it yearns for peace and justice, that it may reveal to the world the might of Your blessing.
Succor it that it may obtain respect and love from the side of those who do not yet understand the greatness of suffering it has borne, and those who, in solidarity and a sense of mutual care, experience together the pain of wounds inflicted upon it.
Remember the new generations of youth and children that they may, unchangeably faithful to You, uphold what remains the particular mystery of their vocation.
Strengthen all generations, that, thanks to their testimony, humanity will understand that Your salvific intention extends over all humankind, and that You, God, are for all nations the beginning and the final end. Amen.
Ignorance ... hence, my question: Is the rabbinate the modern day equivalent of the Sanhedrin?
much better
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