Bishop Richard Williamson is pictured at Frankfurt airport in this February 28, 2007 file photo.
Posted on 02/09/2009 6:23:23 AM PST by NYer
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An ultra-traditionalist Roman Catholic bishop who has drawn sharp criticism from the Vatican and Jewish groups for denying the extent of the Holocaust was removed as the head of an Argentine seminary, a Catholic Church official said on Sunday.
Pope Benedict angered Jewish leaders and progressive Catholics last month when he lifted excommunications on the bishop, Richard Williamson, and three other traditionalists to try to heal a 20-year-old schism within the Church.
The Vatican has since ordered the bishop to publicly recant his views questioning whether the Nazis used gas chambers and the number of Jews who died.
But Williamson, who is British-born, recently told Germany's Spiegel magazine he must first review historical evidence before considering an apology.
In a statement, Father Christian Bouchacourt, the head of the Latin American chapter of the Catholic Society St. Pius X, said Williamson had been relieved as the head of the La Reja seminary on the outskirts of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.
"Monsignor Williamson's statements do not in any way reflect the position of our congregation," it said.
The decision came hours after Pope Benedict and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who publicly criticized the pontiff for his decision to rehabilitate the bishop, spoke by telephone.
The two had a "cordial and constructive" conversation on the issue, the Vatican said.
The Vatican has been at pains since the excommunications of the four bishops were lifted on January 24 to contain damage provoked by Williamson's comments, which he made during an interview with Swedish television last month.
The Vatican has said Pope Benedict, who expressed his full solidarity with Jews, was not aware of Williamson's denial of the Holocaust when he rehabilitated the bishops.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Ping!
I can send him some photos of the gas chambers if it will help him “decide”.
I’m curious.
If his excommunicatiopn was JUST lifted, HOW is it that he was in charge of a seminary in Argentina?
Since 2003, no less. And in that time he ordained two priests and seven deacons for the Priestly Society of Saint Josephat Kuntsevych which is led by Basil Kovpak, who was in turn excommunicated for those ordinations.
The seminary was an SSPX seminary. Prior to that, he was in charge of the SSPX seminary here in the US in Minnesota.
Please excuse my ignorance - I am not Catholic, so my knowledge of church politics is VERY deficient.
“Monsignor Williamson’s statements do not in any way reflect the position of our congregation,” it said.
Since when did he get a promotion? Last time time I checked, Monsignor was a rank granted by the Pope and exists until the Pope’s death.
Or is this another case of Williamson’s self-agrendizing?
In a word, yes, although now ...."not so much"... as Borat might say.
The society had its own bishops who were consecrated without papal approval, which resulted in their excommunication. These were the four whose excommunications were recently lifted, sparking the furor.
The society has its own seminaries, its own parishes and its own schools which operate without the usual ecclesiastical approval.
So, were any/all of the priests these excommunicated Bishops ordained (Bishops ARE allowed to ordain Priests, right?), automatically excommunicated at the time they were ordained. And would they be automatically un-excommunicated as a result of the lifting of excommunication of the Bishops?
This is very confusing for me.
Now that the excommunications have been lifted, nobody is excommunicated.
However, neither the priests nor the bishops of the society are yet fully integrated into the Church. They are suspended a divinis. That is to say, the Masses which they celebrate are valid but not licit.
“Monsignor” is also a way of addressing a bishop, particularly in Europe.
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