The source for the La Croix article is an interview given by Cardinal Kasper to La Repubblica and the story has been put on the news services AKI and Agence France Presse, and probably others so it has gone around quite widely - here it is in the Hindustan Times. Here is the AKI story: Vatican: Cardinal slams bishop for Holocaust denial.
During the interview, Cardinal Kasper said of Williamson's holocaust denial:
"They are unacceptable words, stupid words. To deny the Holocaust is stupid and it is a position that has nothing to do with the Catholic Church."Meanwhile, Cardinal Bagnasco, the President of the Italian Bishops' Conference has also denounced Williamson's views whilst affirming that the decision to lift the excommunications was merciful.
And today's Italian daily edition of L'Osservatore Romano has put an article on the front page which discusses the lifting of the excommunications and whether it was imprudent for Pope Benedict to have taken this action which might be seen as accepting holocaust denial. At the end of the article, quoting Nostra Aetate, it affirms that anti-semitism is unacceptable, that holocaust denial contradicts this teaching and is therefore very grave and regrettable and remains (despite the lifting of the excommunications) unacceptable.
6 comments:
One way or another, things seem to sorting themselves out quite nicely. Bp. Williamson could easily end up being the sacrificial scapegoat the Society needs, whether he wants to be one (and whether they want him to be one) or not. The Roman authorities will unite against him (in their rhetoric) and let the others go.
Textbook political science, methinks!
An unacceptable and stupid thing, indeed; like so many others defended by Kasper himself...
http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/SiSiNoNo/2001_November/Cardinals_With_No_Faith.htm
I'm sure this won't make any difference to the media and Jewish responses to the lifting of the excommunication.
Dear Father Finigan
Today is Holocaust Memorial Day.
In my opinion,a Catholic on-line petition should be organised to demand an apology from Bishop Richard Williamson the recently rehabilitated hardline ultra-conservative bishop of the Society of St Pius X,who faces possible prosecution for Holocaust denial in Germany after an interview with a reporter from Swedish TV in which he claimed that six million Jews did not die in the Holocaust,merely a few thousand,and that the gas chambers did not exist.
Just such a petition has been set up and launched today http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/apologisenow to demand a public apology from Nick Griffin,the BNP's Führer.
While on trial for incitement to racial hatred, Griffin wrote -
"I am well aware that the orthodox opinion is that 6 million Jews were gassed and cremated or turned into lamp shades. Orthodox opinion also once held that the earth is flat ... I have reached the conclusion that the 'extermination' tale is a mixture of Allied wartime propaganda, extremely profitable lies and latter witch-hysteria."
In an interview with the Mail on Sunday Griffin added: "It's well known that the chimneys from the gas chambers at Auschwitz are fake, built after the war ended."
The Holocaust remains a horrific scar on humanity's conscience - but the Nazi message of hate still remains a corrosive force within our society.
It damages all of us.
Here in the UK,the North West will be the main battleground in the fight against the British National Party (BNP)in June's European Elections.BNP leader Nick Griffin is their main candidate and because of the Proportional Representation system under which the elections are contested he needs as little as 8% of the vote to get one of the eight places up for election.In the last European Elections in 2004 the BNP polled 6.4% in the North West.
The digital generation can confront and defeat this hate,and go on to build a world that transcends geographical boundaries and ethnic divisions,and which is based on humanity and justice.
Hard evidence relating to my high profile FARE JUSTICE NOT VENGEANCE FOCUS 1991-2008 :MPS ref PC/2571/07 case for the defence against NF/BNP entry-ism into London's Sporting/Planning Arena,which was originally backed up by a malevolent prosecution by CID Greenwich after a phone call made by Steve Taylor of the TSG,has been handed to MPS Assistant Commissioner Robert Quick MBA by DS Ian Coleman of the MPS Directorate of Professional Standards,Internal Investigations Command.
Our Lady of the Rosary pray for us in Richard Barnbrook's NF/BNP/GLA/LDA/ODA NEO-NAZI DEVELOPMENT TIMES Amen
Dear Father Tim,
Heartiest congratulations on your excellent coverage of the SSPX story.
I entirely agree with you on all fronts.
Lifting excommunications - good news.
Bp Williamson's outrageous comments - bad news.
Hermeneutic leading the way, once again!
Best wishes,
Trib.
Lifting the excommunicartion on Williamson does not commit the church to anything. If he was illegally made a bishop, then his legal position is what it was prior to this whatever it may be in essence. If he was a priest before his rift with Rome, then he has not performed any ministry since then and the church is not obliged to restore his status. He is legally an ex cleric like many who0 have left the ministry to marry or who have been suspended for heresy. He can probably be better controlled in this position than he could outside the church. We can hope his malign influence will wilt without the publicity he gained as a leader in a schismatic movement.
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