Religion, Nationalism, and Terror

Yad Vashem blasts Pope’s rehabilitation of Holocaust-denying bishop, Haaretz, Jan. 25, 2009

The Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial on Sunday blasted the Pope’s decision to lift the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop, calling the reinstatement “scandalous.” The Israeli museum’s fury marked another step in the row between the Catholic Church and world Jewish groups, who were outraged by announcements of the rehabilitation.

“The reinstatement is an internal Church matter…[however] denial of the Holocaust not only insults the survivors, memory of the victims, and the Righteous Among the Nations who risked their lives to rescue Jews, it is a brutal attack on truth,” Yad Vashem said in a statement.

British Bishop Richard Williamson was one of four traditionalist bishops to have his excommunication lifted Saturday, just days after he was shown in a Swedish state TV interview saying that historical evidence is hugely against six million Jews having been deliberately gassed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

The four bishops were excommunicated 20 years ago after they were consecrated by the late ultraconservative Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre without papal consent – a move the Vatican said at the time was an act of schism.

“Even if the revocation of the excommunication is unrelated to Williamson’s comments regarding the Holocaust, what kind of message is this sending regarding the Church’s attitude toward the Holocaust?” Yad Vashem wrote. “Although we understand that Williamson’s statements do not represent the Church’s stance, we continue to hope that the Church will vigorously condemn these unacceptable and odious comments.”