The Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in
Jerusalem welcomed Thursday the pope's decision to demand that Bishop Richard
Williamson publicly and unambiguously recant his stance regarding the Holocaust,
dpa reported.
Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said the pope's decision sends an important
message that there was no place within the church for those who deny that the
Nazis killed 5 million to 6 million European Jews during the Second World War.
"When the highest moral authority of the church states that Holocaust
denial is unacceptable, that is a vital message for the entire world," he
said.
The pope's decision last month to re-admit the British-born Williamson, who has
denied the Holocaust, into the church caused an uproar, especially in the
pontiff's native Germany.
Prompted by comments from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Vatican issued a statement Wednesday calling for the ultra- conservative bishop to distance
himself "clearly and publicly" from remarks he made denying the
Holocaust.
Merkel described Thursday the latest move by the Vatican as an "important
and good signal."
Speaking after a meeting with international organizations in Berlin, the
chancellor said, "This makes it clear that a denial of the Holocaust can
never be left to stand without consequences."
Catholic theologian Hans Kueng went further Thursday, demanding that the pope
reverse the re-admission to the church of Williamson and three other
ultra-traditionalist bishops, all members of the Society of Saint Pius X
(SSPX).
"That would surely be uncomfortable for the pope," Kueng told
Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. However, he added, "The pope shouldn't think
he can just wait for this to go away. Then there's a risk that this decision
will always taint him."
In Kueng's opinion, Pope Benedict's belated call for Williamson to retract his
Holocaust denial is useless. "By lifting the excommunication without
precondition, the pope has become prisoner of the Pius Brotherhood," the
theologian said.
He added that the Vatican had no further means of extracting any form of
statement from the traditionalist bishops.
Earlier in the day, Merkel had faced criticism from within her Christian
Democratic Union (CDU) party over her call for Pope Benedict to take a clearer
stand on Williamson's remarks.
The Speaker of parliament, Norbert Lammert, told the daily Hamburger Abendblatt
that "much of what is being imputed to the pope is almost malicious, and
certainly not fair."
The Vatican has reportedly also expressed anger at Merkel's involvement in what
was originally an attempt by the pope to heal a rift within the Catholic
Church.
Georg Brunnhuber, of the CDU, spoke in person to the pope Wednesday.
"People in the Vatican are downright appalled at the discussion in Germany," he told daily Financial Times Deutschland.
This has given the impression, he added, "that all anti-Catholic
resentments slumbering in Germany are now rising to the surface."
The Catholic archbishop of Munich, Reinhard Marx, speaking to the daily
Sueddeutsche Zeitung, also expressed surprise at Merkel's criticism of the
pope.
"The pope took a clear position against any form of Holocaust
denial," Marx told the paper. To suggest that the pope would tolerate
anti-Semitism, he said, "is outrageous."
Williamson, who is based in Argentina, received backing Thursday from the
German wing of SSPX.
Asked if someone who denied the destruction of Jews by the Nazis could still be
a brother, SSPX superior Father Franz Schmidberger said, "as long as he
recognizes the Catholic dogmas. Yes, of course."
Speaking in an interview with German SWR television, Schmidberger
dissociated himself with Williamson's claim that Jews were not killed in gas
chambers.
However he said this was to be considered as a separate matter from the pope's
readmission to the church of the four SSPX bishops.
Schmidberger also spoke against a dialogue between Christians and Jews, saying
this was not a road to salvation. "Christ deliberately sent his apostles
into the world, in order to convert all the world, including the Jews, to
him," he said.
Kueng is of the opinion that anti-Semitism is widespread throughout the
SSPX brotherhood. "They consider the Jews to be God- murderers and
are averse to any dialogue," Kueng said.
The SSPX brotherhood has its roots in the decision, by Archbishop Marcel
Lefebvre, to reject the liberalization of the Catholic church during the
Vatican Council of 1962-65.
When Lefebvre disobeyed orders by Pope John Paul II and consecrated Williamson
and three other men as bishops, they were all excommunicated from the church.
While the public dispute over Williamson's remarks rumbled on, it was not clear
whether Pope Benedict would achieve his desired resolution of the rift between
the SSPX brotherhood and the Catholic church.
The Vatican estimates that SSPX has around 600,000 members in the world, while
1.1 billion people are described as Roman Catholics.
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