Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Vatican Orders Bishop Williamson to Recant
Casting doubt on execution gas chambers in Auschwitz is now a de facto heresy in the eyes of the Catholic Church
ROME, Italy (CNN & wire services) Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009 -- The Vatican says it has ordered a controversial bishop who denies the gas chambers to "distance himself" from his views "in an absolutely unequivocal and public manner."
In an interview with Swedish television, Bishop Richard N. Williamson of the Society of St. Pius X denied the Nazis had used gas chambers for execution at concentration camps. Pope Benedict XVI has been subjected to relentless and withering criticism since he lifted the excommunication of Bishop Williamson almost two weeks ago. That development came days after the interview was broadcast in Sweden in which Williamson stated that the Nazis had not systematically murdered "six million" Jews during World War II. He based his doubts in part on findings published in "The Leutcher Report" of Fred Leutcher, a designer of execution equipment for the U.S. prison system.
The Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said Wednesday that Williamson would not be allowed to perform priestly functions if he did not recant.
Wednesday's development came as a German district attorney launched a criminal investigation against Williamson. Regensburg District Attorney Guenther Ruckdaeschel said authorities were investigating whether the doubts expressed by Williamson can be considered "inciting racial hatred." Doubting the existence of execution gas chambers is a crime in Germany punishable by up to five years in prison. German chemist Germar Rudolf is imprisoned in Germany for writing books questioning allegations of homicidal gassings in Auscwitz-Birkenau(http://www.vho.org/dl/ENG/loth.pdf). District Attorney Ruckdaeschel says the criminal investigation was launched January 23 after learning about an interview Williamson gave to Swedish Public Broadcasting.
In today's statement the Vatican declared, "Bishop Williamson, in order to be admitted to episcopal functions within the church, will have to take his distance, in an absolutely unequivocal and public fashion, from his position on the Shoah."
Williamson also questions the official accounts of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on New York's Twin Towers. He believes they were brought down not by the collision with passenger jets but rather "...were professionally demolished by a series of demolition charges from the top to the bottom of the towers."
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Belief in the rabbinic dogma of the "Shoah" is the Vatican's new criterion for qualifying as a shepherd of Christ's flock
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