(04 Feb 09 - RV) The Secretariat of State of the Holy See today issued a statement
on the lifting of excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson who has denied the
Holocaust, saying his statements on the Shoah are unacceptable for the Church
and unallowable for a bishop: Below we publish the
full official text in English:
Note from the Secretariat of State In
the wake of reactions to the recent Decree of the Congregation for Bishops by which
the excommunication of four prelates of the Society of Saint Pius X was remitted,
and with regard to the negationist or reductionist statements made by Bishop Williamson
concerning the Shoah, it seems opportune to clarify some aspects of the matter.
1.
Remission of the Excommunication As has already been publicly stated, the Decree
of the Congregation for Bishops, dated 21 January 2009, was an act by which the Holy
Father responded benevolently to repeated requests from the Superior General of the
Society of Saint Pius X. His Holiness desired to remove an impediment which was
prejudicial to the opening of a door to dialogue. He now awaits a corresponding gesture
from the four bishops expressing total adherence to the doctrine and discipline of
the Church. The very grave penalty of latae sententiae excommunication, which
these bishops incurred on 30 June 1988, and which was formally declared on 1 July
1988, was a consequence of their having been illegitimately ordained by Archbishop
Marcel Lefebvre. The remission of the excommunication has freed the four bishops
from a very serious canonical penalty, but it has not changed the juridical status
of the Society of Saint Pius X, which presently does not enjoy any canonical recognition
by the Catholic Church. The four bishops, even though they have been released from
excommunication, have no canonical function in the Church and do not licitly exercise
any ministry within it.
2. Tradition, Doctrine and the Second Vatican Council
A full recognition of the Second Vatican Council and the Magisterium of Popes
John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II and Benedict XVI himself is an indispensable
condition for any future recognition of the Society of Saint Pius X. As already
stated in the Decree of 21 January 2009, the Holy See will not fail, in ways judged
opportune, to engage with the interested parties in examining outstanding questions,
so as to attain a full and satisfactory resolution of the problems that caused this
painful rupture.
3. Statements about the Shoah The
positions of Bishop Williamson with regard to the Shoah are absolutely unacceptable
and firmly rejected by the Holy Father, as he himself remarked on 28 January 2009
when, with reference to the heinous genocide, he reiterated his full and unquestionable
solidarity with our brothers and sisters who received the First Covenant, and he affirmed
that the memory of that terrible genocide must lead “humanity to reflect upon the
unfathomable power of evil when it conquers the heart of man”, adding that the Shoah
remains “a warning for all against forgetfulness, denial or reductionism, because
violence committed against one single human being is violence against all”. In
order to be admitted to function as a Bishop within the Church, Bishop Williamson
must also distance himself in an absolutely unequivocal and public way from his positions
regarding the Shoah, which were unknown to the Holy Father at the time of the
remission of the excommunication. The Holy Father asks for the prayerful support
of all the faithful, so that the Lord will enlighten the Church’s path. May the commitment
of the Pastors and all the faithful grow in support of the difficult and onerous mission
of the Successor of Peter the Apostle, who “watches over the unity” of the Church.From
the Vatican, 4 February 2009