Vatican Rejects Holocaust-denying Bishop's Apology

(February 28, 2009) The Vatican on Friday rejected an apology from a bishop whose denial of the Holocaust caused international uproar between Jews and Catholics, saying it did not meet its demand for a full and public recanting. Jewish groups praised the Vatican for its tough stand, which Vatican sources said will likely make it harder for the traditionalist bishop to be fully re-admitted into the Church and lead to greater scrutiny of the society to which he belongs. British Bishop Richard Williamson, who was ordered to leave Argentina and is now in his homeland, on Thursday, issued a statement in which he said, "To all souls that took honest scandal from what I said, before God I apologise." Chief Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said Williamson's statement "does not seem to respect the conditions” set forth by the Vatican on February 4, when it ordered him to "in an absolutely unequivocal and public way distance himself from his positions" regarding the Holocaust. On January 24, Pope Benedict lifted the excommunications of Williamson and three other bishops to try to heal a 20-year-old schism that began when they were thrown out of the Church for being ordained without the permission of Pope John Paul II. In his statement on Thursday, Williamson said, "I can truthfully say that I regret having made such remarks, and that if I had known beforehand the full harm and hurt to which they would give rise, especially to the Church, but also to survivors and relatives of victims of injustice under the Third Reich, I would not have made them." Fr Lombardi also noted that the prelate's declaration was not a letter directed to the Holy Father or to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, which oversees the Church's efforts to heal the schism with the Society of St. Pius X.