Pope gesture to traditionalists outrages Jews

[cali]

Sun Jan 25, 2009 12:31pm VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict's rehabilitation of four traditionalist bishops may heal one festering Catholic wound at the expense of opening a wider one with Jews because one of the prelates is a Holocaust denier.

The four bishops re-admitted to the Church over the weekend lead the far-right Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), which has about 600,000 members and rejects modernisations of Roman Catholic worship and doctrine.

One of the four, the British-born Richard Williamson, has made statements denying the full extent of the Nazi Holocaust of European Jews, as accepted by mainstream historians.

In comments to Swedish television broadcast on Wednesday and widely available on the Internet, Williamson said "I believe there were no gas chambers" and only up to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, instead of 6 million.

"I believe that the historical evidence is hugely against 6 million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler," he said.

While lifting excommunications that had barred them from the Roman Catholic Church left many internal questions open, there was no doubt it has provoked what some are calling the biggest setback in Catholic-Jewish relations in half a century.

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKTRE50O0TK20090125

just one more reason to detest this sack of rightwing crap.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Sam Brownback (my senator - yuck!) belongs to a similar Catholic sect

Don't know his views on the Holocaust but his sect is into Mass in Latin and many other very traditional old Catholic junk.

[cali]

2. I really despise what the Vatican is doing

regressive, to say the least. And yeah, you've got one religious nut for a Senator. Nothing like a convert.

[Stevenmarc]

3. Pope to Jews ...Have a nice Opus Dei

[LeftishBrit]

4. Williamson is a fascist far-RW-er . Among much else he opposes higher education for women,

[Hugabear]

5. A Nazi Pope helping a fellow Nazi - how unsurprising - n/t

n/t

[Submariner]

6. In the middle of a priest - child rape epidemic and the ensuing cover up

one would think that dopey pope would shut his pie hole and fix the problems in that Vatican toilet before starting more problems. Ratzinger is a blithering idiot.

[cali]

7. I don't know about the idiot part

but he's a hard right as can be.

[olegramps]

8. Pope Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict were all against the reforms of Vatican II.

Paul VI was little more than a vacillating Hamlet who caved in to the staunch traditionalists fears that any revision of the church's position on its Dark Ages sexual mentality would compromise the Pope's absolute authority. John Paul II, when he was a member of the hierarchy during Vatican II was nothing more than a back slapping politician who outwardly supported Pope John XXIII. However, he was a secret member of Opus Dei, the radical traditionalist organization that has dominated the church ever since his election. While he was appointed to the Papal Birth Control Commission, he boycotted their meetings and lied about why he hadn't attended. Mean while he was preparing what would become the encyclical that would reaffirm the church's ridiculous stance on its continued condemnation of reasonable methods of family planning. Benedict is nothing more than a continuation of the John Paul's program for alienating any progressives in the church. Everyone of the bishops that John Paul appointed, which accounts for nearly every bishop in the church today, are absolute traditionalists and some radical members of Opus Dei. They have totally trashed John XXII I's vision of a revitalized church that is relevant and responsive to the demands of today's society. He wanted to open the windows and let in some fresh air and light. They have responded by slamming them shut and huddling in the fear of darkness.

[Peregrine Took]

9. I think its time for him to retire. He's just too devisive a figure. n/t