The Pope, the Holocaust and the SSPX

In my most recent post "Pops" asked a question regarding the Pope lifting a ban of excommunication on a Holocaust denying bishop. The next commenter answered his question but I'm going to try giving a more detailed response for the benefit of any other non-Catholics reading this blog.

The dingbat bishop is a member of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), a group currently in schism with the Vatican. They've been in schism since the late '70's when their founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, disputed the Document on Religious Freedom, and the document on the Church and the Modern World. The SSPX has also declared the present Pope isn't the legitimate successor to Peter. Not exactly minor points, at a minimum it's directly defying the Church Magisterium (the teaching authority of the Church as embodied by the bishops and led by the Bishop of Rome, Benedict XVI).

The straw that broke the Vatican camel's back on this was the archbishop's illicit ordination of four priests into bishops. This can't happen without the permission of Rome (which Archbishop Lefebvre felt no need to obtain). That act resulted in the excommunication of Lefebvre and the four "bishops". One of the four is the originator of the current firestorm, that would be the Englishman Williamson.

Rome has been in contact for some years with the SSPX in efforts to bring them back into the Church. Lifting the excommunication, WHICH DEALT SOLELY WITH THE MATTER OF THE ILLICIT ORDINATIONS, was one of many steps to be done towards that aim.

Loose cannon that he is (and several commentors on other blogs who evidently met the man describe him as a "moonbat extraordinaire") Williamson gave an interview some months ago where he downplayed the Holocaust. He claimed only about 300,000 Jews were killed, the gas chambers in the concentration camps didn't exist and Hitler had no "Final Solution". This interview was aired right before the Pope lifted the excommunication against Williamson and the other three (Lefebvre died some time ago).

So there is absolutely no deliberate connection between this idiot's remarks and the actions of the Pope. The deliberate links being forged between the two are mainly the work of Catholic and Papal detractors.

The Vatican has taken action on this. In this article the actual scope and limits attached to the lifting of the excommunication are discussed, in this one it speaks of how the dingbat has apologized for his big mouth, this one addresses required actions by the SSPX to come back into communion with Rome.

It's the scandal of the day to attach to the Pope and the Church, it hasn't helped that some prominent Jews have begun hysterically hyperventilating about this topic. Elie Wiesel (sp?) is an example, the man is a genuine hero and there's no denying that. But in recent years he's wasted no time in criticizing the Church when he could.

So yep, the Pope lifted an edict of excommunication against a Holocaust denier. That ban was lifted for reasons entirely unrelated to the bishop's idiocy. Since then the Vatican has done what damage control it can, no doubt that won't be sufficient for most of it's permanent critics.

In closing I'll admit my own knowledge of much I've mentioned has been recently gained as I came up to speed on a topic that held little interest for me. I was out of the Church when the SSPX formed and since coming back haven't paid much attention to it until now. So if any other Catholics reading this find some errors in this post, by all means let me know.

I'll bet we continue to hear about this in the MSM for a long time.