Pope Benedict XVI has found himself in a maelstrom of controversy over his lifting of the excommunication of Richard Williamson, an illegally consecrated prelate who has downplayed the magnitude of the Holocaust. The Pope has been scored by the media, certain Jewish groups, and even some fellow Catholics; yet few truly understand what they’re criticizing. Let’s examine the matter.
There is no question that Williamson has made some outrageous statements. For instance, first we have the Holocaust comment that put him on the radar screen: “I think the most serious conclude that between 200,000 to 300,000 perished in Nazi concentration camps, but not one of them by gassing in a gas chamber. I believe that the historical evidence is strongly against, 6 million Jews having been gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler.”
This is not the only time Williamson raised eyebrows. He also believes the U.S. government perpetrated 9/11 to provide a pretext for invading Afghanistan and Iraq and once said, “the Vatican has sold its soul to liberalism.” Thus, it’s understandable that he would grab headlines. Yet, in the media’s rush to disseminate what they fancy to be the Vatican’s sins, they render themselves guilty of a mortal one of journalistic omission.
First, while the reportage can leave one with the impression that Williamson is a Catholic bishop, this is not the case. Rather, he is a bishop in the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a schismatic organization that is not in union with the Church. To understand the situation adequately, some background is necessary.
The SSPX is a group of ultra-traditionalist Catholics created by the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970. The organization objected to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), some of which it perceived to be heretical in nature. As time wore on, Lefebvre’s bucking of the establishment caused increasing friction between the society and its philosophical opponents and the Vatican.
As Lefebvre aged, he became concerned that his society might not be under the stewardship of like-minded traditionalists upon his death; thus, he consecrated four SSPX priests — one of whom was Richard Williamson — as bishops, in defiance of Pope John Paul II. The Pope then enforced Church law and announced that Lefebvre and the four priests had incurred excommunication. In other words, Williamson was never actually a bishop because he was invalidly consecrated by a renegade archbishop.
Article comments
1 - Baronius
Great article. Some real insights in it.
One quibble: Williamson and the others were and are bishops. They became bishops in the same act that made them excommunicated. They had all the power of a bishop, but were never licit (able to exercise those powers in good standing). That's what makes them such an issue: they can ordain priests.
2 - bliffle
It's just those daffy catholics again with their goofy antics.
3 - Bill
No, Williamson was never a Bishop who had any standing in the Catholic Church. No one in the Society of Saint Pius X does because the Archbishop who ordained them never had the authority under the Pope to do so. These were members of a schismatic group, the SSPX, not Catholic Church clergy. They were all excommunnicated.
I see what the aithor means about people not having an understanding of the issue.
4 - Bill
And any priests Williamson ordained have no standing as Catholic clergy, either. Even the lifting of the excommunication doesn't allow them any Liturgical of Office rights. It only allows them to partake of the Sacraments, like all Catholics.
5 - Jordan Richardson
I see what the aithor means about people not having an understanding of the issue.
Right, because Catholic politics are so cut and dry.
6 - robert
This is simply more tired excuses for abuses from the vatican. it is really getting tiring and old. These critisism's like are pointed directly at church policy. As where the crtisisms of their handling of the child molestation scandle. Not against catholics as a whole or anything like that. how much longer can the vatican simply dismiss all critisim as being anti-catholic? When are they going to show some leadership? If they cant or wont show leadership then why dont they simply resign and make way for a generation that can.