We stand with our Palestinian sisters and brothers in their struggle for peace
BBC: Nazi row bishop returns to the UK
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7909407.stm
Nazi row bishop returns to the UK
A British bishop embroiled in a row over Holocaust denial has arrived in the UK after being thrown out of Argentina.
Richard Williamson, a Roman Catholic, was asked to leave after he refused to retract his denial of the existence of Nazi gas chambers.
The row hugely embarrassed the Vatican which had only recently lifted an excommunication order on the bishop.
After his arrival he was taken straight to a waiting car by police officers.
'Deeply shocked'
Those meeting the bishop, including some Roman Catholic priests, declined to answer any questions from the press before the vehicle sped away.
The bishop has been living at the St Pius X seminary in Buenos Aires, but last Thursday he was given 10 days to leave the country for having "deeply shocked Argentine society, the Jewish people and all of humanity".
Lord Janner, president of the Holocaust Educational Trust commented: "It would be much better if Williamson was not here as his views are anti-Semitic, extremely offensive, and insulting to the millions who witnessed and suffered the horrors of the Holocaust.
"Sadly, as a British citizen, he cannot be prevented."
Earlier, Bishop Williamson had been removed from his post as head of a seminary near Buenos Aires, set up by breakaway Roman Catholic group.
A row erupted in January after Pope Benedict decided to lift Bishop Williamson's excommunication on an unrelated matter.
After that move, it emerged that the bishop had denied the full extent of the Nazi genocide of the Jews in an interview for Swedish TV.
"I believe there were no gas chambers," he had said.
"I think that two to three hundred thousand Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps but none of them by gas chambers."
The Vatican later said the Pope had been unaware of Bishop Williamson's views and had ordered him to recant.
Pope Benedict met American Jewish leaders at the Vatican in a display of solidarity with victims of the Nazis.
The decision to lift the excommunication order was related to the appointment of Richard Williamson as bishop by a breakaway archbishop more than 20 years ago.
Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who died in 1991, had rebelled against liberal reforms in the Church, such as the restriction of the traditional Latin Mass.
Nazi row bishop returns to the UK
A British bishop embroiled in a row over Holocaust denial has arrived in the UK after being thrown out of Argentina.
Richard Williamson, a Roman Catholic, was asked to leave after he refused to retract his denial of the existence of Nazi gas chambers.
The row hugely embarrassed the Vatican which had only recently lifted an excommunication order on the bishop.
After his arrival he was taken straight to a waiting car by police officers.
'Deeply shocked'
Those meeting the bishop, including some Roman Catholic priests, declined to answer any questions from the press before the vehicle sped away.
The bishop has been living at the St Pius X seminary in Buenos Aires, but last Thursday he was given 10 days to leave the country for having "deeply shocked Argentine society, the Jewish people and all of humanity".
Lord Janner, president of the Holocaust Educational Trust commented: "It would be much better if Williamson was not here as his views are anti-Semitic, extremely offensive, and insulting to the millions who witnessed and suffered the horrors of the Holocaust.
"Sadly, as a British citizen, he cannot be prevented."
Earlier, Bishop Williamson had been removed from his post as head of a seminary near Buenos Aires, set up by breakaway Roman Catholic group.
A row erupted in January after Pope Benedict decided to lift Bishop Williamson's excommunication on an unrelated matter.
After that move, it emerged that the bishop had denied the full extent of the Nazi genocide of the Jews in an interview for Swedish TV.
"I believe there were no gas chambers," he had said.
"I think that two to three hundred thousand Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps but none of them by gas chambers."
The Vatican later said the Pope had been unaware of Bishop Williamson's views and had ordered him to recant.
Pope Benedict met American Jewish leaders at the Vatican in a display of solidarity with victims of the Nazis.
The decision to lift the excommunication order was related to the appointment of Richard Williamson as bishop by a breakaway archbishop more than 20 years ago.
Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who died in 1991, had rebelled against liberal reforms in the Church, such as the restriction of the traditional Latin Mass.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Marianne on -
Williamson has been forced to apologise:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h1ngYCtcQ9pBVsmKm...
I am only quoting the below paragraph from the article for its blatant spelling out of the concept of thought crime:
Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, said the apology "is not the kind of an apology that would end this matter" because it failed to address the central issue.
"The one thing he doesn't say, and the main thing, is that the Holocaust occurred, that it is not a fabrication, that it is not a lie," Hier said in a telephone interview. "You want to make an apology, you have to affirm the Holocaust."
About
Badge
© 2009 Created by Ayah/Crystal on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
