Vatican City has joined Iran this week as one of only a handful of modern nation-states to draw international condemnation for support of Holocaust denial, a historical revisionism that denies that Jews were murdered in Nazi gas chambers during the 1930s and 40s. The decision started off as pure ecclesiastical procedure: Pope Benedict XVI, aka ex-Hitler Youth member Joseph Ratzinger, took it upon himself to lift an order of excommunication put on the Society of St. Pius X. The Society was formed by dissident “Traditionalist Catholics” as a response to the perceived liberal shift in Vatican doctrine in the 1960s, and the order’s communion with the Church was dissolved by Ratzinger’s immediate predecessor on an ecclesiastical technicality.
But, the Pope has lifted the dissolution of communion earlier this week, opening a floodgate of reporting on the fact that at least one of the Order’s members, British-born Richard Williamson, is an avowed Holocaust denier, and that the Society at large has a pretty severe reputation for anti-Semitism. (Another of the Order’s members is also a suspected Holocaust denier based on his writings, but the evidence is not as firm for him.)
While the Vatican has distanced itself from the Order’s Holocaust revisionism, calls for explanation have come in from around the world. Fifty members of the United States Congress (all Democrats and all Catholics) wrote an open letter to the Pope expressing “concern” over the rehabilitation of the order and asking that he clarify his views on the Holocaust. German leader Angela Merkel has also chimed in, hoping that the Pope will clear up his exact views on people who deny the mass slaughter of Jews by Nazis in the mid-20th century. It should be noted that Holocaust denial is illegal in Germany.
Apologists for the Pope, such as Bill ‘Secular Jews who hate Christianity control Hollywood‘ Donohue, president of the American Catholic League, have offered their own defenses, mostly complaining that not everyone understands the precise nuance of Church hierarchy.
The Pope could not be reached by this Edger contributor for comment.
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What? You’re not suprised the pedophile protectors have some Nazi sympathisers in their midst, are you? The RCC handed over the names of Jews to Hitler’s henchmen! They have a powerbase to protect, Nazis or otherwise. The pedophile thing, well, only lately has it presented a problem. Killing Jews, raping children, protecting Nazis, it’s all business as the RCC understands it.
If you visit the Vaticans website, “The Holy See”, you can read all about their “Secret Archives”, but oddly enough there’s no “Contact Us” link with the popes e-mail. Funny that.
Regards
Dave
The New Atheists are of course anti Jewish through and through. Dawkins TWICE berates the “notrorious Jewish Lobby” (pages 4 and 44 of his delusional book, hb), Harris devotes a chapter to why the Jews are responsible for their own victimhood, and Hitchens laments that the Jews weren’t wiped out at the battle remembered at Hannukah…his words, “We could have been spared the whole thing.” (p. 272 GING)
And here in Kansas City the atheists are arguing Hitler was Jewish. (Kansas City Freethought Forum, Bill Tammeus typepad blog)
Ah, I see moderation is in effect. How atheist.
Emanuel, all black Americans are not Martin Luther King Jr. All Muslims are not Bin Ladens. All Atheists are not what one or two guys say somewhere.
Perhaps the next time you read, you should drop your sentiments and biases of the subject, and read objectively.
And of course we have moderation. We don’t like spam.
And today we all learned the difference between factually describing a well-known religious lobby and HOLOCAUST DENIAL. They’re different things, buddy, and they’re not exactly on par with each other in terms of their anti-Semitic content.
amazing stuff thanx