The Vatican, Catholicism, and the Holocaust — Catholicism Sinks Again
Normally, I do not like commenting on internal workings of a religion or faith not of my own. But in this instance, I must. One of these reinstated Bishops, Richard Williamson, is a Holocaust denier. According to Richardson, historical evidence ”is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed.” He goes on to make other similarly outrageous claims.
Quite obviously, Pope Benedict XVI should be ashamed of himself. The Catholic religion is a hierarchical structure, and by reinstating such a person, the Pope implies that Richardson’s wild antisemitism and Holocaust denial are legitimate teachings of the Catholic Church. One can easily conclude from this that the history of Catholicism, already rightly blamed for contributing to (and cooperating with) the fire of Nazi Jew-hatred, is no longer merely history, but flows in the present tense. This video is of Williamson’s despicable Holocaust denial discourse and “analysis”:
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February 3rd, 2009 at 12:37 am
Holocaust denial is despicable and deplorable, especially when coming from an educated fellow like the Bishop. However, do his historical distortions have any effect on his ability to perform the duties of Bishop? The Church has spoken out against his beliefs and iterated over and over they do not belong to the greater Church. Is that not enough? How many Rabbis are in very high positions and yet still believe dinosaurs never existed? Does this belief impede their ability to lead as Rabbis? Granted it’s not exactly comparable, but the point is valid.
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MJK
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February 4th, 2009 at 12:12 am
Davis thanks again for your comment, I really appreciate it! In my opinion, the difference here, versus Rabbis, Imams, or any other clergymen who have off the ball (or worse ideas), is that Catholicism is hierarchal. The Pope is the CEO, his Cardinals are the Senior Vice Presidents, and so on. When the Pope as CEO proactively reinstates certain men to the clergy (his managers so to speak), who were excommunicated, he makes the point that their perspective is now acceptable within the Church umbrella (for these Bishops, it is the doctrine of the Society of St. Pius X). Therefore, we can no longer conclude that their perspective does not belong to the greater Church. And when one of these Bishops expresses public Holocaust denial, coupled with theorizing that the Jews are using the Holocaust to hoodwink the world out of money, one can easily draw the same conclusion that such views are also acceptable to the Church.
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February 4th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Thank you for clarifying your point, and it is an important one. Let me clarify mine and see if it resonates more…If an appointed bishop held the belief that 1+1=3, does his appointment necessarily mean the Church accepts this is the a valid opinion? And especially when the Church expresses publicly they officially believe 1+1=2?
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MJK
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February 6th, 2009 at 12:44 am
Davis, the difference here is that a random fact like 1+1=3 is unimportant, and has no relationship to the theology or doctrines of Christianity, or Catholicism. Traditional Catholic belief (pre Vatican II, of which the Society of St. Pius X wants to revert back to) is that after the Jews rejected Jesus, Christianity superseded Judaism, and the Church became the new “Israel” (Doctrine of Supersession). The concept of Holocaust from this perspective is troubling to many Christians who adhere to this Doctrine, because if Christianity is the New Israel, how could Christians (both Catholics and Protestants) have then committed mass murder, especially where the victimized Jews were innocent? Williamson’s interview goes on to claim that the Jews are using the Holocaust just to make money, an ancient anti-semitic canard that he is employing to further demonstrate the greedy behavior of the “fallen” Jews.
In other words, in Williamson’s world, a world in which the Holocaust did not happen, the Doctrine of Supersession exists, unthreatened by any grand mass-murder of Jews by Christians.
If Williamson denied the Rawandan or Cambodian massacres, that would be bad too. But it would not relate to Christianity as for the most part the perpetrators of these massacres were not Christians, and in any event, those events do not involve the Jews or Judaism. The same goes for 1+1=3 — there is no theological statement made by such a belief.
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