I was pleased that someone in the Vatican helped Pope Benedict rethink his position on British Bishop Richard Williamson. Pope Benedict recently lifted Williamson's excommunication, which was a bizarre move, since Williamson is a Holocaust denier. Some people claim that the pope was ill-informed, but I'm not buying that. I think he chose his aides for their extreme right-wing views, and he knew exactly what kind of advice they would give. He knew all he wanted to know.
Vatican turnaround: Holocaust denier must recant
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, AP
February 4, 2009
The Vatican, bowing to the growing furor over Pope Benedict XVI's decision to accept a return to the church of a prelate who denied the Holocaust, made a dramatic turnaround Wednesday and demanded the bishop recant.
The Vatican sought to distance the pope from the controversy by saying he did not know about British Bishop Richard Williamson's views when he agreed to lift his excommunication last month.
In the surprisingly public spat, some leading cardinals in Germany and at the Vatican blamed unidentified aides for not fully briefing the pope.
The controversy provided a rare look at the cracks in the Vatican's facade of unity and raised questions about the advice the pope receives and his access to information. Papal aides say Benedict, a former university professor and theologian, receives a daily news summary and occasionally watches television...
Williamson was shown on Swedish state television just days before the lifting of his excommunication was announced on Jan. 24, acknowledging his view that "there was not one Jew killed by the gas chambers" during World War II...
Williamson subsequently apologized to the pope for having stirred controversy, but he did not repudiate his comments, in which he also said only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews were killed by the Nazis and none were gassed...
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