VATICAN CITY — In the latest consequence of more than two weeks of international outcry, a Holocaust-denying bishop who was recently readmitted to the Catholic Church has been dismissed as head of an Argentinean seminary.
“Statements by Monsignor (Richard) Williamson in no way reflect the position of our congregation,” said a statement announcing the dismissal, issued Feb. 9 by the Latin American branch of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX).
“A Catholic bishop cannot speak with ecclesiastical authority except on matters concerning faith and morality.”
Williamson is one of four bishops of the ultra-traditionalist SSPX whose 1988 excommunications were lifted by Pope Benedict XVI on Jan. 21, as part of the pope’s effort to reconcile with the schismatic group.
Jewish organizations were outraged after Williamson recently told Swedish television that no more than 300,000 Jews “perished in Nazi concentration camps … not one of them … in a gas chamber.”
In a meeting with Jewish leaders Feb. 12, Pope Benedict XVI said, “It is beyond question that any denial or minimization of this terrible crime is intolerable and altogether unacceptable.”
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