Pope Benedict XVI continues his quest to be the least popular pope of modern times. Give a conservative German the goofy hat and the big ring and look what happens - let's bring Holocaust deniers back into the fold!
Attacks on Pope Benedict XVI's decision to lift the excommunication of a Holocaust denier escalated Monday, with one theologian calling on him to step down as the head of the Roman Catholic Church.At a time when the Catholic Church is widely seen and treated in Europe as an historical artifact of times gone by, perhaps this isn't the best way to assert the church's present-day relevance. Just saying.
"If the pope wants to do some good for the Church, he should leave his job," eminent liberal Catholic theologian Hermann Haering told the German daily Tageszeitung.
Meanwhile, a senior Vatican official acknowledged the Vatican administration may have made "management errors" with the decision to lift excommunication against four bishops, including Richard Williamson, whose comments sparked the controversy.
"I observe the debate with great concern. There were misunderstandings and management errors in the Curia," said Cardinal Walter Kasper, who is in charge of the Vatican department that deals with Jewish relations.
An international uproar followed the decision to rehabilitate Williamson, an English bishop who has dismissed as "lies" historical evidence that six million Jews were gassed by the Nazis during World War II. Jews and Catholics alike have produced widespread criticism.
3 comments:
He was, of course, lifting an excommunication that had nothing to do with the Holocaust denial, so it is logical that he wouldn't stop his plans just because those comments came to life.
The general sense is that B16 is trying to give the anti-Semites in SSPX just enough rope to hang themselves, though I agree he could have used some better PR on that one.
Yeah, I think this was a PR debacle more than anything - but a major one at that. It's hard to believe that there wasn't one soul at a meeting who put his hand up and said "uh, yeah, this one's a Holocaust denier. Think that'll be a problem?"
Far more telling IMHO, is the list of those who are stirring the pot.
Yes, a PR problem--but the steroids came from interesting places, indeed--internal to the Church as well as external.
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