Holocaust-Denying British Bishop Makes Apology

The Vatican on Friday rejected an apology from a bishop whose denial of the Holocaust caused international uproar between Jews and Catholics, saying it did not meet its demand for a full and public recanting.

British Bishop Richard Williamson, who was ordered to leave Argentina and is now in his homeland, on Thursday issued a statement in which he said, "To all souls that took honest scandal from what I said, before God I apologise."

But chief Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said Williamson's statement "does not seem to respect the conditions" set forth by the Vatican on Feb. 4, when it ordered him to "in an absolutely unequivocal and public way distance himself from his positions" regarding the Holocaust.

On Jan. 24, Pope Benedict lifted the excommunications of Williamson and three other bishops to try to heal a 20-year-old schism that began when they were thrown out of the Church for being ordained without the permission of Pope John Paul II.

Among those who condemned Williamson and the pope's decision were Holocaust survivors, progressive Catholics, members of the U.S. Congress, Israel's Chief Rabbinate, German Jewish leaders and Jewish writer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.

Williamson told Swedish television in an interview broadcast on Jan. 21, "I believe there were no gas chambers". He said no more than 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, rather than the 6 million accepted by mainstream historians.

In his statement on Thursday, Williamson said, "I can truthfully say that I regret having made such remarks, and that if I had known beforehand the full harm and hurt to which they would give rise, especially to the Church, but also to survivors and relatives of victims of injustice under the Third Reich, I would not have made them."

JEWS SAY APOLOGY 'EMPTY'

Even before the Vatican issued its statement rejecting Williamson's statement as unsatisfactory, Jewish groups branded his apology as shallow and empty.

"As he clearly failed to retract his malicious lies, Williamson has again shown that he is a staunch anti-Semite and incorrigible Holocaust denier who doubts the genocide of six million Jewish people," said Charlotte Knobloch, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

Williamson made his comments denying the Holocaust in Germany, where such comments are a crime.

"Williamson's disingenuous apology cannot close the book on this chapter," said Menachem Rosensaft, founding chairman of the International Network of Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors.

"Williamson in no way recanted his denial of the Holocaust. Instead, he merely expressed regret that his public expression of his noxious views called attention to Pope Benedict XVI's ill-conceived attempt to rehabilitate him and other members of the anti-Semitic Society of Saint Pius X," said Rosensaft, who is the son of two survivors of Nazi death camps.

Williamson arrived in Britain earlier this week after he was ordered to leave Argentina, where he was the director of a seminary of the ultra-traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).

The controversy over Williamson's comments and the pope's decision to lift his excommunication led to the worst crisis in Catholic-Jewish relations in half a century.

On Feb. 12 the pope, in an attempt to defuse the crisis, told Jewish leaders that "any denial or minimisation of this terrible crime is intolerable", especially if it comes from a clergyman.

The row over Williamson has led many to take a closer look at the SSPX, its view of Jews and its future in the Church.

The Vatican says that before the SSPX can be fully readmitted into the Church, its leaders and members must first accept the teachings of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council, which urged respect for Judaism and other religions.

One of its key documents, "Nostra Aetate" (In Our Times), repudiated the concept of collective Jewish guilt for Christ's death.