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Report: Bishop who had denied Holocaust apologizes
Alessandra Rizzo The Assciated Press
Issue date: 2/27/09 Section: News
ROME (AP) - A British bishop whose denial of the Holocaust embroiled Pope Benedict XVI in controversy has apologized for his remarks, a Catholic news agency said Thursday.
Bishop Richard Williamson, with the conservative Society of St. Pius X, had faced worldwide criticism over a television interview in which he said no Jews were gassed during the Holocaust.
While Williamson apologized in a statement Thursday to all those who took offense and for the distress he caused, the bishop did not specifically say that his comments were erroneous, or that he no longer believed them. As a result, Jewish leaders said the apology did not go far enough.
"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," Williamson was quoted as saying in the statement carried by the Zenit Catholic news agency.
Last month, the pope, seeking to help heal a rift with ultra-traditionalists, lifted a 20-year-old excommunication decree imposed on Williamson and three other bishops who had been consecrated without Vatican approval.
The move immediately caused an uproar among Jewish groups. Benedict later condemned Williamson's remarks and spoke out against anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.
"Observing these consequences I can truthfully say that I regret having made such remarks," Williamson added, according to Zenit.
The agency quoted him as saying that to all that took offense, "before God I apologize."
It was not clear if the apology would satisfy the Vatican, which had demanded that he recant before being admitted to the church as a clergyman. The Vatican had no comment on the statement, said the Holy See spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi.
Some Jewish groups expressed disappointment.
Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, said the apology "is not the kind of an apology that would end this matter" because it failed to address the central issue.
Bishop Richard Williamson, with the conservative Society of St. Pius X, had faced worldwide criticism over a television interview in which he said no Jews were gassed during the Holocaust.
While Williamson apologized in a statement Thursday to all those who took offense and for the distress he caused, the bishop did not specifically say that his comments were erroneous, or that he no longer believed them. As a result, Jewish leaders said the apology did not go far enough.
"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," Williamson was quoted as saying in the statement carried by the Zenit Catholic news agency.
Last month, the pope, seeking to help heal a rift with ultra-traditionalists, lifted a 20-year-old excommunication decree imposed on Williamson and three other bishops who had been consecrated without Vatican approval.
The move immediately caused an uproar among Jewish groups. Benedict later condemned Williamson's remarks and spoke out against anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.
"Observing these consequences I can truthfully say that I regret having made such remarks," Williamson added, according to Zenit.
The agency quoted him as saying that to all that took offense, "before God I apologize."
It was not clear if the apology would satisfy the Vatican, which had demanded that he recant before being admitted to the church as a clergyman. The Vatican had no comment on the statement, said the Holy See spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi.
Some Jewish groups expressed disappointment.
Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, said the apology "is not the kind of an apology that would end this matter" because it failed to address the central issue.
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