I just read this news item about Pope Benedict XVI and his decision to lift the excommunication of an unapologetic Holocaust denier.
Blink.
The Pope lifted the excommunication of British Bishop Richard Williamson, who said in and interview on Swedish television...
"I believe that the historical evidence is strongly against -- is hugely against -- 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler," … "I believe there were no gas chambers," … then added "I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, but none of them by gas chambers."
Now you’re probably wondering what penance Bishop Williamson had to do to earn the lifting…wondering how many Hail Mary’s it takes to make up for uttering that rancid shit, particularly given the Church’s history during WWII…and more than a wee bit quizzical over whether Bishop Williamson offered a recantation prior to being welcomed back into the fold.
Well, Bishop Williamson didn’t do any penance.
He offered no recantation.
He was just…well, welcomed back.
Umm to, you know…mend fences with the break away Society of Saint Pius X that the previous Pope kicked to the curb in the late 1980’s for some other shit.
I’m not kidding!
Pope Benedict weighed mending fences with this one order against welcoming an unapologetic Holocaust denier back...and he opted to mend the fence.
What the fuck?
Wow.
That’s just…disturbingly rancid, even for this Pope.
And a bitch has to confess that it makes displeasing him beyond comforting...
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17 comments:
Ah, Little Sister? I love you and all, but the excomunication was of the wrong order in the first place, and Benedict by lifting it simply "fixed" things. Excommunication is not the equivalent of impeachment (being from Illinois, guess what I'm listening to these days?") It is totally barring the excommunicant from the Grace of God; banning him/her to the lowest pit of damnation for all eternity. This is reserved in the Canon for the vilest of heretics, not some jackass shooting his mouth off about his self-delusions.
Uhh, that is just insane! Talk about true hypocrates. These are the same people against anyone different then them. And then they are ok with someone that says crazy shit like that. Scary, isn't it.
I miss J.P. II and I'm not even Catholic. Makes we wonder wtf the committee was thinking when they selected this new idiot.
ARGH!!!!!
Damn, this kind o shit pisses me off really bad and reaffirms my belief that any Pope and any organized religion is fuckery at it's worst.
What Dusty said. Literally: Holy SHIT.
I mean I'm not surprised AT ALL. The Pope was in Hitler Youth. I know everyone was doing it at the time and everything, but if you found out some important leader who went to KKK meetings in the south as a kid was racist or did a favor for another racist, would you be surprised?
I think the Catholic community already made it clear what their feelings towards Jews/ the Holocaust are when they picked a former participant of Hitler Youth to be Pope. I mean, come on, most Catholics worldwide aren't even white and they picked a former Hitler Youth participant to be Pope?
Even if it was just the thing to do, I can't imagine he forgot EVERYTHING he learned in Hitler Youth, about Jews or any other "inferior" race, like the many African and Hispanic Catholics around the world.
Not very surprising coming from Pope Fester. It'll be interesting to see how hard he pushes on the abortion debate.
After President Obama's statements to the Pubbie leadership yesterday about not letting themselves be led by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and a not-too-gentle reminder to them that they were dealing with the winner of the election - I don't see him backing down too far on abortion rights.
Interesting too that the Vatican is brushing off the President's comments about minimizing the need for abortion as "playing with words". What the fuck, indeed.
Some of us have not forgotten the indigenous populations of the Americas, either. The way I see it, Ratzinger has been-a-dick pretty much his whole life. At least that was his function when he worked for John Paul II. Wasn't he sort of the Holy Enforcer? Everyone has their own take on god and religion, organized or otherwise, but if these men were from any other area of society, no one would be putting up with such outrageous bullshit. Nobody got gassed? OK, fine. What were they doing with the equipment and facilities for gassing that were found in those camps then? Evidence doesn't do much for the folks running the Vatican, as far as I can tell. You know, for an organization supposedly all about Jesus, I don't see a lot of empathy for anyone besides rich old white men there. Damn, I have to even qualify that: not all rich old white men want poor folks in Africa to suffer because of their dogma. Can something be pitiful and evil at the same time?
-Doug in Oakland
Mr. or Ms. Jew? a) the Catholic Community did not pick the Pope. That's not how it works.... b) Catholics were victimized in the Holocaust, too. Finally c) y'all are missing the point. Excommunication is not appropriate for such an idiot (indeed, one suggests he may be in special need of the Grace of God, as he is clearly not in his right mind and as such, needs all the friggin' help he can get); the appropriate response would be to censure - or lay a vow of silence, which the Pope can do - and pray for his greater understanding.
Finally, let's not go down the old "my peoples' suffering was worse" path, as that leads to divisiveness in an already frighteningly-divided world.
Rileysdtr... thanks for the explaination! This non-Catholic is easily confused.
I personally think this asshole is worthy of the boot, but a bitch ain't Pope.
And longtime readers know that a bitch is not fond of Oppression Olympics...but my ass is beyond interested in that vow of silence thang.
They need to bring that shit back...or maybe a bitch will add it to powers of the United Church of Bitchitude and Latter Day Drunks!
The excommunication happened as I understand it, as a result of a ceremontial elevation of Bishops not approved by the Vatican.
The Pope who administered the order, was John Paul I , I believe.
The genesis of the problem lies with a faction of the Church that opposes Vatican II.
The much beloved John XXIII oversaw a modernization of the Church that updated and made the Mass more accessable by permitting modern languages as opposed to ONLY Latin.
This man was one of the elevated. The presiding Bishop at the elevation was French.
This group for Pius X are rather like the Federalist Society in our judiciary. Dead-enders.
The problem with the modern church,is that much like our country,Benedict=Bush.
The conservative wing is stuggling to remain relevent in world quickly leaving them in the past.
A past that runs from the Crusades through the Inquisition and WWII to the Magdelene Launderies and most recently sex scandals.
They forgotten that WE are the Church.
I would say, as a non-Catholic who doesn't know the rules, that perhaps excommunication was not the right move in the first place. But reversing that was CLEARLY hatred towards Jews, and hello, Jesus was a Jew. A reform Jew, but still, he spent his last supper celebrating Passover, right? He had not given up on his religion or his God.
I am not impressed by this pope. Not at all. This is a man with a LOT of power. It matters how he uses it.
Riley: "Jew" seems a bit ignorant about how the Catholic church works, but he didn't play the Oppression Olympics card. Please don't try to silence him.
As far as the pope, I kinda wonder...maybe those people who were worried about his time in the Hitler Youth were right.
I think its more important to EDUCATE this jackass rather than pray and hope that his silly, hateful views disappear. Remember, the Catholic church officially held all Jews responsible for killing Jesus until the 1960s Vatican II reforms by Pope John XXIII.
I'm Swedish, and I watched the whole show where the priest made that comment - which wasn't the only, or even the major, thing they took issue with. The subsect of Catholicism this priest is part of is also homophobic and misogynist, and supported by far-right fascist groups.
After seeing the show, I was mainly astonished that anyone could find misogynistic homophobic far-right groups with the odd holocaust-denier thrown in at all out of the ordinary for the church where Papa Ratzi is leader.
I love it that you will go out on a limb and air subjects that need to be talked about out in the open. The discussion that followed your post has been very enlightening.
Somewhat O/T here, but, I did not think 2000 years ago, other than Pharissean, Sadussean, Essenene, (sp), there were other distinctions within Judaism. I thought Jesus was an Essenene. Not picking a fight, truly curious here. Can you cite a source for the Big JC being a "Reform" Jew?
Along with the ones you mentioned I know there were the Macabees and the Hasidim. Google Macabee revolt and see what it nets you.
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