Holocaust: British Bishop Fined 10,000 Euros for Partial Holocaust Denial
DEUTSCHE WELLE: Ultra-conservative bishop Richard Williamson has been fined 10,000 euros for denying aspects of the Holocaust in an interview for Swedish television. He made the comments while on German soil.

A court in the Bavarian city of Regensburg has fined a conservative British bishop 10,000 euros ($13,500) for partial Holocaust denial in a television interview.

Bishop Richard Williamson did not attend the hearing, and his lawyer said he was instructed not to by his ultra-conservative order, the Saint Pius X Society.

"Bishop Williamson would gladly have come," defense lawyer Matthias Lossmann told the court in Regensburg, "but the Saint Pius X Society suggested he did not. To be precise, they forbade him from coming."

While the maximum sentence for Holocaust denial - a criminal offence in Germany - is five years in prison, the court in Regensburg had said in the run-up to the trial that a fine would be the most likely outcome in the case of a guilty verdict.

The clergyman had already incurred a 12,000-euro fine for a 2008 Swedish television interview he gave from the Saint Pius X seminary near Regensburg. Because Williamson refused to pay this, the Regensburg court elected to open criminal proceedings against him.

In the interview he argued that only "200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps," and further argued that gas chambers had not been used as a method of mass-execution. The German issue >>> msh/dl/AP/AFP, Editor: Chuck Penfold | Friday, April 16, 2010

British Bishop Richard Williamson to Go on Trial in Germany for Holocaust Denial
Accused: Roman Catholic bishop Richard Williamson (centre) arriving at Heathrow airport in London in February this year. Photo: Mail Online
MAIL ONLINE: British Holocaust-denying bishop Richard Williamson faces trial in Germany for an outspoken TV interview in which he denied that the wartime extermination of the Jews took place.

The ultra-conservative Catholic cleric was hit with a fine of nearly £12,000 today by a court for his comments made to a Swedish television interviewer - but he refused to pay it.

Because Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany - and because he gave the interview while on German soil - he was prosecuted in Regensburg, near to the birthplace of Pope Benedict XVI, where he gave the interview.

Under the German legal system, he was served with an ‘order of punishment’ informing him of the penalty.

Such orders are intended to cut down on bureaucracy and costs if both sides agree with the fine, which also would mean a criminal conviction.

But Williamson did not agree. He is to appeal, paving the way for a full hearing which could prove highly embarrassing for the church once more - even though Williamson can absent himself from proceedings to be represented just by his lawyer.

A trial judge will demand to know why he believes that six million Jews were not murdered by the Nazis and on what facts he bases his views on.

In the controversial interview, Williamson alleged that Nazi gas chambers had never existed and 'only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews' had been killed by the Nazis.

He went on to claim that historical evidence was 'hugely against six million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler... I believe there were no gas chambers.'

He added: 'I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in the Nazi concentration camps but none of them in gas chambers.' >>> Allan Hall | Wednesday, November 10, 2009

Holocaust Row Bishop Arrives in Britain
THE TELEGRAPH: Bishop Richard Williamson, who was asked to leave Argentina after making "deeply offensive" comments about the Holocaust, has arrived back in Britain.

Richard Williamson, the Holocaust-denying bishop, has arrived back in Britain. Here, he is being escorted out of Heathrow. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
The British-born Roman Catholic bishop flew into London's Heathrow airport from Buenos Aires where he was met by a crowd of international media and an armed police guard.

The bishop, who was given 10 days to leave Argentina by the country's government, declined to answer questions from the press as he was taken to a waiting car by police officers.

Those meeting him, including other Roman Catholic priests, also declined to comment before the vehicle sped away.

The bishop had been resident in Argentina until this week at the St Pius X seminary in the capital.

But after remarks he made in a Swedish television interview were broadcast, the government branded his view "deeply offensive".

He claimed in the interview last month that historical evidence was "hugely against six million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler ... I believe there were no gas chambers."

He added: "I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in the Nazi concentration camps but none of them in gas chambers."

The Vatican has ordered Bishop Williamson to retract his comments and the Catholic Church in England and Wales has said he must do so before he can "enter into full communion with the church". >>> | Wednesday, February 25, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Vatican Complains to Israel about 'Blasphemous' TV Programme

The Vatican has lodged a formal complaint with the Israeli government over a TV programme that "ridiculed and blasphemed" Jesus and Mary.

In the programme, the host denied Christian traditions - that Mary was a virgin and that Jesus walked on water - saying he would do so as a "lesson" to Christians who deny the Holocaust, a reference to the Vatican's recent lifting of the excommunication of a bishop who denied 6 million Jews were killed during the Second World War. The rehabilitation sparked outrage among Jews.

The host, a well-known Israeli comedian Lior Shlein, also claimed that Mary became pregnant at 15 by a schoolmate and said that Jesus could never have walked on water because "he was so fat he was ashamed to leave the house, let alone go to the Sea of Galilee with a bathing suit."A statement from the Vatican press office said its representative in Israel had complained to the government about the show, which was broadcast recently on private Channel 10, one of Israel's three main television stations. >>> | Saturday, February 21, 2009

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Gaskammern geleugnet: Vatikan fordert Widerruf
DIE PRESSE: Der britische Bischof Williamson soll sich "eindeutig und öffentlich" von seinen Aussagen zum Holocaust distanzieren, verlangt der Vatikan. Sonst werde er nicht voll in die Kirche aufgenommen.

Der Vatikan hat den traditionalistischen Bischof Richard Williamson am Mittwoch aufgefordert, seine Leugnung des Holocaust zu widerrufen. Williamson solle sich "eindeutig und öffentlich" von seinen Äußerungen distanzieren, bevor er wieder voll in die Kirche aufgenommen werden könne, hieß es in einer Erklärung des Vatikan. Noch wenige Stunden zuvor hatte der Papst bei seiner wöchentlichen Generalaudienz im Vatikan keinen Kommentar zur Causa Williamson abgegeben. >>> DiePresse.com | Mittwoch, 4. Februar 2009

HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Vatican: Holocaust Denier Must Recant

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican demanded Wednesday that a bishop who denied the Holocaust recant his positions before being fully admitted into the Roman Catholic Church.

The Vatican also said in a statement that Pope Benedict XVI didn't know about Bishop Richard Williamson's views when he agreed to lift his excommunication and that of three other ultraconservative bishops Jan. 21.

The statement was issued by the Vatican's Secretariat of State a day after German Chacellor Angela Merkel urged the pope to make a clearer rejection of Holocaust denials, saying there hadn't been adequate clarification from the Vatican.

Williamson was shown on Swedish state television days before his rehabilitation was made public saying historical evidence "is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed" during World War II. >>> By Nicole Winfield Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press | Wednesday, February 4, 2009

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Le Vatican demande à Richard Williamson de renier ses propos

POLÉMIQUE | L’évêque intégriste négationniste Richard Williamson doit "prendre sans équivoque et publiquement ses distances" avec ses déclarations sur la Shoah a annoncé mercredi le Vatican.

Le Vatican a aussi affirmé dans un communiqué que le Pape Benoît XVI n’était pas informé des propos tenus par l’évêque britannique qui a nié l’existence des chambres à gaz, lorsqu’il a accepté de lever son excommunication en même temps que celle de trois autres prêtres intégristes la semaine dernière.

Mgr Richard Williamson s’est excusé depuis auprès du pape pour la «peine et les problèmes» qu’il a causés par ses propos, mais il ne s’est pas rétracté.

Les mouvements juifs ont salué le communiqué du Vatican, affirmant qu’il satisfaisait leur principale demande. «C’était le signe que le monde juif attendait», a déclaré Ronald Lauder, président du Congrès juif mondial. Mardi, la chancelière allemande Angela Merkel avait appelé Benoît XVI à exprimer un rejet «très clair» du négationnisme. >>> AP | Mercredi 04. Février 2009

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Pope's PR Men Have Put His Future at Risk
THE TELEGRAPH: Lifting the ban on the Holocaust denying Bishop Williamson is disastrous, says Damian Thompson.

The night before Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications on the Holocaust denier Richard Williamson and the other bishops of the ultra-traditionalist Society of St Pius X (SSPX), I emailed a friend in Rome with close links to the papal household. I said: "You do know how awful this is going to look, don't you?" He replied: "Yes, but it's too late."

This week, the future of Benedict's pontificate hangs in the balance. For those of us who regard him as the greatest pope of modern times, this is little short of a tragedy. In the last 18 months, he has reintegrated Latin services into the life of the Church. Orthodox Catholics are thrilled by his intellectually dazzling project to renovate the Church's liturgy. Thousands of Anglicans will cross the Tiber as soon as the Vatican can find a way of protecting them from unsympathetic RC bishops.

Meanwhile, the haughty prelates of the SSPX are finally prepared to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Second Vatican Council, which modernised the Catholic Church in the 1960s. Only Benedict XVI could have achieved this.

But the Williamson fiasco – the incompetence of the Vatican communications service in failing to anticipate the outcry, and the sluggish response – has given Benedict's enemies the opportunity they have been waiting for. Far from being alarmed by the lifting of the excommunications, many liberals are happy to sit back and watch "the Ratzinger project" unravel. >>> Damian Thompson* | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

*Damian Thompson is editor-in-chief of 'The Catholic Herald'

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Bishop Richard Williamson, the Holocaust-denier

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Vatican Admits 'Errors' in Rehabilitating Bishop Who Questioned Holocaust
The Vatican has conceded for the first time that it may have made 'errors' in its rehabilitation of a British bishop who questioned the Holocaust.

A senior Vatican official acknowledged that the Holy See made "management errors" with its decision to lift the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson, who has said that the Nazis did not use gas chambers to kill and that a maximum of 300,000 Jews, not six million, lost their lives.

Pope Benedict XVI's decision to rehabilitate Bishop Williamson – without seeking the advice of his most senior advisers, according to Vatican insiders – provoked uproar around the world and forced the Vatican into damage control mode.

"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.

"The Pope wanted to open the debate because he wanted unity inside and outside," the German cardinal told Vatican Radio, referring to the Pontiff's desire to reconcile the ultra-conservative Society of Saint Pius X, of which Williamson is a member, with the rest of the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Kasper noted that although Bishop Williamson and three other bishops have had their excommunications lifted, "they are still suspended" from the mainstream Church.

The Vatican has argued that rehabilitating Bishop Williamson, who runs a church in Argentina, does not imply that it accepts or condones his views on the Holocaust.

But the affair has poisoned relations with progressive Catholics and Jewish groups around the world, leaving many with the impression that the Vatican did not give enough thought to bringing Williamson in from the cold. >>> By Nick Squires in Rome | Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Bishop Richard Williamson interviewed by Swedish television >>>

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