ASSOCIATED PRESS: ROME — A priest in an ultraconservative society recently rehabilitated by Pope Benedict XVI has defended a bishop in his group and joined him in expressing doubts about the Holocaust.
While making more cautious remarks than Bishop Richard Williamson, the Rev. Floriano Abrahamowicz echoed, in an interview published Thursday by an Italian daily, the prelate's doubts that Jews were gassed during World War II.
"I know gas chambers existed at least to disinfect, I can't say if anybody was killed in them or not," Abrahamowicz told La Tribuna di Treviso, a newspaper in northern Italy.
Contacted by phone in Treviso, Abrahamowicz said the report of his interview was accurate, but declined to elaborate.
Benedict lifted Williamson's excommunication and those of three other members of the Society of St. Pius X last week as part of his efforts to bring the group, which opposes many of the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council, back into the church.
Williamson's superiors at the society have distanced themselves from his comments.
Asked for comment about Abrahamowicz' remarks, a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, noted that Benedict had warned Wednesday against any denial of the full horror of the Nazi genocide and had expressed his unquestioned solidarity with Jews.
The spokesman also reiterated the Holy See's position that rehabilitating Williamson by no means implies that the Vatican shares his views. >>> By Ariel David | Thursday, January 29, 2009
ZEIT ONLINE: Holocaust-Leugnung: Antisemitismus unterm Kreuz
Die Wiederaufnahme des Holocaust-Leugners Bischof Williamson in die katholische Kirche steht in unseliger biblischer Tradition, schreibt die Theologin Uta Ranke-Heinemann
Seit Benedikt XVI. den Holocaustleugner und britischen Bischof Williamson ex-exkommunizierte und wie einen Heimkehrer herzlich umarmte, reißt die Debatte über diesen Schritt des Papstes nicht ab. Die Juden fühlen sich zutiefst verletzt, viele Deutschen schämen sich, dass es ein deutscher Papst war, der diesen schweren Fehltritt beging.
Alle Verteidigungen des Papstes, der für sich in Anspruch nimmt, unfehlbar in Glaubens- und Moralfragen zu sein, überzeugen nicht: Moralisch gesehen bedeutete seine Entscheidung eine unerträgliche Bagatellisierung unendlichen menschlichen Leides, das den Juden unter Hitler angetan wurde.
Die Wurzeln des Antisemitismus reichen im Christentum aber viel weiter zurück. Sie sind schon im Neuen Testament angelegt, und zwar in der Darstellung der Passion Christi. >>> © Zeit Online | Freitag, 30. Januar 2009
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