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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/37564/full/37564/pope-says-vatican-made-errors-in-holocaust-denial-case/ <br /><br /> <b>Pope says Vatican made errors in Holocaust denial case</b> <br /> Thursday, March 19, 2009 | by victor l. simpson <br /><br /><p><strong>vatican city  | </strong> Pope Benedict XVI last week made an unusual public acknowledgment of Vatican mistakes and turmoil in his church over an outreach to ultraconservatives that led to his lifting the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop.</p> <p>In an attempt to end one of the most serious crises of his papacy, he said in a letter that the Vatican must make greater use of the Internet to prevent other controversies.</p> <p>The Vatican took the rare step of releasing — in six languages — the German-born pope’s personal account of the incident addressed to Catholic bishops around the world.</p> <p>It recalled his apology in 2006 after his remarks linking Islam to violence caused a storm in the Islamic world. He said then he was “deeply sorry.”</p> <div class="capDivLeft" style="width: 216px;"><img alt="Wpope" class="left" height="346" src="/images/uploads/z_photos_2009/zm_03_20_09/Wpope.jpg" title="Pope Benedict XVI" width="216" /> <div class="caption">Pope Benedict XVI</div> </div> Popes are traditionally protective of their office and their aides; the last time a pope explicitly proclaimed infallibility on matters of faith and morals was in 1950. <p>The Vatican has said that Benedict did not now know that British-born Bishop Richard Williamson was a Holocaust denier when he lifted his excommunication on Jan. 24.</p> <p>Benedict, in an implicit criticism of aides, said that not searching the Internet for information before lifting the excommunications Jan. 24 was an “unforeseen mishap” that caused tensions between Christians and Jews.</p> <p>Williamson had denied in an interview with Swedish TV broadcast earlier in January that 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis. He said about 200,000 or 300,000 were murdered and none were gassed. His excommunication was lifted along with three other ultraconservative bishops’ in an attempt to bring dissidents back into the mainstream church.</p> <p>Instead, the move outraged many Jews and Catholics, including bishops in Benedict’s native Germany, when William-son’s views became widely known and the interview was widely viewed on the Internet.</p> <p>The pope said the controversy resulted from an “unforeseen mishap” that made his efforts of “mercy” toward the excommunicated bishops seem like a repudiation of reconciliation between Christians and Jews.</p> <p>“That this overlapping of two opposing processes took place and momentarily upset peace between Christians and Jews, as well as peace within the church, is something which I can only deeply deplore,” Benedict wrote.</p> <p>Benedict last week also met with a delegation from Israel’s Chief Rabbinate in Rome, a meeting that was part of regularly planned consultations to discuss aspects of Catholic and Jewish religious teachings.</p> <p>“This was not just another meeting,” commented Haifa Chief Rabbi She’ar-Yashuv Cohen, who headed the delegation. “This was a special experience, a turning point, the end of a crisis. We could not have expected a warmer reception.”</p> <p>Benedict told the delegation, “The Jewish people, who were chosen as the elected people, communicate to the whole human family knowledge of and fidelity to the one, unique and true God.”</p> <p>Rabbi David Rosen, the American Jewish Committee’s international director of interreligious affairs, confirmed that all members of the delegation had been convinced of the pope’s deep commitment to Catholic-Jewish relations.</p> <p>The pope said he hopes his visit to the Holy Land in May fosters understanding among religions. He said he remains committed to a landmark document issued by the Second Vatican Council that states the church deplores all forms of anti-Semitism.</p> <p>“May my visit also help to deepen the dialogue of the Church with the Jewish people so that Jews and Christians and also Muslims may live in peace and harmony in this Holy Land,” Benedict said.</p> <p>In addition, the Vatican and Rome’s Jewish Community announced that Benedict would visit the city’s main synagogue in the fall. In 1986, the late Pope John Paul II made his historic, first-ever papal visit to a synagogue there.</p> <p>In his letter, Benedict defended his attempts to bring those loyal to the anti-modernization movement of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre back into the church’s fold, while also acknowledging that he did not properly explain his intentions and limits.</p> <p>“The pope clarified that no member of the Lefebvrist Pius X Society can be reinstated without accepting the important Vatican II reforms regarding dialogue with Jews and other religions, religious liberty, ecumenism, etc.,” Rosen said.</p> <p>At the same time, Benedict added, the church cannot be indifferent to a movement that claims to include 491 priests, 215 seminarians and six seminaries. “Should we casually let them drift farther from the church?” he asked.</p> <p><br /><strong>The Jerusalem Post</strong> contributed to this report.</p>

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