Well, it’s a real shitstorm over at the Vatican since Pope Benedict lifted the excommunication that had been imposed on four bishops, one of whom is a Holocaust denier and generally sketchy guy. The Washington Post reports:
The biggest furor since the decision to reinstate them, however, has focused on one of the bishops, British-born Richard Williamson. In recent weeks, he has denied that the Holocaust occurred, and in the past has written that women should not attend universities, empathized with the Unabomber’s views on modern technology and suggested that the U.S. government staged the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as an excuse to invade Afghanistan.
“I believe that the historical evidence . . . is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed,” Williamson said on Swedish television this month. “I believe there were no gas chambers.”
(Emphasis mine).
I’ve always been a kind of secret fan of Catholicism, but as far as I can tell, Pope Benedict is–how to put this lightly–a moron who doesn’t give a hoot about Jews and has no problem associating with all kinds of noxious elements. He probably also got a nun killed when he made insensitive comments about Islam in 2006. In contrast, his predecessor, Pope John Paul, was a friend to the Jews and to Israel, worked tirelessly for mutual understanding and respect between Catholics and Jews, and condemned anti-Semitism. Pope Benedict undid a serious chunk of that work, and already Israel’s chief rabbinate has severed its relationship with the Vatican, in protest against the reinstatement of Bishop Williamson.
Oh, and on the same day that Pope Benedict brought back the bishops, the Vatican publicly criticized President Obama for revoking the global gag rule. That means that so far the Pope has pissed off Jews, Muslims and Obama supporters. That leaves like 3 people who still think he’s cool. And I bet all three of them just covet his shoes.
