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	Austrian Priest Declines Nomination Radio Netherlands February 16, 2009 http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/international/6178209/Austrian-priest-declines-nomination The Austrian priest who was nominated suffragan bishop of Linz by Pope Benedict XVI a week ago has declined the position. The nomination sparked considerable protest in Austria, due mainly to the priest's extreme conservative opinions. In the past, Gerhard Maria Wagner has said that Hurricane Katrina was sent by God to punish New Orleans for its sins, that the Harry Potter books are "satanic" and that homosexuality is a disease that can be cured. Pope Benedict made the nomination against the wishes of other Austrian bishops, at a time when he had just re-admitted British Bishop Richard Williamson to the Roman Catholic church. Bishop Williamson caused a furore with his remarks in a television interview that that there was no evidence for the existence of Nazi gas chambers and that no more than 300,000 Jews had died in concentration camps during World War II. Since the priest's nomination, record numbers of Austrians have left the Roman Catholic church.
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