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	The Vatican Turns on Williamson. about Time, Too. By Damian Thompson Telegraph February 27, 2009 http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/damian_thompson/blog/2009/02/27/the_vatican_turns_on_williamson_about_time_too The Vatican has rejected Bishop Richard Williamson's carefully worded apology for his remarks about the Holocaust. Good. Williamson has no serious intention of recanting; that much is clear. Rome wanted him to change his views and, since he hasn't, it isn't satisfied with his apology. I'm getting really fed up with Catholic traditionalists who temper their criticism of this despicable man. Thank God, many priests who say the older form of Mass are appalled by him: I spoke to one distinguished traditionalist priest this week who had vainly tried to warn the Vatican of Williamson's anti-Semitism before the decree of excommunication was lifted. "I even sent them the video of him saying those awful things," he said helplessly. Williamson's apology is honest, in a way. In it, he says: "I can truthfully say that I regret having made such remarks, and that if I had known beforehand the full harm and hurt to which they would give rise, especially to the Church, but also to survivors and relatives of victims of injustice under the Third Reich, I would not have made them. "On Swedish television I gave only the opinion... of a non-historian, an opinion formed 20 years ago on the basis of evidence then available and rarely expressed in public since. However, the events of recent weeks and the advice of senior members of the Society of St Pius X have persuaded me of my responsibility for much distress caused. To all souls that took honest scandal from what I said before God I apologise." This is an apology, undoubtedly. It's also worthless, since it indicates that Williamson hasn't revised his view that there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz. As it happens, I don't believe that the Nazis' murder of Jews should be cordoned off from the rest of history as an event whose details can never be questioned; but I do believe that the accepted version of events is broadly accurate. Also, I've met a few Holocaust deniers/reductionists in my time, and I've yet to come across one who didn't think that, whatever happened to the Jews, they had it coming to them. Trawling through Williamson's sermons is a sad experience. There's an intense piety there, powerful faith, but it's poisoned by anger, hatred and an all-consuming paranoia. This troubled man has links to the political Far Right, and has written about Hitler "liberating" Germany from the control of Jewish money. All of this information was in the public domain before the Pope lifted his excommunication without - it must be said - preparing an adequate response to an entirely predictable outcry. The SSPX has distanced itself from Williamson, but only up to a point; hardly surprising, since Williamson is not the only senior cleric in its ranks with far Right sympathies. The other day, I was at a reception given by traditionalists loyal to the Holy See, and someone came up and introduced himself as a Lefebvrist. I wish I'd told him what was going through my head, which was: "You've got a bloody nerve showing your face here, given the damage your outfit has done to the greatest Pope of modern times."
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