Richard Williamson, Catholic bishop whose denial of Holocaust embarrassed Pope Benedict XVI, dies
Source: Associated Press
Richard Williamson, Catholic bishop whose denial of Holocaust embarrassed Pope Benedict XVI, dies
By NICOLE WINFIELD
Updated 7:41 AM EST, January 30, 2025
ROME (AP) — Richard Williamson, an ultra-traditionalist Catholic bishop whose denial of the Holocaust created a scandal in 2009 when Pope Benedict XVI rehabilitated him and other members of his breakaway society, has died. He was 84.
Williamson suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in his native England on Jan. 24 and died Wednesday, the Society of St. Pius X said in a statement on Thursday.
Williamson was among four men consecrated bishop in 1988 by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who formed the group in 1969 in opposition to the Second Vatican Council. Vatican II was the series of 1960s church meetings that modernized the Catholic Church by allowing Mass in the vernacular rather than Latin and revolutionizing the church’s relations with Jews.
In 1988, the Vatican excommunicated Lefebvre, Williamson and the other bishops, because they were consecrated without papal consent.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/catholic-bishop-williamson-dies-holocaust-denial-benedict-e47fb054355a99d1461c9c7457dcacb5
= new reply since forum marked as read
