International Herald Tribune, USA
By Rachel Donadio
ROME: A Roman Catholic bishop at the center of a Vatican uproar for denying the Holocaust has been dismissed as the head of a seminary in Argentina, the institution said in a statement.
The announcement Sunday said that Bishop Richard Williamson - who has said he did not believe that the Nazis used gas chambers and that only 300,000 Jews were killed during World War, not six million - was no longer the director of the La Reja seminary on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
Williamson is part of the ultra-traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, which does not accept the teachings of the 1962 to 1965 Second Vatican Council.
The council, among other things, repudiated the concept of collective Jewish guilt for Jesus's death and urged dialogue with other religions.
Williamson's views "in no way reflect the position of our congregation," the Reverend Christian Bouchacourt, director of the Latin America branch of the Society of St. Pius X, said in the statement. He expressed "sadness" that Williamson's statements had "discredited" the congregation.
Pope Benedict XVI provoked widespread anger last month when he rescinded the excommunications of Williamson and three other bishops as part of an effort to heal a 20-year-old schism within the church.
Apparently surprised by the vociferous reaction, including criticism from Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, the pope's native country, the Vatican has since said Williamson must recant his views on the Holocaust.
The pope has also made efforts to soothe relations with Jews and other groups angered by Williamson's rehabilitation, saying he had been unaware of the bishop's views.
On Monday, representatives of the World Jewish Congress said they were optimistic about Catholic-Jewish ties after meeting with top Vatican officials, The Associated Press reported.
The group's deputy secretary general, Maram Stern, and Richard Prasquier, president of the French Jewish umbrella group CRIF, met with Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican official responsible for relations with Jews.
Reuters reported that the president of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder, said in a statement: "We want the Vatican to realize that by accommodating anti-Semites like Williamson, the achievements of four decades of Catholic-Jewish dialogue will be put into doubt."
He added: "We now believe that our message has been understood. The controversial debate of the past three weeks has had a positive impact." Lauder did not attend the meetings.
News of Williamson's dismissal from the Argentine seminary came after the pope and Merkel had a "cordial and constructive" telephone conversation, spokesmen for both said Sunday.
A joint statement issued Sunday by the Vatican and the chancellor's office said that both the pope and Merkel referred to Benedict's Jan. 28 remarks condemning Holocaust denial and expressing solidarity with Jews.
A statement released Wednesday by the Vatican Secretariat of State called on Williamson to recant his statements.
In a rare case of the Vatican's diplomatic arm furthering remarks by the pope, the Secretariat of State also made clear that the traditionalist bishops would not be welcomed back into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church unless they accepted the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.
The statement last week by the Secretariat of State seemed to repair relations with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which plans to continue its dialogue with the Vatican, said its director general, Oded Wiener.
The body had asked to postpone a March meeting with the Vatican in protest.
Vatican officials are expected to meet Thursday with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, an umbrella organization.
