Wiesenthal Center: Expulsion of Holocaust-Denying Bishop Does Not Address Radical Catholic Order's Own Deeply Imbedded Anti-Semitism & Holocaust Denial

The Simon Wiesenthal Center today reacted to the report that the schismatic Catholic Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) had expelledHolocaust denier Bishop Richard Williamson as “belated cosmetic surgery that fails to address any of the issues connected with the SSPX’s deep rooted anti-Semitismand Holocaust denial.” Reacting to the announcement, Mark Weitzman, the Director of Government Affairs for the Wiesenthal Center and the author of a forthcomingstudy of antisemitism noted that the radical Catholic traditionalist movement “expelled Williamson, not for his hate but in their words for ‘refusing to show duerespect and obedience to his lawful superiors.’”

Weitzman also said that, “Until the SSPX publicly rejects those hateful positions and accepts the Vatican II teachingsthat laid the foundation for the historic improvement in the relationship between Catholics and Jews, the expulsion of Williamson is no more than cosmetic surgery that attempts tocover up the ugly reality of anti-Semitism and hate that is imbedded in the theology of the SSPX.”

Earlier this month, the Wiesenthal Center applauded the Vatican’s announcement that talks aimed at readmitting the schismatic groupinto the Church had broken down over, among other issues, the Church’s insistence that Vatican II be accepted by the SSPX and that Williamson recant his denial of theHolocaust.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the UnitedStates. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament(Parlatino).

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