London, UK - Senior bishops from the Roman Catholic Church have joined the Pope in condemning anti-Semitism and described the views of a bishop whose excommunication was lifted by the Pope as “unacceptable”.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has also used Holocaust Memorial Day today to speak out against the horrors of death camps such as Auschwitz, which he visited recently.
The Catholic bishops of England and Wales described the views of Bishop Richard Williamson of the Society of St Pius X as “totally unacceptable”.
Bishop Williamson was one of four bishops to have his excommunication lifted by Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday, just days after Swedish television broadcast an interview with him where he said: “There were no gas chambers” and claimed that a mere few hundred thousand rather than six million Jewish people died in the Holocaust.”
A spokesman for the bishops said: “The views of one of the bishops of SSPX in denying the reality of the Holocaust are totally unacceptable.”
He said Williamson's personal position does not in any way affect the position of the Church’s historic document Nostra Aetate, a document published after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s and that attempted to rebuild Jewish-Christian relations after nearly two millennia of Christian anti-Semitism.
The bishops said: “Today on Holocaust Memorial Day we remember the death of six million Jews and follow Pope Benedict XVI in deploring anti-Semitism in all its forms. We call on all Roman Catholics to do the same.”
The spokesman said the bishops acknowledged the lifting of the excommunications, and the aim was to “intensify and stabilise” relationships between the Society of St Pius X and the Holy See.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, published a video on his YouTube channel to mark Holocaust Memorial Day which showed him meeting with the Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks and Rabbi Dr Tony Bayfield, head of the Movement for Reform Judaism to reflect on their recent visit to Auschwitz.
The religious leaders met at Lambeth Palace with students from around the country who had accompanied them on the trip, which was arranged in through the Holocaust Educational Trust.
Dr Williams said: “One of the most deeply shocking things about the Holocaust…when you see Auschwitz-Birkenau, is that so many people thought this was natural. The call is to rediscover the depths of real humanity as held in the hand of God, with all the dignity, all the capacity that goes with that.”
The Chief Rabbi said: “The fact that we can come together…people of all faiths…to experience [an] environment where one faith was persecuted – isn’t that a measure of how far we have come for the good?”
“[The Holocaust] was a crime that was meant to be concealed and denied, as if the perpetrators realised that Holocaust remembrance would defeat what they were trying to do. That in itself tells me that we are right to remember and to encourage everyone to remember.
“When we are able to come together, as we did on this wonderful and moving occasion – we have won a certain victory, and we must keep winning because the danger never goes.
“The Holocaust has the power, if we can face it without fear, to teach us that we must not be silent in the face of oppression...individually and collectively we can act to prevent future tragedies.”
Dr Bayfield said the visit to Auschwitz was “one of the most moving” of his life. He said: “We have somehow to redeem the meaningless suffering by turning that experience of inhumanity and evil into one of humanity and good.”