Vatican Demands Retraction of Holocaust Denial (...and I want to know what you think.)

After inciting an international row for lifting his excommunication, the Vatican today ordered that Bishop Richard Williamson publicly and "unequivocally" recant his ardent denial of the Holocaust.

As recently as November 2008, Williamson claimed that "historical evidence" is "hugely against" the mass murder of the Jews in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. (See video above.)

Last week, Williamson apologized directly to the Pope for the uproar, writing in a letter:

"Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of you to accept . . . my sincere regrets for having caused to yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems."

He did not, however, recant the remarks.

The Vatican maintains that Pope Benedict was unaware of the bishop's stance until after he was reinstated, but that explanation seems about as unlikely as it does insufficient. Though in what is perhaps the understatement of his career, Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican's official on Catholic-Jewish relations, acknowledged that "different parts of the Vatican administration had not talked enough to each other."

Angry responses have risen from many corridors. In a recent episode of the Interfaith Voices podcast (which my friend Ilona told me about over lunch today), Maureen Fielder acknowledges the rightful anger of the Jewish community, and adds, "But I'm a Catholic, and I'm also angry."

But she is also perplexed --- why is the Pope backtracking on the strides towards improved interfaith relations made by his predecessor? The move was supposedly made in the name of "church unity," but as Fielder points out, it was a one-sided gesture towards a relatively small group of ultra-fundamentalists, without similar consideration of the much larger population of progressive Catholics?

Not being Catholic myself, I can really only give a blanket condemnation of Holocaust denial --- it's a dangerous game which, as Fielder notes, fosters anti-Semitism. (As if we really need more hate in the world.) But I am very interested to hear from the Catholic community: What do y'all think about this? What are the implications, both within the Church and in its external relations, of the Pope's decision? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

(PS - Please note, as with any post on Change.org, comments that resort to hateful name-calling will be deleted.)

(PPS - Thanks to Ilona, and the lunch time conversation and subsequent emails that contributed to this post.)