Fired bishop still denies Holocaust

Earlier this month Vatican ordered Holocaust denying faux-Bishop Richard Williamson to repudiate his views. And he just can’t do it, even if it means his job.

Williamson was removed as the director of the Society of St. Pius X seminary in La Reja, Argentina and ordered to leave Argentina for his views.

Bishop Dick is in an odd position: His excommunication was lifted by Ill Papa Benedict XIV, reinstating him as a member of the Catholic Church, but Williamson cannot function as a bishop until he receives a mandate from the Pope, which at this point doesn’t seem real likely unless he recants–and that doesn’t seem likely either, since he’s emailed Holocaust denying author David Irving for tips on how to handle the press.

And so instead of complying with the Vatican’s request to recant his opinion and maybe getting back in the mitre again, this week Bishop Dick simply apologized for offending people, saying:

Observing these consequences I can truthfully say that I regret having made such remarks, and that if I had known beforehand the full harm and hurt to which they would give rise, especially to the church, but also to survivors and relatives of victims of injustice under the Third Reich, I would not have made them…To all souls that took honest scandal from what I said, before God I apologise.

Not good enough, the Vatican said Friday, reiterating their previous position that Bishop Dick must:

absolutely and unequivocally distance himself from his remarks about the Shoah if he is to be admitted to episcopal functions in the church

–not just say, oopsy, sorry if you were upset. The Catholic Church in England and Wales has also said Bishop Dick must retract his comments before he can

enter into full communion with the church.

Meanwhile, state prosecutors in Regensburg, Germany, have opened a preliminary investigation into whether Williamson broke German laws against Holocaust denial, while German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries said Germany could issue a European-wide arrest warrant on hate crimes charges for Williamson since the interview for Swedish TV in which he denied Jews were were gassed during the Holocaust was conducted in Germany.