Merkel blasts Pope over Holocaust bishop
February 04, 2009
BERLIN: Germany’s Angela Merkel became on Tuesday the first world leader to hit out at the pope in an escalating row over her compatriot’s rehabilitation of a bishop who denied the Holocaust took place.
Saying that Pope Benedict XVI’s move could not be allowed to pass “without consequences”, Merkel called on the Vatican to “clarify unambiguously that there can be no denial” that the Nazis killed six million Jews.
“These clarifications have, in my opinion, not yet been sufficient,” Merkel told a news conference. “This is not just a matter, in my opinion, for the Christian, Catholic and Jewish communities in Germany.”
Late last month, the pope lifted the excommunication of British bishop Richard Williamson, who on Swedish TV denied the existence of the gas chambers and said that only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews were murdered.
Williamson was one of four bishops welcomed back into the flock.
The clergymen are members of the Swiss-based “Lefebvrist” fraternity which rejected the Vatican’s teaching on religious freedom and pluralism, notably the declaration “Nostra Aetate”, according to which Jews are the “older brothers” of Christians.
Since becoming the leader of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics in 2005, Benedict has offended Muslims, women, native Indians, Poles, gays and scientists but his latest move is fast snowballing into his most damaging.
But the latest scandal carries particular resonance here as it was Nazi Germany that masterminded and carried out the murder of six million Jews during World War II, and because the 81-year-old pope is German.
Denying that the Holocaust took place is illegal in Germany and Austria, a crime that has landed offenders behind bars.
When Joseph Ratzinger became the 256th pope, he was feted almost like a pop star in his home country.
For many, Benedict’s appointment marked the culmination of six decades of German efforts to atone for its dark past and to finally be fully rehabilitated into the international community.
Bild’s headline at the time said it all: “We are pope!” The return of Williamson into the fold came days before the 64th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the most notorious of the Nazis’ extermination camps where over a million Jews, Roma, gays and others perished.
Jewish groups, who have been complaining for some time about a rise in anti-Semitic crime in Germany, believe that Ratzinger’s latest blunder sets a dangerous precedent.
“Now every far-right extremist will be able to say: Pope Benedict XVI has welcomed back into the church a Holocaust denier,” Salomon Korn, vice-president of Central Council of Jews in Germany, told the Spiegel weekly in an interview.
Israel’s chief rabbinate cancelled its participation in a meeting with Catholic officials in Rome in March. The head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany said she was pulling out of a dialogue with Catholic representatives.
Saying that Pope Benedict XVI’s move could not be allowed to pass “without consequences”, Merkel called on the Vatican to “clarify unambiguously that there can be no denial” that the Nazis killed six million Jews.
“These clarifications have, in my opinion, not yet been sufficient,” Merkel told a news conference. “This is not just a matter, in my opinion, for the Christian, Catholic and Jewish communities in Germany.”
Late last month, the pope lifted the excommunication of British bishop Richard Williamson, who on Swedish TV denied the existence of the gas chambers and said that only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews were murdered.
Williamson was one of four bishops welcomed back into the flock.
The clergymen are members of the Swiss-based “Lefebvrist” fraternity which rejected the Vatican’s teaching on religious freedom and pluralism, notably the declaration “Nostra Aetate”, according to which Jews are the “older brothers” of Christians.
Since becoming the leader of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics in 2005, Benedict has offended Muslims, women, native Indians, Poles, gays and scientists but his latest move is fast snowballing into his most damaging.
But the latest scandal carries particular resonance here as it was Nazi Germany that masterminded and carried out the murder of six million Jews during World War II, and because the 81-year-old pope is German.
Denying that the Holocaust took place is illegal in Germany and Austria, a crime that has landed offenders behind bars.
When Joseph Ratzinger became the 256th pope, he was feted almost like a pop star in his home country.
For many, Benedict’s appointment marked the culmination of six decades of German efforts to atone for its dark past and to finally be fully rehabilitated into the international community.
Bild’s headline at the time said it all: “We are pope!” The return of Williamson into the fold came days before the 64th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the most notorious of the Nazis’ extermination camps where over a million Jews, Roma, gays and others perished.
Jewish groups, who have been complaining for some time about a rise in anti-Semitic crime in Germany, believe that Ratzinger’s latest blunder sets a dangerous precedent.
“Now every far-right extremist will be able to say: Pope Benedict XVI has welcomed back into the church a Holocaust denier,” Salomon Korn, vice-president of Central Council of Jews in Germany, told the Spiegel weekly in an interview.
Israel’s chief rabbinate cancelled its participation in a meeting with Catholic officials in Rome in March. The head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany said she was pulling out of a dialogue with Catholic representatives.
