Vatican City, Feb 5, 2009 / 20:41 pm
Citing poor handling of the lifting of the excommunication on the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi called for the creation of a “communications culture” at the Vatican.
The lifting of the excommunication provoked much controversy and negative media coverage, especially following revelations that SSPX Bishop William Richardson had made statements minimizing the suffering of Jews during the Holocaust.
“We didn't control the communications,” Fr. Lombardi said to the French daily La Croix.
Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to lift the excommunications was initially announced by the Vatican Press Office in a simple statement accompanied by a Vatican legal document.