Washington D.C., Feb 3, 2009 / 18:29 pm
Reactions against Bishop Richard Williamson’s remarks diminishing the Holocaust are coming from all corners of the globe. On Tuesday afternoon, Cardinal Francis George, the president of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference, added the bishops’ voices to the chorus of condemnation.
Cardinal George said in his statement that the lifting of the excommunications from the four St. Pius X Society bishops is “but a first step” toward their entering “back into full communion with the Catholic Church."
One condition that still must be resolved, Cardinal George pointed out, is that, “they, like all Catholic bishops, will have to give their assent to all that the Church professes, including the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.”
Addressing the controversial comments made by Bishop Williamson about the Holocaust, Cardinal George described them as “deeply offensive and utterly false.”