"...the Holy Father completely rejects what was done in Germany to the Jewish people. He does not accept any offense aimed at the Jewish people. All we have for them is love. We never forget that Jesus was a Jew, Mary was a Jew and the Apostles were Jews."
Asked if he took into consideration bishop Williamson's theories about the Holocaust into account before bringing the decree to the attention of the Holy Father, Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos responded:
"I have always had truth as a norm. The Holy Father knows this. We are moving forward, trying to rebuild the unity of the Church, and put an end completely to this schism."
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It seems the Catholic church can't win with some folks on this issue. On one hand, you have critics accusing the Church as being inflexible and intolerant. Then when Rome extends a hand of forgiveness toward someone and seeks reconciliation, she's called "soft" and in this case, just downright insensitive.
I'm glad Pope Benedict XVI did what he did. Peace and unity should be the ultimate goal for all of us, in whatever sphere of influence we move. For Pope Benedict XVI, he took a courageous step toward bringing unity to the Church. He needs support and prayers.
I think this is especially wonderful given that we are about to enter the most holy season in the Liturgical year - Lent.
1 comment:
I am praying for our beloved Holy Father. This whole thing stinks of deliberate misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the facts in order to cast further aspersions on Holy Church.
An article quoted by Fr Z at www.wdtprs.com repeats what I heard in a webcast interview with Bp. Williamson - that the statement he made was doubting that six million Jews had been gassed during the Holocaust. He doesn't refute the Holocaust - only the numbers isolated to "gassing."
I think he's right. We've gone from "six million Jews slaughtered" to "six million Jews gassed," which is misleading and inaccurate. Jews were also shot, beaten and starved to death, left to die with inadequate attention from typhus and other diseases...
Someone wiser than I can explain, more clearly, why it is dangerous to let the gas chambers become the synechdoche for the catastrophe that was the Holocaust. I think it has something to do with the fact that too many people nowadays can't recognize that it's a representative sample serving to decry the whole - and that consequently it compromises Truth. But someone wiser than I will have to elaborate.
I think the same hue and cry would have arisen against this reconciliation if someone, anywhere, in connection with a Church action, had said anything that could have been pounced on and exploited to further public distrust and hatred of the Catholic Church, and this Pope in particular.
Oh, he most definitely has my prayers!
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