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Pope could welcome Holocaust denier back into the fold

The Pope is preparing to cancel the excommunication of four traditionalist Catholic bishops including one who believes the Holocaust never happened and the gas chambers were a myth.

Pope Benedict XVI has already signed the decree lifting the excommunication of the four bishops of the ultra-conservative Society of St Pius X, according to well-sourced reports in the Italian press today.

One of the bishops, Richard Williamson, an English former Anglican and graduate of Winchester and Cambridge, gave an interview to Swedish TV this week in which he said: “There were no gas chambers.”

The Pope, whose own position is towards the conservative wing of the Church, is understood to be keen to welcome the society's members, thought to number more than 150,000, back into the fold.

Related Links

  • Andrew Sullivan: Benedict Lifts This Man's Ex-Communication (with video of bishop)
  • Read entire article at Times (UK)