So apparently the pope is open to suggestion from outside the church. I am glad that the Pope is standing up against the evil in his church.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129776Vatican: Holocaust Denier Must Recant Before Return to Church
Shevat 10, 5769, 04 February 09 06:24
by Hana Levi Julian(IsraelNN.com) The Vatican has informed Bishop Richard Williamson that he must recant his denial of the Holocaust before he can be fully readmitted to the Roman Catholic Church.
A statement issued to the media by the Vatican's Secretariat of State on Wednesday also said that Pope Benedict XVI was unaware of Williamson's insistence that there were no Nazi gas chambers, and that only 300,000 Jews perished in the concentration camps, when he revoked his excommunication and that of three other bishops last month.
The statement came a day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on the Holy See to issue a "very clear" rejection of Holocaust denial. She added that there had not been adequate clarification of the Pontiff's stand on the matter.
The State of Israel had also warned the Vatican Wednesday that it expected to see "more explicit and unequivocal decisions and statements" about the issue of Holocaust denial in response to the reinstatement of a bishop who denies that Jews were exterminated in Nazi gas chambers.
Williamson, who was consecrated in 1988 with three others by the rebel conservative French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre against the wishes of the Holy See at that time, told a Swedish television interviewer on January 21, "I believe there were no gas chambers." He also reaffirmed his oft-stated belief that no more than 300,000 Jews perished in the Nazi concentration camps.
Israel's Chief Rabbinate broke ties with the Vatican last week to protest the papal decision.
"The State of Israel views the Vatican's decision… with regret and concern," read the statement released by the Foreign Ministry. "The reinstatement of a Holocaust denier by the Holy See offends every Jew, in Israel and around the world, and humiliates the memory of all Holocaust victims and survivors.
"We expect the Holy See to decisively renounce all Holocaust deniers in general, wherever they may be, and Bishop Williamson in particular," it said. "We view the recent remarks made by the Holy See and senior Vatican officials admonishing the manifestation of Holocaust denial as the first step in the right direction, and expect more explicit and unequivocal decisions and statements on this issue," it concluded.
Calls had been growing among Catholics themselves for the Pope to step down in response to his decision. "There is obviously a loss of confidence" in the Pope, said German Bishop of Hamburg Werner Thissen, who told the Hamburger Abendblatt daily newspaper on Monday that "rehabilitating a denier is always a bad idea."
Pope Benedict XVI is expected to visit Israel and the Palestinian Authority in May, after having received a written invitation last November from President Shimon Peres. The visit would be the third trip by a pope to Israel and Pope Benedict's first.