John Allen som man etter min mening alltid kan stole på, bekrefter i dag at biskop Williamson ikke lenger får lede SSPX’s presteseminar i Argentina, og at en av deres prester i Italia har også fått merke sterk kritikk fra ledelsen. Vatikanet har også reparert noe av skaden etter denne ‘skandalen’, slik at samtalene med jødiske oganisasjoner er på plass igjen. Allen sier likevel at det er grunn til å komme med sterk kritikk av hvordan kuriaen har opptrådt i denne saken.
Bishop Richard Williamson and another prominent cleric of the Society of St. Pius X, who had also expressed skepticism about the Holocaust, have been disciplined by that traditionalist body, offering a further indication that the leadership hopes to distance itself from perceptions of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.
Meanwhile, the Vatican has notched an important success in its efforts to contain the fallout from the Williamson affair, managing to convince the Chief Rabbinate of Israel to put a meeting which had been cancelled back on track. That result is seen as especially critical ahead of Pope Benedict XVI’s scheduled visit to Israel in May.
Despite those developments, observers both inside and outside the church have continued to voice astonishment, and in some cases outrage, that the Vatican did not do a better job of managing and communicating the decision to lift the excommunication of Williamson and three other traditionalist bishops.
Over the weekend, the Latin American superior of the Society of St. Pius X announced that Williamson has been removed as the director of a traditionalist seminary in Argentina, near Buenos Aires, which he had led since 2003.
“The affirmations of Bishop Williamson do not reflect in any way the position of our society,” said Fr. Christian Bouchacourt, Latin American superior of the traditionalist body, in a statement.
At roughly the same time, the Italian leadership of the society announced that it had expelled Fr. Floriano Abrahamowic, … …