Ok, I tried to rise above by largely ignoring this whole broohaha over the Pope, the SSPX and Bishop Williamson's ignorant views. However, I have been stirred to action by The Deeps of Time who points out that Catholics should be stepping up to Pope Benedict's defense.
Good point.
Rather than reinvent the wheel, I am going to take his excellent defense and reproduce it here. I urge you to go to his blog for several pertinent links within the article ... and also because that blog is just generally excellent anyway.
It's Not a Sin to Be Stupid
I don’t like to take this blog off-topic often, but when one sees the Pope being unjustly attacked in the press, as he is now, I think all Catholics ought to step up to his defense. The issue, of course, is the recent lifting of the excommunication of the bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X, and the outcry over Bishop Williamson’s doubts about the historicity of the Holocaust.
(To begin with a disclaimer, I find Bishop Williamson’s historical position to be ignorant, and the position of the Society of Pius X to be hypocritical, prideful, and disobedient. This post’s defense of the Pope’s decision to lift the excommunication should not be construed as a defense of the Bishop’s opinions.)
What the media and the Pope’s critics can’t seem to understand is that the two issues are entirely unrelated. Bishop Williamson’s comments are surely stupid, but it’s not a sin to be stupid. Catholics are not excommunicated for holding questionable historical views on issues unrelated to doctrine — and therefore excommunications are not maintained simply because such questionable views continue to be held.
Here’s an analogy: imagine that you were accused of a crime, and as a punishment had your driver’s license revoked. When you have completed your sentence, you go back to the DMV to get your license back, and are told that’s not possible. When you ask if that’s part of the sentence, you’re told no, you were just overheard voicing some batty historical theories, so you can’t get your license back. Bad P.R., you see. Obviously, your rights as a citizen have been violated. The issue of your historical opinion is unrelated to your standing with respect to your civic rights.
Likewise with Bishop Williamson — his views on the Holocaust, however offensive, have no bearing whatsoever on his canonical standing as a Catholic. The Pope has determined that the conditions for lifting the excommunication have been met. (Look for Ed Peters’ analysis of the issue when he gets it posted.) The media criticism betrays a complete lack of understanding as to what an excommunication is. It is a canonical penalty for very specific sins, not a censure of stupid opinions. This campaign against the Pope is nothing more than an attempt to smear and undermine his image in the public mind, which Catholics should stoutly resist.
