Word: papally
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...Benedict is the inspiration behind the move, few inside the Vatican doubt who is its executor. A few days after the surprise signing of the Jan. 21 papal decree that overturned the excommunication, one well-placed Vatican official noted, "It has every appearance of being the work of Castrill...
...British-born Bishop Richard Williamson; another cleric from the splinter faction publicly criticized the Pope and condemned his 2006 visit to Istanbul's Blue Mosque; Israel's chief Rabbinic council said inter-faith talks with the Vatican should be put on hold, while others have questioned whether a slated papal Holy Land trip in May should be called off over the episode. Meanwhile, Catholic progressives around the world have taken the Pope's actions as a deliberate slap because the followers of French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre reject the reforms of the Second Vatican Council...
Making matters worse was the timing and handling of the publication of the papal decree, which was released just three days after the airing of a Swedish television interview of Williamson, where the British-born Bishop declared that Nazi gas chambers didn't exist and Jewish deaths during World War II did not exceed 300,000. The Pope and several of his deputies have spent the past week reiterating the Vatican's clear, longstanding line on both the historical facts of the Holocaust and the warm papal sentiments toward and theological connection with the Jewish people. There is little doubt...
...Rome Papal Problems Pope Benedict XVI sparked outrage by reinstating an excommunicated bishop, Richard Williamson, who has denied that 6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. As Israel's chief rabbinate cut ties with the Vatican, Benedict repudiated anti-Semitism and said the readmission of Williamson and three other bishops--a bid to repair a schism with an ultra-conservative wing of the church--did not mean the Holy See shared his views...
...violence ends soon enough and the papal trip can be salvaged, Benedict's arrival in the region would inevitably be much more political than he might have initially hoped. "He wanted to make a voyage of faith. But the context has changed," says the Vatican source. "Now the focus would be on peace. It could give him the chance to leave a legacy there." First, though, he must pray for the chance to even make such a complicated pilgrimage, as the Middle East's collision of faith and politics grows bloodier...