Thank you Christopher...thank you for exposing the hypocracy of a group bound and determined to bring the world back to the 13th century.

As repugnant as it is, Holocaust denying it is not an excommunicatable offense. The reasons for this idiot's excommunication had nothing to do with his beliefs about the Holocaust and so the repeal also had nothing to do with it. Unlike Buckley I have not left the Church. I do not agree with the repeal of the excommunication based the original allegations, nor do I find Williamson's comments anything but horrendous, but unfortunate as they both are, the one does not have anything to do with the other.

Christopher,
Right on, as usual.

"Idiotic and hateful sentiments ought to afforded every opportunity of dissemination, so that all may hear and heap scorn and odium on them. " Oh Chris, if only that were true. Unfortunately we have only to look at Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh to know that while reasoning people will heap scorn on their ridiculous and incredulous sophistry, unfortunately a certain number of the less mentally agile will find them heroic and become their disciples.

Why spend so much time discussing someone who is clearly a "nut job". Do you think your readers are so dumb they need to be assisted in identifying one? I am sure he is grateful for the free publicity now that you have sent everyone who reads your piece to his video's.

The American religious scene is riddled with "nut jobs" who make outrageous statements on a daily basis on youtube or any other media, I do not hear you riling against them with the same vigor.

This man has a theory about the holocaust, who cares? If the Jewish community and now you had not spoken out about this man no one would have ever heard of him, I certainly had not.

Are you so worried that ordinary folks in the US might potentially take him seriously? Why? Is the evidence that contradicts what he says so shaky that it requires you to reinforce it with your personal experience?

I was a great admirer of your father. He was part of the intelligentsia and stimulated intellectual debate. He too at times had radical theories that would make all of us cringe. All of them were honest but sometimes based on flawed value sets and reasoning. One would debate vigorously and then simply agree to disagree but certainly not prosecute. That is the power of intellectual debate and a free society.

Your piece has a defensive feel to it, is arrogant and seems laced with hidden agendas. What has the Catholic Church done to you? Why bring up the British and the potato famine? This man does not represent what the Catholic Church stands for and everyone knows that except perhaps some other "nut jobs".

to Aranxa

I humbly disagree with your statement. You have to look at the context of his statement and his context comes from being a Bishop. If he was not in this position the appropriate step would not be excommunication. Because he is in a prominent position to lead the Faithful astray and is speaking in direct contrast from the Church the appropriate action is excommunication.

Let us hope and pray that Mother Church wakes up and does what is right.

I'm afraid I'm not well-versed in the history of un-excommunications.

Was this Bishop excommunicated in the first place for gay pedophilia? Did The Pope at some time have something to do with that?

And if so, does this Bishop also deny the extent of Nazi persecution of gay people? What about the Gypsies? He looks like he is sublimating a desire to rip off his vestments, don a frilly red flamenco dress and bust loose.

I am absolutely positive that the reason we should pay even more attention to the Pope than we do is that his conception of birth control is rational and scientific and will lead to the most sensible solutions and therefore, progress for poor populations.

But to watch this jerk on YouTube, when we all know that Demi and Ashton are putting on a show on Twitter, is an egregious misuse of modern technology and a waste of our time.

Pope-a-Dope? Surely, Mr. Buckley, you gest.

I'm not sure which of these are the more entertaining Catholic versions of 'great moments in shoe throwing'; this re-communication of Bishop Williamson or the 'Te Adoramus Maria' scandal perpetrated by Playboy Magazine in Mexico. To be absolutely correct, their Latin leaves a great deal to be desired. The correct form would be 'Maria, Adoramus Te', but hey, who's counting, certainly not me, 'you know' the one with the perfect NYS Latin Regent Scores. I wouldn't expect Hef to be the gold standard Latin Scholar.

As for Bishop Williamson's insistence on the 'historical record' regarding the NUMBERS of persons killed in the Holocost, I would think it more than reasonable to conclude that counting Holocost victims in Nazi Germany would be somewhat approximate to determining where the 700 Billion Stimulus money disappeared to, or the exact causes of our CDS fiasco. I was happy to see that a CDS Platform and MARKET has now been established, just recently ... in Toronto, no less. Oh Canada!

I do try to take people at their word, at least until definitively proven otherwise; the word being 'Holocost', from the Greek root meaning 'completely burnt'. No mention of 'gas' being present in the choice and selection of words designed, as they are, for communication. A recent example may also include such delicacies as the word 'marriage', who's meaning has also chosen a most bastardly direction for itself these days. But, hey, these are the times we live in, wherein words no longer have any meaning other than that attributed by the writer himself. It's an 'I'm gonna git ya sucka' world we find ourselves living in these days. The Freudian explanation of this chosen manifestation is most enlightening, and perfectly aligned, as are the planets, to explain out current circumstance. But you should already be fully aware, being as you are a spawn of Damien. I, fortunately, fell into the hands of Alban. I think an 'l' is missing though. Yes, words, they reveal so much.

The issue is 'celibacy' and not the object of desire. I find celibacy a most wonderful gift. As for your self professed backslidden Catholicism, I might remind you of a source and wellspring for your own faith, the last words of St.Francis before his death ...

" ADORAMUS te, sanctissime Domine Iesu Christe, hic et ad omnes Ecclesias tuas, quae sunt in toto mundo, et benedicimus tibi; quia per sanctam Crucem tuam redemisti mundum. Amen."

vankuyk why are YOU so defensive about Christopher's critique of this particular nutty "theorist?"

There's a valid question and considerable public interest in why a conservative german pope would let a holocaust denier back into the church.

It's weird and unsettling.

Anytime propaganda pops up with a racial agenda conspiracy attached to it--it should be derided, debunked, and publicly shamed. Otherwise uninformed people will take it seriously. How could someone not at least consider what such an elevated and educated man was saying if there wasn't a chorus of "what the f---?" rising up to reassure us that even the high placed and learned like this man can hold ridiculous beliefs that shoud be taken with a heavy dose of salt.

You seem exceptionally injured by this article. I don't think Mr. Buckley is suppressing debate or free thought--he says so in his article--he's just plainly making fun of ought to be made fun of.

If "This man does not represent what the Catholic Church stands for" the WHY IS HE WORKING FOR THEM AGAIN?

Look if you say some crazy racist remarks publicly at McDonald's and get fired, you don't ever get re-hired.

Now if the Pope had attached some humiliating and intensive restrictions on what this "theorist" could do and be in the church--we'd all be more understanding. It is a church and not a business (we hope) and everyone deserves a shot at redemption--but this doesn't feel like the Pope takes these offenses serious enough.

Apparently, neither do you.

Also anytime I hear someone complain about someone else criticizing the Catholic Church, I think of how ridiculously rich and powerful the church is and then I think, "I think they can probably stand a little healthy criticism and anyone that well off deserves and needs critics to keep them honest.

Thank you for writing what so many of us are thinking.

Good article, and a very good point. However I have no problem with people 'denying' the holocaust. Speech should be free, even for the ignorant.

I mean, if we keep silencing the idiots, how do we know which ones are the idiots? Aside from the funny hats.

Denying the holocaust is like denying gravity. The denier just makes himself look like an idiot and a buffoon. I should also add that I don't care about the pope, or catholics.

Thank you, Mr. Buckley. By now, you are arranging talks between Bishop Willamson and President Obama without pre-conditions.

REM: The Hope-er you fall, the dope-er you get...and, you've fallen far, Pilgrim [sic].

I, for one, am so incredibly tired of the hypocrisy and self-righteousness of the Catholic Church. These are the reasons it is slowly, but surely, becoming irrelevant. This all just gives organized religion the bad name it often deserves.

Beautifully state, IJamesB. I am a Catholic and would seek to echo your sentiment verbatim:

If "This man does not represent what the Catholic Church stands for" then WHY IS HE WORKING FOR THEM AGAIN?

It's a pretty darn legitimate question -- especially when this Pope would likely agree with certain U.S. priests about the excommunication of Catholic voters who, against the express direction of the U.S. Bishop's guide to the formation of conscience and the Catholic vote, DID actually examine their conscience, DID find supposed "pro-life" Republicans absolutely reprehensible on pretty much all other matters (Case in point: "Saint" Tom Delay's peculiar silence on the issue of FORCED abortions for sweatshop and sex industry workers in the Northern Marianas Islands. Are we sure this guy's name isn't D-I-C-K?) and DID vote their conscience. They just didn't vote the way the Catholic Church demanded them to.

I do not understand Holocaust deniers. The irrefutable evidence complied by the Nazis themselves inescapably proves the annhiliation of the Jews took place. While individuals and governments can and do lie, misrepresent, and simply forget things, the ashes, the hair, the cannisters, the photographs and films, the reports and neat typewritten accounts are irrefutable.
It makes some sense that German people who were not physically part of the killing industry might be able to say that they didn't know how bad it was, but body parts were being shipped across Germany and her conquered states to factories to make household goods. A degree of ignorance I can see, but to deny the events ever happened? To deny that the entire adult population was part of this on some level? That is beyond shameful or stupid.
As for the non-German holocaust deniers: the question isn't whether the Holocaust occured, the question is: what do you get out of the denying of it? This is not something that can be treated, at any level of society, as a minor abberation or a peculiar eccentricity. Building personal/national status on denying the deaths of more than 6 million people doesn't cheapen their sacrifice. It just shows the rest of the world exactly what the deniers are: arrogant, self-serving, self seeking individuals who shouldn't be trusted to carry out the garbage, much less minister to the religious or run countries.