I agree with every post so far.
During ww2 the Catholic Pope and parts of the Church did much harm.
After the war some helped Nazi,s get away.
This act is strange and dark, why? some may remember those past acts.
I liked the last Pope , well the world did, but unlikely I will ever say that about this one now.

I'm encourage to see Foxy doing something practical in accordance with her convictions.

To offer my 'thoughts' about why the Pope might do such a thing.....

1/ Rome does...what is seen as good for Rome.... this pattern is identifiable in many aspects of it's behavior.

2/ The primary objective of the Roman Catholic Church is to promote it's own welfare, and interests but most of all..it's authority.

If you examine the viewpoints of those speaking 'for' Catholicism in debates with articulate protestants (Dr James White is a prolific protestant/reformed writer and debater and often interacts with Catholic apologists) you will see this pattern of approach.

So..bottom line.. if the Pope sees the relative value to the Church as being greater than the damage his decision might cause.. then..it figures that he will do it.

Foxy,
I am not religous at all so have no axe to grind here and I am not familiar with the matter, but I do have a question.

If a person says the numbers are wrong, why does that make him a 'denier'? Surely a person can question the figures without saying the event(s) never took place.

I have been called a 'denier' about climate change, yet i only question the human involvement in climate change.

I think the word 'denier' is simply used to put a person with differing views on the defensive. Bit like a person with views against high immigration being called 'racist' straight off.

Dear Meredith,

I have just sent off that email to the Pope.
Hopefully it will work, and the Vatican will get it.

By the way, just for your interest - I was brought up
to believe that hatred, prejudice, bigotry, are the
destroyers of a civilized world, - and should be discouraged
by every means possible. My family suffered greatly during
the Second World War - relatives perished in concentration
camps, my father's brother was tortured to death. He was
a high school student.

BOAZ_David,

Here you are making some sense David. But you only go so far in your hypothesis that "if the Pope sees the relative value to the Church as being greater than the damage his decision might cause.. then..it figures that he will do it."

The damage side of your equation is clear enough. Today's Age covers that aspect pretty clearly.
www.theage.com.au/world/pope-responds-to-rising-fury-over-holocaust-denier-bishop-20090129-7t21.html

Yout next step is to analyse what gain the Pope sees deriving from his action and why that gain would outweigh the more obvious (but not necessarily greater) damage. If one can't identify the supposed gains then we need a better explanation and risk analysis of a pretty 'courageous' decision ('courageous in the 'Yes Minister' sense, not in any moral sense).

Perhaps being a holocaust denier or whatever slant that others in here put on it wasn't the reason for the excommunication.

Perhaps the Bishops were excommunicated for being part of the Society of Pius X and in schism with the Church and perhaps their group has now moved back toward Catholicism. Perhaps the Pope at the time of their excommunication didn't chat with them about their opinion of the holocaust and the current Pope hasn't either.

Have you considered that irrespective of what dirt the media may dig up on one of them as individuals that might be the explanation?

"Pope Benedict XVI has lifted the excommunication of four bishops ordained against papal orders in 1988 by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre...

The head of the society, Bishop Bernard Fellay, had requested the annulment of the excommunication in a letter Dec. 15...

The decree removing the excommunications, issued by the Congregation for Bishops, underlined the hope that this step would be followed by full communion..."

...Bishop Richard Williamson, provoked Jewish protests with assertions that the Holocaust was exaggerated ...

The Vatican spokesman,..."Saying a person is not excommunicated is not the same as saying one shares all his ideas or statements," Father Lombardi said.

The removal of the excommunication was a key condition of the Society of St. Pius X in its on-again, off-again talks with the Vatican over reconciliation."

Is it fair to say that there was no public knowledge of Williamson's views on the holocaust before mid January? Do you really think that information moves through the Vatican that quickly? I bet they know now though since the media frenzy and approach to Fr Lombardi for comment.