Wrong! Do it Again!

Richard Williamson fails to recant views in 'unequivocal' way demanded by Catholic church.

The Vatican has rejected an apology by a British bishop who questioned the truth of the Holocaust, saying that his statement was not good enough to let him to serve as a clergyman in the Catholic church.

Bishop Richard Williamson, whose readmission to the church caused international outcry, apologised last night for remarks in which he denied the scale of the Nazis' genocidal campaign against the Jews.

In a statement on the website of the Rome Catholic news agency Zenit, he said his views on the Holocaust were not those of an historian. They had been "formed 20 years ago on the basis of evidence then available, and rarely expressed in public since." Williamson added: "To all souls that took honest scandal from what I said, before God I apologise."

The chief Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said today that Williamson's statement "does not seem to respect the conditions" for his readmission to the church. Earlier this month, the Vatican said Williamson would only be allowed to serve as a clergyman if he recanted his views "in an absolutely unequivocal and public way".

Source: The Guardian UK