Just so ya’ll can get a step ahead and be ready for the next phase ——

The recanting is necessary for Williamson to be authorized to fulfill his ministerial duties, i.e., to become a bishop in the RC. Official Church teaching forbids anti-Semitism and recognizes the Holocaust. It is not a dogma of faith —- one can be a Catholic without agreeing. But one cannot function as a priest or bishop without affirming this teaching.

It is not a matter of Pope Benedict XVI , as the NYT claims, “responding to global outrage,” nytimes.com It is all part of a long process to end the schism, a process that began under John Paul II catholicnewsagency.com