Kentucky bishops support Holocaust denier

I'm not sure which of the symbols in the key for my blog I should use here. Probably most of them - so I'm not even going to bother. This is one these stories where you almost lapse into suspension of disbelief - until you realize how sadly real the story is.

Now that Pope Benedict XVI has lifted the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson, who denied the Holocaust, leaders of all 4 Catholic dioceses in Kentucky have issued a statement supporting reinstating Williamson.

This came at the same time the Pope promoted an ultraconservative priest to assistant bishop of Linz, Austria. The clergyman, Fr. Gerhard Maria Wagner, has been described as "the Catholic Fred Phelps." That's because he applauds disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. He boasted that the hurricane was God's punishment for the supposed decadence of New Orleans, and he said he was glad that the storm did so much damage.

Wagner also claimed that the Harry Potter books spread Satanism.

Sounds like a perfect Bush Cabinet pick, huh?

As for the Pope's reinstatement of a Holocaust-denying bishop, supporters of this move are blaming the media for the resulting controversy. Lovely.

(Source: http://www.kypost.com/content/news/commonwealth/story/Ky-Bishops-Support-Vatican-In-Bishop-Controversy/unaiRLnX5ki-jVjN-tQxuQ.cspx;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7863254.stm;
http://www.thelocal.de/society/20090206-17261.html)