What I've been reading in Links: the Pope debacle.

I need to post these so that I can purge them from my system. Articles in German can be, somewhat, translated using Google translator or another- enough of the meaning should be decipherable even if you don't know German.

The German's far Right (we would call them neo-Nazi's) embrace of Holocaust denial and the Catholic church.

A discussion of the pope's background on inclusiveness that culminates in his welcoming a Holocaust denier back to the bosom of mother church.(Reuters)

The breaking of relations between Jews and the Vatican.

Thank you, Angela Merkel, for standing against the Pope's oblivious and negligent welcome to antisemitism within the Roman Catholic Church. (German). I sent an e-mail to her office thanking her, and Germany, for renewing my belief that Germany has changed. The belief that I had when I married a German and allowed us to be moved to Germany so that my children could be part of their German extended family.

"Good and Bad Antisemitism"- (German) A very interesting article discussing how antisemitism is allowed to flourish at the imam and mosque level in a type of racism that discounts race hatred when it comes from ethnic groups not "respected" by the intellectual elites.
This is a very important article and should be read as widely as possible.

A German Pope Disgraces the Catholic Church- a very good explanation of the controversy, including a discussion of the disingenuousness of some responses. In 5 parts.
Specific to general and very well worth reading.
Here is the basis of the discredited faction that the Pope has clasped to his bosom like a viper:

During the course of the 19th century, anti-Judaism was replaced and displaced by anti-Semitism, which was rooted in racism. According to theologian Hans Küng, "National Socialism would have been impossible without the centuries-old anti-Semitism of the churches." During Nazi rule, conflicts quickly arose between Catholic doctrine and the all-encompassing claim to power of party members. Although some bishops were headed for a clear course of confrontation with the Nazis, the annihilation of the Jews was by no means the German episcopate's greatest concern.

It was only in 1965 that Pope Paul VI, in the "Nostra aetate" declaration of the Second Vatican Council, rejected anti-Judaism once and for all. The church, the groundbreaking document read, "decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone."

It is precisely this document that Lefebvre's followers have not recognized to this day. The SSPX saw the Council essentially as a "fissure in the church," through which the "smoke of Satan had entered the Church."

An overview (in English) of all the major Geman papers' responses to Merkel's declaration that the Pope must make clear his position against antisemitism and Holocaust Denial.

Here the Vatican attempts to hide from the consequences of its action by saying that criticism of its behaviour is "anticatholicism". This from a Pope who reinstituted a prayer that Jews convert, against the actions of Vatican II.

The pope finally states that Williamson must recant his denial of the mass murder of the Jews by the Nazis.

Norm Geras' view on forced recantation of vile beliefs and the efficacy thereof.

One last reminder of what the Pope has brought back to the Catholic faith:

But shortly before Christmas, Schmidberger and his fellow SSPX members wrote to German bishops to remind them of the supposed Jewish original sin: "With the crucifixion of Christ, the curtain of the temple was torn and the old alliance destroyed. But this does not just mean that the Jews of today are not our older brothers in faith. Rather, they are complicit in deicide, as long as they do not distance themselves from the culpability of their forefathers by acknowledging the divinity of Christ and the baptism."

This age-old atavistic way of thinking, which defines Jews as being spattered with guilt, has been part of the church once again since Benedict's decree. This, in fact, is what happened on Jan. 24, 2009, and it cannot be reversed with any declarations or visits to synagogues.

I will probably put a post up later this week discussing all the other vile Jew hating commentary and attacks that I have seen in the news and the incident that I experienced last month later this week, but I just need to not think about this for a while.
UPDATE:
The intractability of SSPX and further grounds on excommunicating, once again, the SSPX leaders: the refusal to acknowledge Papal primacy and Vatican II (which they specifically agreed to in order to have the original excommunication removed).
UPDATE:
The Pope does the right thing.
he reflected on the 2,000 year history of the relationship between Judaism and the Church, acknowledging that it "has passed through many different phases, some of them painful to recall."

He affirmed that the Second Vatican Council declaration "Nostra Aetate" has guided the relationship since its redaction.

"The Church is profoundly and irrevocably committed to reject all anti-Semitism and to continue to build good and lasting relations between our two communities," the Bishop of Rome declared.

He added: "The hatred and contempt for men, women and children that was manifested in the Shoah was a crime against God and against humanity. This should be clear to everyone, especially to those standing in the tradition of the holy Scriptures, according to which every human being is created in the image and likeness of God.

"It is beyond question that any denial or minimization of this terrible crime is intolerable and altogether unacceptable."

Benedict XVI concluded by urging that the memory of the Holocaust remain as a "warning to us for the future, and a summons to strive for reconciliation."