Pope "Gently Fires" Officials Responsible For Lifting Excommunication of Holocaust Denier

Zenit, the National Catholic Reporter and the London Mail all report that yesterday at the Vatican, the other shoe dropped in the embarrassing lifting by Pope Benedict XVI of the excommunication of Holocaust-denying Lefebvrite Bishop Richard Williamson. (See prior posting.) In March, the Pope wrote a letter to the Bishops essentially apologizing for the move which strained relations between the Vatican and the Jewish community. (See prior posting.) Now, in a letter titled Ecclesiae Unitatem, issued by the Pope "motu propio" (on his own initiative), Benedict XVI eliminated the autonomy of the Ecclesia Dei Commission that had been set up by Pope John Paul II to handle relations with the with the rejectionist French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and his Society of St. Pius X. As explained by the National Catholic Reporter:

the pope today restructured the Vatican office that handles relations with the traditionalist world -- and, in effect, gently fired the officials who presided over the earlier fiasco.

Under the Pope's new pronouncement, the Ecclesia Dei Commission will be supervised by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith-- currently headed by American Cardinal William Levada. The restructuring eliminates the positions at the Commission previously held by Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon-Hoyos and his deputy, Italian Monsignor Camille Perl. The two former officials had played key roles in the decision to lift the excommunication of 4 right-wing bishops, including Williamson, last January.