Richard Williamson | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Williamson in 1991 | |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 29 June 1976 by Marcel Lefebvre |
| Consecration | 30 June 1988 by Marcel Lefebvre |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Richard Nelson Williamson (1940-03-08)8 March 1940 London, England |
| Died | 29 January 2025(2025-01-29) (aged 84) Margate, England |
| Denomination | Traditionalist Catholic |
| Alma mater | Winchester College,[1] University of Cambridge,[1] International Seminary of Saint Pius X |
| Motto | Fidelis inveniatur[2] |
Ordination history of Richard Williamson | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Richard Nelson Williamson (8 March 1940 – 29 January 2025) was an Englishtraditionalist Catholic prelate andHolocaust denier who opposed the changes in the Church brought about by theSecond Vatican Council and wasexcommunicated from theCatholic Church.[5] He was formerly a member of theSociety of Saint Pius X (SSPX).
In 1988, Williamson was one of four SSPX priestsconsecrated as bishops by ArchbishopMarcel Lefebvre, for whichPope John Paul II declared all parties had incurredipso factoautomatic excommunication. Thevalidity of the excommunication has always been denied by the SSPX, who, citing canon law, argue that the consecrations were permissible due to a crisis in the Catholic Church. The excommunications, including that of Williamson, were lifted on 21 January 2009 but a suspension from ministry remained in force.
Immediately afterward, Swedish television broadcast an interview recorded earlier at the SSPX seminary inZaitzkofen,Bavaria. Therein, Williamson expressed his belief that no more than 200,000 to 300,000 Jews were killed duringthe Holocaust and thatNazi Germany did not usegas chambers. Based upon these statements, he was charged with and convicted ofHolocaust denial by the district court ofRegensburg, Germany. TheHoly See declared thatPope Benedict XVI had been unaware of Williamson's views when he lifted his excommunication, and that Williamson would remain suspended until he unequivocally and publicly distanced himself from his stated position. In 2010, Williamson was convicted of incitement in a German court in relation to those views; the conviction was later vacated on appeal. He was convicted again in a retrial in early 2013. Williamson appealed again, but his appeal was rejected.
After a number of incidents—including calling for the resignation ofBernard Fellay as superior general of the SSPX, refusal to stop publishing his weekly email newsletter and an unauthorised visitation to Brazil—Williamson was expelled from the SSPX in 2012. Afterwards, Williamson consecratedJean-Michel Faure,Tomás de Aquino Ferreira da Costa, andGerardo Zendejas [pl] as bishops in 2015, 2016, and 2017. Upon the first of the three consecrations, he was again automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church.[6][7]
Williamson was born on 8 March 1940[8][9][10] inLondon,England.[11] He was the second of three sons born to John Blackburn Williamson, a manager atMarks & Spencer, and Helen Nelson, a Paris-born mother of American heritage.[12][13][6] He attendedDownsend School in Surrey before winning a scholarship toWinchester College.[6][14] He then studied atClare College, Cambridge, graduating in 1961 a degree in English literature.[15][8][6] Upon graduating, he worked as a journalist in Wales,[6] and then returned to teach at his old school, Downsend in 1963.[16] He subsequently went to Ghana, where he also taught.[17][6] When he returned to England in 1965, Williamson taught atSt Paul’s School in London.[6]
Williamson, originally anAnglican, converted to the Catholic Church in 1971.[18] After a few months as apostulant with theOratorians ofBrompton Oratory, he left.[19] He became a member of theSociety of Saint Pius X, a traditionalist Catholic faction founded in 1970 by ArchbishopMarcel Lefebvre in protest against what Lefebvre saw as the liberalism of theSecond Vatican Council.[17] In common with other traditionalists, Williamson opposed the changes in the Catholic Church following the Second Vatican Council. He saw the changes as being unacceptablyliberal andmodernistic, and as being destructive to the Church.[20][21][22] Among the changes he opposed were the Church'sincreased openness to other Christian denominations and other religions,[20][23] and changes in the forms of Catholic worship such as the general replacement of theTridentine Mass with theMass of Paul VI.[24] Williamson criticisedPope John Paul II, to whom he attributed a "weak grasp of Catholicism".[25] Williamson held that the SSPX was not schismatic, but rather was composed of true Catholics who were keeping the "complete Roman Catholic apostolic faith".[20][21][26][22]
Williamson entered theInternational Seminary of Saint Pius X atÉcône,Switzerland, and in 1976 he wasordained apriest by Lefebvre.[15] Williamson subsequently moved to the United States, where he was the rector of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary inRidgefield, Connecticut from 1983, and continued in the position when the seminary moved toWinona, Minnesota in 1988, serving until 2003.[15][27]
In June 1988,ArchbishopMarcel Lefebvre announced his intention to consecrate Williamson and three other priests (Bernard Fellay,Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, andAlfonso de Galarreta) asbishops.[28] On 17 June 1988CardinalBernardin Gantin,prefect of theCongregation for Bishops sent the four priests a formal canonical warning that they would automatically incur the penalty ofexcommunication if they were to be consecrated by Lefebvre without the date of papal permission. Williamson and the three other priests were nonetheless consecrated bishop on 30 June 1988 by Archbishop Lefebvre andAntônio de Castro Mayer. The next day, CardinalBernardin Gantin issued a declaration stating that Lefebvre, de Castro Mayer, Williamson, and the three other newly ordained bishops "have incurredipso facto theexcommunicationlatae sententiae reserved to theApostolic See".[citation needed] On 2 July 1988,Pope John Paul II issued themotu proprioEcclesia Dei, in which he reaffirmed the excommunication and described the consecration as an act of "disobedience to theRoman pontiff in a very grave matter and of supreme importance for the unity of the Church", and that "such disobedience – which implies in practice the rejection of theRoman primacy — constitutes a schismatic act".[29][30]
After his episcopal consecration, Williamson remained rector of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary inWinona, Minnesota.[27] He performed various episcopal functions, including confirmations and ordinations.[31][32][33] In 1991, he assisted in the consecration ofLicínio Rangel as bishop for thePriestly Society of St. John Mary Vianney after the death of its founder,Antônio de Castro Mayer.[34] In 2003, Williamson was appointed rector of the Seminary ofOur Lady Co-Redemptrix in La Reja, Argentina[18] and according toThe Guardian became acult figure amongst the far-right seminarians.[35] In 2006, he ordained two priests and seven deacons inWarsaw,Poland for theUkrainian Greek CatholicPriestly Society of Saint Josaphat (SSJK).[36]
Williamson was viewed as being located towards the hardline end of the traditionalist spectrum, though he did not go quite so far as to espousesedevacantism.[37][38][39]
Williamson held strong views regardinggender roles. He opposed women wearing trousers or shorts,[40][41][42] attending college or university, or having careers.[43][44] He urged greater "manliness" in men.[40][42] He denounced the filmThe Sound of Music as "soul-rotting slush" and said that, by putting "friendliness and fun in the place of authority and rules, it invites disorder between parents and children."[45][46] He was dismissive ofMother Teresa because of her supposedly 'liberal' views.[47]
Williamson supported conspiracy theories regarding theassassination of John F. Kennedy, and theWorld Trade Center controlled demolition conspiracy theory, denying that theSeptember 11 attacks were foreign terrorist attacks and claiming they were instead staged by the U.S. government.[40][15][48][47] He also said that the7 July 2005 London bombings were an "inside job" and propagated rumours about the likelihood of anuclear attack on theLondon Olympics in 2012.[49]
Williamson expressed antisemitic views.[50][51][5] He called Jews the "enemies of Christ" and urged theirconversion to Catholicism.[52][53][54] He said that Jews andFreemasons contributed to the "changes and corruption" in the Catholic Church.[55][56] He stated thatJews aim at world dominion[15][57] and believedThe Protocols of the Elders of Zion to be authentic.[15] Williamson denied that he was promoting hatred,[58] identifying the contemporary enemies of the faith as "Jews, Communists and Freemasons".[56][58] He argued that "Anti-Semitism means many things today, for instance, when one criticizes theIsraeli actions in theGaza Strip. The Church has always understood the definition of anti-Semitism to be the rejection of Jews because of their Jewish roots. This is condemned by the Church."[59]
Since the late 1980s, Williamson was accused ofHolocaust denial.[56][60][61][62][63][64] Citing thepseudoscientificLeuchter report,[59] Williamson denied that millions of Jews were murdered in Nazi concentration camps and the existence of Nazi gas chambers[18][65][66] and praisedHolocaust denierErnst Zündel.[56] During an interview on Swedish television recorded in Germany in November 2008, he stated: "I believe that the historical evidence is strongly against, is hugely against six million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler",[66] and "I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, but none of them in gas chambers."[18][65][61]
During the early 2000s, SSPX and the Church leadership in Rome sought to heal the rift between them. Williamson opposed compromise,[67][68] accusing the Vatican of deceit[38] and of being under "the power ofSatan".[20][39] He was reported as viewing reconciliation between the SSPX and the Holy See as being impossible, and that some SSPX members might refuse to follow the Society in such a direction even if an agreement were reached.[15][68][69]
Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications of the four bishopsMarcel Lefebvre had consecrated, as they had requested.[61][65][70] The decree was signed on 21 January 2009, the same day that Williamson's interview denying the Holocaust was broadcast on Swedish television.[65][71][72] The decision stirred widespread outrage,[65] particularly inGermany, where the interview was conducted and where Holocaust denial is illegal and punishable by imprisonment of up to five years.[73] Reaction from the State of Israel and much of the worldwide Jewish community was strongly negative, andAbraham Foxman, president of theAnti-Defamation League, wrote to CardinalWalter Kasper in order to express his opposition to any ecclesiastic re-integration of Williamson.[74] TheChief Rabbinate of Israel suspended contacts with the Vatican. The Chief Rabbi ofHaifa toldThe Jerusalem Post that he expected Williamson to retract publicly his statements before any dialogue could resume.[75]
Pope Benedict XVI responded by stating he deplored all forms of antisemitism and that all Catholics must do the same.[76] The Pope expressed his "unquestionable solidarity" with the Jewish people, and stated his hope that "the memory of the Shoah will induce humanity to reflect on the unpredictable power of hate when it conquers the heart of man",[77] and condemned the denial of the Holocaust.[78][79] Vatican officials stated that they had not been aware of Williamson's views prior to the lifting of the excommunication;[80][81][82] as a result, in a July 2009 Vatican reorganisation, the Pope tightened control and supervision over reconciliation efforts with SSPX.[83] The Vatican declared that "in order to be admitted to episcopal functions within the Church, (Williamson) will have to take his distance, in an absolutely unequivocal and public fashion, from his position on theShoah, which the Holy Father (i.e., the Pope) was not aware of when the excommunication was lifted.".[84][1]
Williamson sent the Pope a letter expressing his regret about the problems that he had caused, but did not retract his statements.[85][86] On 4 February 2009 the VaticanSecretariat of State issued a note stating that Williamson would have to distance himself unequivocally and publicly from the opinions that he had expressed before he would be permitted to act as a bishop within the Church.[87][88] Williamson responded that he would do so only after looking at the historical evidence for himself.[59] On 26 February, he formally apologised for the offence that had been caused by his comments, but did not indicate that he had changed his views.[89][90] The Vatican rejected his apology, stating that he needed to "unequivocally and publicly" withdraw his comments. Jewish groups expressed disappointment at the ambiguity of his apology, because he failed to address the consensus about the Holocaust.[89]
Bishop Bernard Fellay of the SSPX initially denied any responsibility, stating that Williamson's statements were his alone and that the affair did not concern the SSPX as a whole.[91] However, he subsequently forbade Williamson from speaking out publicly about historical or political matters, and asked Pope Benedict for forgiveness for the damage done by Williamson's statements.[92] He stated that if Williamson again denied the Holocaust, he would be excluded from the society.[76][93] In a subsequent interview he likened Williamson to uranium, asserting that "It's dangerous when you have it," but you can't "simply leave it by the side of the road."[94] Williamson was removed as the head of the seminary in La Reja, Argentina in February 2009,[66] and the same month the government of Argentina asked Williamson to leave the country over irregularities with his visa, and stated that his recent statements about Jews "profoundly offend Argentinian society, the Jewish people and all of humanity".[95] On 24 February 2009, Williamson flew from Argentina to London, where he was met byMichele Renouf, a former model known for her antisemitic views, with whom he had been put in touch by Holocaust denierDavid Irving.[59][96][97][98] Williamson subsequently repeated the denial to followers, stating that "The fact is that the 6 million people who were supposedly gassed represent a huge lie."[94]
On 4 February 2009, German prosecutors announced the launch of a criminal investigation into Williamson's statements.[99] In October 2009, a German court, using an "order of punishment" fined Williamson €12,000 after finding him guilty of Holocaust denial.[100] Williamson denied the charges and appealed, paving the way for a full hearing that Williamson did not need to attend.[101] He did not attend the trial, on orders from his society, on charges ofinciting racial hatred inRegensburg,Germany on 16 April 2010, and was found guilty. The court reduced the fine to€10,000.[102] Lawyers from both sides appealed the fine; the lawyer Williamson hired was the former leader of theWiking-Jugend, an outlawed Neo-Nazi group.[103] The Society of St. Pius X ordered Williamson to find a new lawyer under threat of expulsion.[103] His appeal was held on 11 July 2011. The lower court's decision was upheld at appeal, but the fine was reduced to €6,500, reportedly due to Williamson's financial circumstances.[104][105]
On 22 February 2012 the higher court dismissed this conviction, finding that the initial charges against Williamson had been inadequately drawn, having failed to specify the nature of his offence, or at what point his filmed comments came under German jurisdiction, or in what sense he be held liable for failing to prevent their publication in Germany.[106] On 16 January 2013, he was prosecuted and convicted again, but this time with a much-reduced fine of €1,600 because of his "unemployed state". He refused to pay the fine and appealed again,[107] but his appeal was dismissed.[108] On 31 January 2019 theEuropean Court of Human Rights ruled against Williamson’s attempt to overturn a conviction for Holocaust denial on the grounds of free speech.[109][110][111]
In August 2012, Williamson administered the sacrament ofconfirmation to about 100laypeople at the Benedictine Monastery of the Holy Cross inNova Friburgo, Brazil, during an unauthorised visit to theState of Rio de Janeiro. The society's South American district superior, Christian Bouchacourt, protested against his action on the SSPX website, saying that it was "a serious act against the virtue of obedience."[112] In early October 2012, the leadership of the SSPX gave Williamson a deadline to declare his submission, instead of which he published an "open letter" asking for the resignation of theSuperior General.[113] On 4 October 2012, the Society expelled Williamson in a "painful decision" citing the failures "to show respect and obedience deserved by his legitimate superiors".[114]
On his return from Argentina, Williamson settled inBroadstairs, Kent.[115] After his expulsion from SSPX, he created the Priestly Union of Marcel Lefebvre, later known as “SSPX Resistance,” gathering Catholics who opposed the SSPX's compromising with the Vatican.[115][116]
Williamson continued to espouse anti-semitic views including that Jews were manipulating the stock market in order to start a world war.[117][116] He suggested that Jews caused theCOVID pandemic in order to reduce the population and enslave the world.[117][116][115][118] In 2023, he appeared on Iranian television on which he blamed Jews for the assassination of John Kennedy, for 9/11, and for the war between Russia and Ukraine.[116]
After his return to the UK, Williamson held regular traditional Latin Masses near his home, as well as at a library inEarlsfield, London.[118] The bookings at the library were cancelled when his views became known in 2022.[118][116]
Williamson independently ordained six bishops.[115] On 19 March 2015, Williamson ordained FrenchmanJean-Michel Faure, a former member of the SSPX, as a bishop in a ceremony inNova Friburgo, Brazil. Like Williamson, Faure opposed reconciliation discussions between the SSPX and the Catholic Church. As this was done without papal mandate, both Faure and Williamson incurred alatae sententiae excommunication.[119] The SSPX condemned the consecration as "not at all comparable to theconsecrations of 1988" and as proof that Williamson and Faure "no longer recognize the Roman authorities, except in a purely rhetorical manner".[120]
Exactly one year later, Williamson consecratedTomás de Aquino Ferreira da Costa as a bishop in Brazil. This consecration also took place without papal approval.[121] Williamson consecrated a third bishop,Mexican-American prelateGerardo Zendejas, on 11 May 2017 inVienna, Virginia.[122][123]
In late December 2022, Williamson stated he had privately consecrated another bishop, Giacomo Ballini, the leader of theCork branch of the SSPX Resistance in 2021.[124][123][125] On 15 August 2022, he consecratedMichał Stobnicki as a bishop in Poland.[126][123][127] Also in 2022, it was reported that Williamson consecratedEnglishmanPaul Morgan as a bishop on 14 February 2022 in Cork in secret, with Bishop Ballini acting as co-consecrator[128]
On 12 January 2024, it was reported that Williamson performed aconditional episcopal consecration forArchbishop Carlo Maria Viganò to the episcopate, during which he described Pope Francis as a "false pastor and servant of Satan".[129][115][123][130]
On 24 January 2025, Williamson hadcerebral haemorrhage and was hospitalised near his home in Kent.[131][115] He died inMargate on 29 January, at the age of 84.[6][5][132] He was buried on 26 February 2025.
SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson illicitly ordained two SSJK priests and seven deacons.
A woman can [...] do a good imitation of handling ideas, but then she will not be properly thinking as woman. [...] Did this lawyeress check her hair-do just before coming into court? If she did, she is one distracted lawyer. If she did not, she is one distorted woman. [...] Alas, women going to university is part of the whole massive onslaught on God's Nature which characterizes our times.
Sure enough, [...] she gives a dazzling demonstration of the superiority of liberty and equality over stuffy old Austrian ways! [...] As for cleanness, many films may be worse than the Sound of Music, but stop and think – are youth, physical attractiveness and being in love the essence of marriage? Can you imagine this Julie Andrews staying with the Captain if 'the romance went out of their marriage'? Would she not divorce him and grab his children from him to be her toys? Such romance is not actually pornographic but it is virtually so, in other words all the elements of pornography are there, just waiting to break out. One remembers the media sensation when a few years later Julie Andrews appeared topless in another film. That was no sensation, just a natural development for one rolling canine female.
Williamson denies that Catholics and Jews worship the same god. Jews worship the god of the Talmud who is 'a devil, an absolute devil'.—"Williamson, one ofLefebvre's chief spokesmen in the United States", refers to:John3:18: "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."8:44: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."
Dem Heiligen Paulus gemäß seien die 'Juden geliebt um der Väter willen, aber unsere Gegner um des Evangeliums willen'. Letztlich bedürften 'alle Menschen zu ihrer Erlösung Christus, ... auch die Juden'.—The interviewee refers to:Romans11:28: "As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sakes."John14:6: "[N]o man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
I do believe that behind the Cardinal, as I said last month, there are villains at work, either Judeo-masons or prelates working for Judeo-masonry, who are far more sinister than this Cardinal is. These villains, I do believe, are using front-men like the Cardinal for as long as he is useful to their Revolution. He is, in Lenin's phrase, "a useful idiot", who will be cast aside the moment he no longer serves their forward march to the One-World-Religion.—Quoted by:Allen Jr., John L. (30 March 2001)."Pope in talks with Lefevbre group".National Catholic Reporter.Kansas City, MO.Archived from the original on 5 February 2019. Retrieved9 February 2019.
Only a fool is against Jews simply because they are Jews. There can be very few directors of Traditional Catholic seminaries, who have invited, as I once did, a Jewish rabbi to address seminarians. [...] [O]nly a Catholic who does not understand his faith is not against the enemies of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I am against Jews or Gentiles who are enemies of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Williamson also shares the view of the so-called 'revisionists' that the Holocaust never occurred. It was a Jewish invention 'so we would prostrate ourselves on our knees before them and approve of their new State of Israel,' he told a Quebec audience.
I have been told that consulting the information available on the internet would have made it possible to perceive the problem early on. I have learned the lesson that in the future in the Holy See we will have to pay greater attention to that source of news. I was saddened by the fact that even Catholics who, after all, might have had a better knowledge of the situation, thought they had to attack me with open hostility.
