The cardinal and the Jews

I do not understand how a thinking person can deny that Nazi's killed millions of Jews, gypsies, gays and mentally retarded people in gas chambers.

As far as excommunication the Bishop, that's the church's prerogative and so is un-excommunicating him but I suppose it is in the church's best interest to be accountable for its high profile pontifical choices...

the Holy Father lifted this excommunication unaware of the statements that Bishop Williamson had made, and that his intention was to try and begin a dialogue that might lead to reconciliation with this group.

Demanding a retraction - requiring that he not believe what he does believe is another story altogether but I suspect the pontiff has put himself in a bit of a jam and must press on. That said, his instincts to create dialogue first are laudable.

Q: Do you think the upset among Jewish community leaders is justifiable?

A: It was very interesting, listening to one of the participants, who talked about the heightened Jewish insecurity in the world, in light of renewed anti-Semitism, and violence against Jews, and the situation in Venezuela, and how some people are using the financial crisis and blaming Jews for that. He said, ‘I want to contextualize for you, why there is such upset, in light of all of these other things that are going on.’ He made a very eloquent case, I thought, to help understand.

Is there no sense that the Israeli war in Lebanon and most recently in Gaza might be fueling some of the "heightened Jewish insecurity in the world"? I am an advocate for peace in the middle east and US engagement in the process. I think Israeli military action has been devastating, punitive and counterproductive as are the Israeli settlements on West Bank Palestinian land.

It may surprise you that nearly 80% of Israelis support a land for peace deal with Palestinians. Why the government disagrees is not clear. Benjamin Netanyahu has reached out to the moderates (a relative term) to form a government rather than the hardliners (of which he is one) so there is some hope that a negotiated peace is possible.