![]() ![]() The move came under fire from Jewish groups and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. The Vatican said it had not known of Williamson’s Holocaust denial when it lifted the excommunication. ![]() Three days earlier, in a filmed interview with Fegan, Williamson insisted that no Jews were killed in Nazi gas chambers. All four were instantly excommunicated.īut in January 2009, the excommunication was reversed by Pope Benedict XVI in an attempt at reconciliation with the order. In 1988, Williamson was one of four SSPX priests ordained as bishops by the SSPX founder, archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, against the orders of Pope John Paul II. He joined the SSPX, which was highly critical of what it saw as a moral and theological crisis in the church in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, which sought to make Catholicism more relevant to the modern world. The son of an Anglican vicar, he was educated at Winchester College and Cambridge, and later converted to Catholicism. Williamson, who did not respond to Fegan’s or the Guardian’s requests for comment on the allegations regarding the two priests, has a turbulent history in the Catholic church. An alleged victim did make a complaint 25 years later to the police, who are currently investigating, it said, adding: “A number of our priests are cooperating.” “The SSPX, under no legal obligation to report at that time, chose to respect the wishes of these parents,” said the SSPX statement. The families of his alleged victims said they did not wish a complaint to be made to the civil authorities. His canonical trial was still in process when the priest left the order to join Williamson’s group.įather P was found guilty and forbidden to work with children, although permitted to celebrate mass. The civil authorities closed the case without further action, according to SSPX. The SSPX moved Father S to Bristol, where he had therapy for several years. In the case of Father S, an allegation of sexual abuse was reported to civil authorities in France where he was based at the time, the order said. The SSPX confirmed that Father S and Father P were accused of sexual abuse when priests in the order, that canonical trials were held, and that both men later joined the SSPX Resistance. Mass is also celebrated by the group in Bingley, West Yorkshire, and Liverpool. A spokesperson for GLL, which manages the library, said: “The hall booking is with the Stella Maris Mass Fund – which is a registered charity.” The booking had been running since January 2015 with no problems reported, the spokesperson said. Members of the UK branch of SSPX Resistance celebrate mass each Sunday in a hired room in Earlsfield public library in south London, which recently put on a display of books for Holocaust Memorial Day. Its headquarters is in a detached property in Broadstairs, named Regina Martyrum House, with a statue of the Virgin Mary in the front garden. More than 100 former SSPX priests around the world have joined the renegade order, according to the documentary. It says reforms over recent decades have “contributed and are still contributing to the destruction of the church, to the ruin of the priesthood, to the abolition of the sacrifice of the mass and of the sacraments, to the disappearance of religious life.” Williamson’s movement, also known as Respice Stellam, describes itself as “a group of traditional Catholics who wish to practise their faith without compromise to liberalism or modernism”. He also refused to discuss allegations against him with the TV journalists. He joined the SSPX Resistance, and was filmed celebrating mass at a church in Bordeaux last November. The French priest, Father P, was found guilty and banned from working with children. ![]() He declined to speak to the documentary team. The English priest, referred to as Father S, left the SSPX before the conclusion of the trial to join the SSPX Resistance in 2014, going to live in Broadstairs. Internal canonical trials of two men – one French, one English – were allegedly conducted with Vatican approval. ![]() The Golden Jail, made by Ali Fegan, a Swedish journalist whose interview with Williamson about his Holocaust denial was broadcast in 2009, claims that the SSPX protected priests and failed to report claims of abuse to the police or civil authorities. Two Catholic SSPX priests who have been accused of sexual abuse have found a refuge in Williamson’s breakaway movement, according to an investigative documentary to be aired on Swedish television on Wednesday. ![]()
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