Statement

2009

Statement about the Pope’s Decision on Bishop Williamson’s Unacceptable Stance Regarding the Holocaust

The ITF Chair speaks about the Pope’s decision on Bishop Williamson’s unacceptable stance regarding the Holocaust.

The Chair of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (formerly ITF, now IHRA) welcomes and fully supports the Yad Vashem comment (see below) regarding the Pope’s decision on Bishop Williamson’s unacceptable stance regarding the Holocaust. The Work of the ITF is based on the Declaration of 2001 of the Stockholm International Forum of the Holocaust which states inter alia: Together we must uphold the terrible truth of the Holocaust against those who deny it. Thus, every clear stance taken against statements or attitudes amounting to the denial or trivialization of the truth of the Holocaust corresponds to the very spirit underlying the endeavors of the ITF and its 26 member countries. Yad Vashem is one of the most important institutions participating in and supporting the ITF from its very beginning.

Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff Chairman ITF

(February 5, 2009- Jerusalem) Yad Vashem welcomes the Pope’s decision to demand that Bishop Richard Williamson publicly and unambiguously recant his stance regarding the Holocaust. The Pope’s decision sends an important message that Holocaust denial and antisemitism have no place within the Church. “When the highest moral authority of the Church states that Holocaust denial is unacceptable, that is a vital message for the entire world,” noted Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev.