A2: Pope Benedict XVI

USA Today publishes a letter by Rev. Michael P. Orsi, a research fellow at Ave Maria School of Law in Ann Arbor, who responds to a previous op/ed about Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to to lift the excommunications of four bishops, including a Holocaust denier. Writes Orsi: “It’s a pastoral action designed to bring the recalcitrant group back into the church. It in no way gives approval to their personal beliefs, which fall outside the church’s theological or moral expertise. Although Bishop Richard Williamson’s statement denying the extent of the Holocaust might have been stupid, stupidity is not grounds for excommunication. If that were the case, most of us would be under the penalty.” [Source]