Progress (?)

I guess Bishop Williamson has gotten tired of his ears burning. After a solid week of getting smacked around on TV, radio, print and the Internet, he made another important announcement. Will he recant his Holocaust denial? Will he apologize to the people that actually deserve an apology?

Wait for it...

"Since I see that there are many honest and intelligent people who think differently, I must look again at the historical evidence," the British bishop was quoted as saying.

"It is about historical evidence, not about emotions," he added, according to the report. "And if I find this evidence, I will correct myself. But that will take time."

That's right, he'll look into it! Well, as long as we know it's in his to-do pile, I guess all can be forgiven and we can move on to being cheerfully damned again at Easter. What a guy. I guess it just goes to show that if you have faith, everything will work out.

And there's more:

"I was convinced that my comments were right on the basis of my research in the '80s," Der Spiegel quoted Williamson as saying. "I must now examine everything again and look at the evidence."

That explains it- it was the 80s! Yes, that most intellectually stagnant period of Western history, in which absolutely zero scholarship or public discussion of the Holocaust occurred. Be honest, I bet you can't even name a single Holocaust film that came out in the 80s. But at least we know now-- after most of the perpetrators and victims are dead or extremely elderly-- he's willing to give the evidence another look. Hey, since we're apparently on a CSI-kick, why don't we go to the source and examine some of the physical locations where the Holocaust happened?

The magazine suggested that he could make a personal visit to the former Auschwitz death camp. Williamson replied: "I will not go to Auschwitz," it said.

Oh. Well, that's ok. He must be really busy packing to head back to the Vatican. And there's the bi-annual Society of Pius church picnic coming up next month, he's supposed to be in charge of the sack races and egg toss... In fact, guys, he might need a few years to sift through all this evidence before he's ready to really come out for either side. Maybe everyone can just focus on something else for a while until Dick here makes his decision? Here, I know-- talk about this guy, instead. That's still Holocaust-related, and only tangentially involves the Church. Go team.

Fun fact: Williamson presently lives in Argentina, which has a very colorful history when it comes to Nazi enthusiasts.