Known for Holocaust denial

Ex-member of Society of Saint Pius X and Bishop Richard Williamson dies

Rome/London - The "Williamson case" caused a serious scandal for Benedict XVI. And even the traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X eventually found the errant Brit intolerable. Richard Williamson has now died at the age of 84.

Published  on 30.01.2025 at 08:46  – 

Holocaust denier and former bishop of the Society of St Pius X, Richard Williamson, is dead. The Briton died in a British hospital on Thursday night at the age of 84, as announced by the General House of the traditionalist Society of St Pius X.

Williamson had repeatedly denied the Holocaust since the late 1980s and described it as a Jewish invention. After he once again denied the mass murder in gas chambers in a TV interview broadcast in 2009, this caused a Vatican scandal and sharp reactions worldwide because Pope Benedict XVI had shortly before lifted the excommunication of bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X. Despite all the admonitions of his superiors, Williamson continued to hold these views.

Consecrated against papal will

The Briton was consecrated bishop in 1988 by the founder of the Society of St Pius X, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, together with three other clergymen, without papal authorisation. They were subsequently excommunicated by Rome.

The Society of St Pius X, which has rejected the Church's course of reform since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), expelled Williamson from its ranks in 2012. Since then, he has belonged to the so-called sedisvacantists, who deny the Pope's legitimacy and accuse the Catholic Church of betraying the traditional faith. (KNA)