Influential Chicago priest: Benedict’s theology contributes to Holocaust controversy

 Please, don't take the word 'Influential' seriously.

Father John Pawlikowski, director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies Program at the Catholic Theological Union, says that Pope Benedict’s “ahistorical ecclesiology” has contributed to the controversy surrounding the lifting of the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson.

“Pawlikowski isn’t so sure Benedict fully comprehends the concerns of Jews who suspect Pius XII ignored their plight,” writes Chicago Tribune religion reporter Manya Brachear. Father Pawlikowski adds that the pontiff “views the Holocaust as a pagan, anti-human phenomenon but doesn’t really want to deal very clearly and explicitly with the Christian complicity that was also there … His vision of the church is very ahistorical. Really, the essence of the church is not within history. It’s transcendental and is not really impacted as such by the realities of human history ... He sees the church primarily as a victim of the Nazis and not in any way a collaborator.” (Full story at Catholic Culture)