"Those Who Know Don't Talk, And Those Who Talk Don't Know."

Phil Lawler has an insightful column at USA Today about the woefully inadequate handling of the public relations disaster surrounding the lifting of the excommunication of SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson:

(Many) do not realize that Benedict XVI (has) not restored Williamson and the other SSPX bishops to regular status. Those four bishops are still suspended from public ministry; the lifting of their excommunications was only one step in a process of reconciliation. But the media message that carried the day: Williamson, an anti-Semite, was back in business.

Yet the story has even more depth and context that the Vatican failed effectively to correct: Neither Williamson's original excommunication in 1988 nor the pope's decision to revoke it were related in any way to his extreme political views. Under the canon law that governs church affairs, excommunication is a rare disciplinary action, used only for certain specific offenses (such as, in this case, ordaining a bishop without approval from the Holy See). The church does not formally excommunicate members for their political views, even when those views are repugnant to Catholic teachings — as, for example, in the case of Catholic politicians who favor unrestricted legal abortion."

One of the most significant aspects of this story that has been vastly overlooked is the fact that fellow SSPX Bishop Bernard Fellay has renounced the anti-semitic views of Williamson, something that would have never happened unless the excommunications had been lifted.

And for the record, the only place that Rich Williamson is a bishop is in the (still) schismatic Society of St. Pius X. I just wish that someone from the Vatican would make that a little clearer.