‘ ‘ ‘ When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was selected as the next pope in 2005, I was incredulous… ‘ ‘ ‘ When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was selected as the next pope in 2005, I was incredulous that a childhood member of the Hitler Youth could become the head of one of the world’s largest religions. But the media and the Roman Catholic Church quickly dismissed discussion of his adolescence in Nazi Germany as a non-issue. ‘ ‘ ‘ Both groups pointed out that membership in the Hitler Youth was mandatory, that he was an unenthusiastic participant in the organization and that since then he has improved Jewish-Catholic relations over the years to such an extent that the subject should be dropped. ‘ ‘ ‘ And so, since 2005, the international community has largely ignored Ratzinger’s past, his relationship with the Holocaust and the issue of Jewish-Catholic dialogue. But concerns over Ratzinger’s Nazi adolescence seem more credible now that he has brought a Holocaust-denying bishop back into the fold of the Catholic Church. ‘ ‘ ‘ Bishop Richard Williamson, excommunicated in 1988 for being consecrated without the Vatican’s permission, was rehabilitated only three days after making remarks denying the existence of Nazi gas chambers and doubting the number of Holocaust deaths to a Swedish broadcaster. And although Williamson is facing criminal charges in Germany for the denial of the Holocaust, he is currently a member in good standing of the Catholic Church. ‘ ‘ ‘ While this is horrifying on an individual basis, it is important to address two greater issues of which this is only a symptom: the failure of the international community and the internal leaders of the Catholic Church to address the church’s part in the Holocaust, as well as the failure of the Catholic Church to adhere to secular standards of morality. ‘ ‘ ‘ For an organization such as the Catholic Church to accept into its hierarchy a man who denies the Holocaust only 60 years after World War II is especially dangerous considering the Church’s role in Hitler’s genocide. ‘ ‘ ‘ The Catholic Church was one of the earliest institutions to support the Nazis and the last to cease this support. In 1933, the Vatican signed the Nazi-Vatican Concordat, one of the first international treaties signed by Hitler’s government and a major event lending international recognition to the Nazi regime. The Vatican continued its relationship with the Nazis through World War II until the collapse of the Third Reich when scores of Nazi war criminals escaped Europe with the aid of Vatican personnel and passports. ‘ ‘ ‘ The historical record of the Vatican’s complicity in the Holocaust has been thoroughly suppressed and ignored to the extent that the teachings and tendencies that led the Church to aid Nazi Germany have not yet been expunged from the institution. ‘ ‘ ‘ The acceptance of Williamson is proof of this, and it is one dangerous symptom of an organized religion that spent the first half of the 20th century aiding fascist regimes in Germany, Spain, Argentina and Croatia. ‘ ‘ ‘ It is time for secular governments to take the lead in holding the Catholic Church responsible not only for its past crimes but also for its modern transgressions against the historical record. ‘ ‘ ‘ Germany is making the appropriate first steps toward prosecuting Williamson for his denial of the Holocaust on German territory. The maximum prison sentence under German law for the crime of Holocaust denial is five years. ‘ ‘ ‘ Many EU-member nations have similar laws in place, and if Germany fails to imprison him, other European nations should issue warrants for his arrest. Also, it is only appropriate that world governments end diplomatic relations with the Vatican until Williamson is stripped of his title, thus depriving him of his public voice. ‘ ‘ ‘ The Vatican has the ability to do whatever it wants internally, and the Pope certainly has the right to consort with Holocaust deniers. That being said, the Catholic Church must be held accountable for a member of its hierarchy’s horrendous public statements and the institutional support lent to these statements by his anointment as a bishop. ‘ ‘ ‘ The Catholic Church must come to terms with the role it has played in the creation and propagation of anti-Semitism as an ideology. An important first step is to recognize that what the Pope did in bringing Williamson back into the Church was wrong not because it caused a public relations disaster but because it granted a dangerous and false ideology on an international stage. ‘ ‘ ‘ And as for Williamson himself, I would like nothing more than to see him languishing in a German jail ‘mdash; with or without the title of bishop. E-mail Giles at [email protected].