Holocaust-Denying Bishop Convicted of Incitement

A German court convicted ultraconservative British Bishop Richard Williamson of incitement for denying the Holocaust in a television interview.

A court in the Bavarian city of Regensburg on Friday found Williamson guilty of incitement for saying in an interview with Swedish television that he did not believe Jews were killed in gas chambers during World War II.

Williamson said in the January 2009 interview that historical evidence indicates there were no Nazi gas chambers and that a maximum of 300,000 people died in concentration camps in the Holocaust.

Most historians believe about 6 million Jews died at the hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust.

The court ordered Williamson to pay a fine of euro10,000 ($13,544).

The comments sparked outrage when, days later, Pope Benedict XVI rescinded the 1988 excommunication of Williamson and three other ultraconservative bishops who had been consecrated without papal consent.

The Vatican later distanced themselves from Williamson's comments, saying the pope was unaware of them before announcing Williamson's rehabilitation.

The Vatican insisted Williamson recant the claim, though his subsequent apology was deemed insufficient by Church officials because he failed to specifically repudiate his comments.

Williamson was barred by his order, the Society of St. Pius X, from attending Friday's proceedings.