Katie Couric's Notebook: A Dangerous Divide

Pope Benedict the sixteenth recently lifted the excommunication of four bishops, members of a splinter group of traditionalists who opposed the reforms of Vatican Two.

Among them Bishop Richard Williamson, who has denied the atrocities of the Holocaust and claimed that 9-11 was a U.S. conspiracy. Williamson is on the record saying there were no gas chambers in Nazi concentration camps, and that the number of Jews killed has been exaggerated.

His ignorant and hurtful words have ignited a fire storm among Jewish leaders and Catholics alike.

Theologian Father Tom Williams told us that he believes the Pope was unaware of Bishop Williamson's views, now reminded us that the pope has publicly denounced the Holocaust.

But the pontiff has yet to denounce Bishop Williamson's statements – words that desecrate the memories of millions of victims who died in a very real way.

In attempting to repair a schism in the Church, he has instead opened a new and dangerous divide.