Richard Williamson (bishop)

{{Short description|British Catholic traditionalist bishop (1940–2025)}}

{{Infobox Christian leader

| type = Bishop

| honorific-prefix = His Excellency, The Most Reverend

| name = Richard Williamson

| honorific-suffix =

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| title = Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Society of Saint Pius X

| image = Confirmation June 3, 1991 - 6914530078 (Richard Williamson).jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Williamson in 1991

| church = Catholic Church (excommunicated)

| elected =

| appointed =

| term =

| term_start =

| term_end =

| predecessor =

| opposed =

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| other_post =

| ordination = 29 June 1976

| ordained_by = Marcel Lefebvre

| consecration = 30 June 1988

| consecrated_by = Marcel Lefebvre

| cardinal =

| rank =

| birth_name = Richard Nelson Williamson

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1940|3|8|df=y}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|1|29|1940|3|8|df=y}}

| death_place = Margate, England

| buried =

| nationality =

| religion = Traditionalist Catholic, Catholic

| residence =

| parents =

| previous_post =

| education =

| alma_mater = Winchester College,
University of Cambridge,
International Seminary of Saint Pius X

| motto = Fidelis inveniatur1 Cor 4:2 DRB. NVUL: that a man be found faithful · {{langx |la|[https://www.vatican.va/archive/bible/nova_vulgata/documents/nova-vulgata_nt_epist-i-corinthios_lt.html#4 ut fidelis quis inveniatur] |italic=unset}}

| signature =

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| coat_of_arms =

}}

{{Ordination

| denomination = Catholic

| ordained deacon by =

| date of diaconal ordination =

| place of diaconal ordination =

| ordained priest by = Marcel Lefebvre

| date of priestly ordination = 29 June 1976

| place of priestly ordination = The International Seminary of Saint Pius X, Écône, Switzerland

| consecrated by = Marcel Lefebvre

| co-consecrators = Antônio de Castro Mayer

| date of consecration = 30 June 1988

| place of consecration = The International Seminary of Saint Pius X, Écône, Switzerland

| elevated by =

| date of elevation =

| sources =

| bishop 1 = Jean-Michel Faure

| consecration date 1 = 19 March 2015

| bishop 2 = Tomás de Aquino Ferreira da Costa

| consecration date 2 = 19 March 2016

| bishop 3 = {{interlanguage link|Gerardo Zendejas|pl}}

| consecration date 3 = 11 May 2017

| bishop 4 = Giacomo Ballini

| consecration date 4 = 14 January 2021

| bishop 5 = Michał Stobnicki{{cite web|access-date=15 July 2023|date=15 July 2023|language=pl|title=Bp Michał Stobnicki – NON POSSUMUS|url=https://fsspxr.wordpress.com/bp-stobnicki/|website=FSSPXR NON POSSUMUS|archive-date=15 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230715124939/https://fsspxr.wordpress.com/bp-stobnicki/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|access-date=15 July 2023|date=15 July 2023|language=en|title=Eleison Comments DCCCXXXV|url=https://stmarcelinitiative.com/two-kinds-of-bishop-i/|website=St. Marcel Initiative|archive-date=20 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230720044438/https://stmarcelinitiative.com/two-kinds-of-bishop-i/|url-status=dead}}

| consecration date 5 = 15 August 2022

}}

Richard Nelson Williamson (8 March 1940 – 29 January 2025) was an English traditionalist Catholic bishop and Holocaust denier who opposed the changes in the church brought about by the Second Vatican Council{{Cite news |last=Obituaries |first=Telegraph |date=30 January 2025 |title=Richard Williamson, outlaw bishop who denied the Holocaust and embarrassed the Vatican |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/01/30/richard-williamson-traditionalist-catholic-pope-holocaust/ |access-date=30 January 2025 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}} and was excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

In 1988, Williamson was one of four Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) priests illicitly consecrated as bishops by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, for which Pope John Paul II declared he had incurred ipso facto automatic excommunication. The validity of the excommunication has always been denied by the SSPX, who, citing canon law, argue that the consecrations were permissible due to a crisis in the Catholic Church. The excommunications, including that of Williamson, were lifted on 21 January 2009 but the suspension of the bishops from ministry within the Catholic Church remained in force.

Immediately afterward, Swedish television broadcast an interview recorded earlier at the SSPX's seminary in Zaitzkofen, Bavaria. During the interview, Williamson expressed his belief that no more than 200,000 to 300,000 Jews were killed during the Holocaust and that Nazi Germany did not use gas chambers. Based upon these statements, he was charged with and convicted of Holocaust denial by the district court of Regensburg, Germany. The Holy See declared that Pope Benedict had been unaware of Williamson's views when he lifted the excommunication of the four bishops. He said that Williamson would remain suspended from his episcopal functions until he unequivocally and publicly distanced himself from that stated position on the Holocaust. In 2010, Williamson was convicted of incitement in a German court in relation to those views; the conviction was later vacated on appeal. He was convicted again on this charge in a retrial in early 2013. Williamson appealed again, but his appeal was rejected.

After a number of incidents, including calling for the resignation of Bernard Fellay as the Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X, refusal to stop publishing his weekly email and an unauthorised visitation to Brazil, Williamson was expelled from the Society in 2012. After leaving the Society, Williamson consecrated Jean-Michel Faure, Tomás de Aquino Ferreira da Costa, and {{interlanguage link|Gerardo Zendejas|pl}} as bishops in 2015, 2016, and 2017. Because of these consecrations, he was excommunicated latae sententiae from the Catholic Church again in 2015.{{Cite web|date=20 March 2015|title=Scomunicato il vescovo negazionista monsignor Williamson|url=https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/cronache/scomunicato-vescovo-negazionista-monsignor-williamson-1107348.html|access-date=30 June 2021|website=Il Giornale|language=it|archive-date=10 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240110013448/https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/cronache/scomunicato-vescovo-negazionista-monsignor-williamson-1107348.html|url-status=live}}

Early life and ordination

Williamson was born on 8 March 1940{{Cite news |date=11 February 2009 |title=BISHOP WILLIAMSON: HIS LIFE AND TIMES |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/bishop-williamson-his-life-and-times/article22510326/ |access-date=30 January 2025 |work=The Globe and Mail |language=en-CA}}{{Cite news |date=16 April 2010 |title=Profile: Bishop Richard Williamson |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7869565.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204232409/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7869565.stm |archive-date=4 February 2019 |access-date=30 January 2025 |language=en-GB}}{{Cite news |last=Obituaries |first=Telegraph |date=30 January 2025 |title=Richard Williamson, outlaw bishop who denied the Holocaust and embarrassed the Vatican |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/01/30/richard-williamson-traditionalist-catholic-pope-holocaust/ |access-date=30 January 2025 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}} in London, England.{{Cite news |last=Nossiter |first=Adam |date=2025-02-04 |title=Richard Williamson, Renegade Priest and Holocaust Denier, Dies at 84 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/world/europe/richard-williamson-dead.html |access-date=2025-03-05 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} He was the second of three sons born to John Blackburn Williamson, a manager at Marks & Spencer, and Helen Nelson, a Paris-born mother of American heritage.{{cite episode

| title = The Voice of the Trumpet

| episode-link =

| url = https://neilmcdougall.substack.com/p/episode-4-the-voice-of-the-trumpet

| series = The Scrum Den with Neil McDougall

| air-date = 11 November 2023

| minutes = 27:32

| transcript =

| transcript-url= }}{{Cite book |last=Allen White |first=David |title=The Voice of the Trumpet |publisher=Marcel Editions |year=2018 |isbn= 978-1940306162 |pages=11–12 |language=English}} He attended Downsend School in Surrey before winning a scholarship to Winchester College.{{Cite book |last=Allen White |first=David |title=The Voice of the Trumpet |publisher=Marcel Editions |year=2018 |isbn= 978-1940306162 |pages=19–22 |language=English}} He then studied at Clare College, Cambridge, graduating in 1961 a degree in English literature.{{cite news |last=Arco |first=Anna |date=5 March 2008 |title=Lefebvrists face crisis as bishop is exposed as 'dangerous' anti-Semite |url=http://catholicherald.co.uk/articles/a0000226.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625234331/http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/articles/a0000226.shtml |archive-date=25 June 2008 |access-date= |work=The Catholic Herald}} Upon graduating, he worked as a journalist in Wales, and then returned to teach at his old school, Downsend in 1963.{{Cite book |last=Allen White |first=David |title=The Voice of the Trumpet |publisher=Marcel Editions |year=2018 |isbn= 978-1940306162 |pages=51 |language=English}} He subsequently went to Ghana, where he also taught. {{cite news |last=Taylor |first=Jerome Taylor |date=26 February 2009 |title=Bishop on the run: Holocaust denier back in Britain {{!}} Expelled from Argentina for his views on the Holocaust, a Catholic sect leader returns to country where he was born |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bishop-on-the-run-holocaust-denier-back-in-britain-1632397.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917183113/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bishop-on-the-run-holocaust-denier-back-in-britain-1632397.html |archive-date=17 September 2018 |access-date=12 September 2009 |work=The Independent |location=London}} When he returned to England in 1965, Williamson taught at St. Paul’s School in London.

Williamson, originally an Anglican, converted to the Catholic Church in 1971.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/feb/25/catholic-bishop-richard-williamson |title=Profile: Richard Williamson {{!}} British bishop's controversial views extend beyond the Holocaust to the September 11 attacks, Freemasons and women |last=Walker |first=Peter |date=25 February 2009 |work=The Guardian |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106191501/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/feb/25/catholic-bishop-richard-williamson |archive-date=6 November 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=9 February 2019}} After a few months as a postulant with the Oratorians of Brompton Oratory, he left.{{Cite web |date=30 January 2025 |title=Richard Williamson, former bishop expelled from Society of Saint Pius X, dies at 84 |url=https://international.la-croix.com/religion/richard-williamson-former-bishop-expelled-from-society-of-saint-pius-x-dies-at-84 |access-date=31 January 2025 |website=La croix international |language=en}} He became a member of the Society of Saint Pius X, a traditionalist Catholic faction founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in protest against what Lefebvre saw as the liberalism of the Second Vatican Council. In common with other traditionalists, Williamson opposed the changes in the Catholic Church following the Second Vatican Council. He saw the changes as being unacceptably liberal and modernistic, and as being destructive to the Church.{{cite news |last=Moylan |first=Martin J. |date=11 December 1988 |title=US Seminary of front line in Catholic Doctrine Battle |work=The Dallas Morning News |publisher=}}{{cite news |last=Neuerbourg |first=Hanns |date=1 July 1988 |title=New Traditionalist Bishop Says Fight Just Beginning |publisher=The Associated Press}}{{cite news |last=McAteer |first=Michael |date=3 April 1989 |title=Liberalism destroying church, bishop says |work=The Toronto Star}} Among the changes he opposed were the Church's increased openness to other Christian denominations and other religions,{{cite news |last=Wilkins |first=Emma |date=19 September 1988 |title=Bishop attacks Rome 'poison' |work=The Times |location=London |page=3 |issue=((63,190))}} and changes in the forms of Catholic worship such as the general replacement of the Tridentine Mass with the Mass of Paul VI.{{Cite news |last=D'Antonio |first=Michael |date=15 December 1984 |title=Conservatives crusade against Vatican II |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/311385292/ |work=The Indianapolis News |pages=7}} Williamson criticised Pope John Paul II, to whom he attributed a "weak grasp of Catholicism".{{cite news |last=Owen |first=Richard |date=21 April 2003 |title=Pope woos conservatives expelled for rebellion |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/europe-travel/italy/pope-woos-conservatives-expelled-for-rebellion-plfbbt6hsgt |access-date=9 February 2019 |work=Times Online |location=London |archive-date=10 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190210152625/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pope-woos-conservatives-expelled-for-rebellion-plfbbt6hsgt |url-status=live }} Williamson held that the SSPX was not schismatic, but rather was composed of true Catholics who were keeping the "complete Roman Catholic apostolic faith".{{cite news |last=Stowell |first=Linda |date=13 August 1988 |title=Ousted bishop says pope ruining church |publisher=Houston Chronicle}}

Williamson entered the International Seminary of Saint Pius X at Écône, Switzerland, and in 1976 he was ordained a priest by Lefebvre. Williamson subsequently moved to the United States, where he was the rector of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Ridgefield, Connecticut from 1983, and continued in the position when the seminary moved to Winona, Minnesota in 1988, serving until 2003.{{cite news |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2009/02/08/bishop |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190208230943/https://www.mprnews.org/story/2009/02/08/bishop |archive-date=8 February 2019 |url-status=live |title=Holocaust-denying bishop lived in Minn. 15 years |date=8 February 2009 |work=MPR News |access-date=8 February 2019}}

Consecration and excommunication

In June 1988, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre announced his intention to consecrate Williamson and three other priests (Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, and Alfonso de Galarreta) as bishops.{{Cite web |date=9 June 1988 |title=Lettre de Jean-Paul II à Mgr Lefebvre du 9 juin 1988 |url=https://laportelatine.org/formation/crise-eglise/rapports-rome-fsspx/lettre-de-jean-paul-ii-a-mgr-lefebvre-du-9-juin-1988 |access-date=9 November 2021 |website=La Porte Latine |language=fr-FR |archive-date=9 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109191635/https://laportelatine.org/formation/crise-eglise/rapports-rome-fsspx/lettre-de-jean-paul-ii-a-mgr-lefebvre-du-9-juin-1988 |url-status=live }} On 17 June 1988 Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops sent the four priests a formal canonical warning that they would automatically incur the penalty of excommunication if they were to be consecrated by Lefebvre without the date of papal permission. Williamson and the three other priests were nonetheless consecrated bishop on 30 June 1988 by Archbishop Lefebvre and Antônio de Castro Mayer. The next day, Cardinal Bernardin Gantin issued a declaration stating that Lefebvre, de Castro Mayer, Williamson, and the three other newly ordained bishops "have incurred ipso facto the excommunication latae sententiae reserved to the Apostolic See".{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}} On 2 July 1988, Pope John Paul II issued the motu proprio Ecclesia Dei, in which he reaffirmed the excommunication and described the consecration as an act of "disobedience to the Roman pontiff in a very grave matter and of supreme importance for the unity of the Church", and that "such disobedience – which implies in practice the rejection of the Roman primacy — constitutes a schismatic act".{{cite web |date=2 July 1988 |title=Apostolic Letter 'Ecclesia Dei' of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/motu_proprio/documents/hf_jp-ii_motu-proprio_02071988_ecclesia-dei_en.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150129194411/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/motu_proprio/documents/hf_jp-ii_motu-proprio_02071988_ecclesia-dei_en.html |archive-date=29 January 2015 |access-date=9 February 2019 |publisher=La Santa Sede}}[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/motu_proprio/documents/hf_jp-ii_motu-proprio_02071988_ecclesia-dei_en.html Apostolic letter Ecclesia Dei] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150129194411/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/motu_proprio/documents/hf_jp-ii_motu-proprio_02071988_ecclesia-dei_en.html |date=29 January 2015 }} (2 July 1988). Vatican.va. Accessed 18 May 2017.

Bishop with controversial views

File:Bishop_Richard_Williamson.jpg

After his episcopal consecration, Williamson remained rector of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Winona, Minnesota. He performed various episcopal functions, including confirmations and ordinations.{{Cite news |date=25 September 1999 |title=Our Lady of Fatima sets confirmation, dedication |work=Richmond Times-Dispatch |pages=24}}{{Cite news |last=Scarlet |first=Peter |date=28 March 1992 |title=Traditionalist Catholic Bishop says Council Devastated Church |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |pages=12}}{{Cite news |last=Wilkowske |first=Tom |date=25 June 1989 |title=Four ordained in Winona |work=The Winona Daily News |pages=3}} In 1991, he assisted in the consecration of Licínio Rangel as bishop for the Priestly Society of St. John Mary Vianney after the death of its founder, Antônio de Castro Mayer.{{Cite book |last=Rees |first=Wilhelm |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jq_tAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 |title=Ökumene |date=2014 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-643-50554-5 |pages=109 |language=de}} In 2003, Williamson was appointed rector of the Seminary of Our Lady Co-Redemptrix in La Reja, Argentina and according to The Guardian became a cult figure amongst the far-right seminarians.{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/feb/25/catholic-bishop-richard-williamson |title=Profile: Richard Williamson |work=The Guardian |date=25 February 2009 |access-date=17 December 2016 |archive-date=6 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106191501/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/feb/25/catholic-bishop-richard-williamson |url-status=live |last1=Walker |first1=Peter }} In 2006, he ordained two priests and seven deacons in Warsaw, Poland for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Priestly Society of Saint Josaphat ({{abbr|SSJK|Priestly Society of Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych}}).{{cite news |date=21 November 2007 |title=Ukrainian priest excommunicated |url=http://byzcath.com/index.php/news-mainmenu-49/2087-ukrainian-priest-excommunicated |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209113908/http://byzcath.com/index.php/news-mainmenu-49/2087-ukrainian-priest-excommunicated |archive-date=9 February 2019 |access-date=9 February 2019 |publisher=Byzantine Catholic Church in America |via=Catholic World News |quote=SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson illicitly ordained two SSJK priests and seven deacons.}}File:Bishop Richard Williamson, celebrating Mass.jpg

Williamson was viewed as being located towards the hardline end of the traditionalist spectrum, though he did not go quite so far as to espouse sedevacantism.{{cite news |last=Smoltczyk |first=Alexander |date=18 June 2007 |title=Uups! – et orbi: Ein Damenbesuch und andere unbekannte Seiten des Papstes |url=http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/uups-et-orbi-ein-damenbesuch-und-andere-unbekannte-seiten-des-papstes-a-488883.html |newspaper=Spiegel Online |via= |archive-date=9 November 2017 |access-date=4 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109073354/http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/uups-et-orbi-ein-damenbesuch-und-andere-unbekannte-seiten-des-papstes-a-488883.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Owen |first1=Richard |last2=Gledhill |first2=Ruth |date=29 August 2005 |title=Pope opens talks with Latin Mass renegades |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article560136.ece |access-date= |work=The Times |location=London}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite news |last=McAteer |first=Michael |date=15 April 1989 |title=Maverick bishop confirms Lefebvre's way |work=Toronto Star}}

Williamson held strong views regarding gender roles. He opposed women wearing trousers or shorts,{{cite news |title=Paranoia Is Becoming An Article of Faith in a Tiny Kansas Town – A Split Among Its Catholics Is as Much About Suspicion As It Is About Doctrine |last=Farney |first=Dennis |date=23 August 1995 |publisher=The Wall Street Journal}}{{cite news |title=Catholic right over 'sect' |last=Papadakis |first=Mary |date=14 July 2002 |publisher=Sunday Herald Sun}} attending college or university, or having careers.{{cite web |url=http://www.sspx.ca/Documents/Bishop-Williamson/September1-2001.htm |title=Bishop Williamson's Letters {{!}} Girls at University {{!}} Emancipation's Mess of Pottage (Gen. XXV, 29–34) |last=Williamson |first=Richard |date=1 September 2001 |publisher=SSPX {{!}} District of Canada |location=St. Césaire, QC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102091508/http://www.sspx.ca/Documents/Bishop-Williamson/September1-2001.htm |archive-date=2 November 2007 |url-status=dead |access-date=10 February 2019 |quote=A woman can [...] do a good imitation of handling ideas, but then she will not be properly thinking as woman. [...] Did this lawyeress check her hair-do just before coming into court? If she did, she is one distracted lawyer. If she did not, she is one distorted woman. [...] Alas, women going to university is part of the whole massive onslaught on God's Nature which characterizes our times.}}{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7869565.stm |title=Profile: Bishop Richard Williamson |first=Robert |last=Pigott |work=BBC News |date=4 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204232409/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7869565.stm |archive-date=4 February 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=11 February 2019}} He urged greater "manliness" in men.{{cite news |title=Bishop's homily ranges from Columbus to 'JFK' |date=28 March 1992 |publisher=The Salt Lake Tribune |pages=A12}} He denounced the film The Sound of Music as "soul-rotting slush" and said that, by putting "friendliness and fun in the place of authority and rules, it invites disorder between parents and children."{{cite web |last=Twiston-Davies |first=Bess |url=http://timesonline.typepad.com/faith/2009/02/bishop-williams.html |title=Bishop Williamson, shrinks, and The Sound of Music |publisher=Timesonline |date=26 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302073053/http://timesonline.typepad.com/faith/2009/02/bishop-williams.html |archive-date=2 March 2009 |url-status=dead |access-date=10 February 2019}}{{cite web |url=http://www.leofec.com/bishop-williamson/222.html |title=The Film 'The Sound of Music' |last1=Williamson |first1=Richard |date=November 2009 |publisher=Leofec Network |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106181939/https://leofec.com/bishop-williamson/222.html |archive-date=6 November 2018 |url-status=dead |access-date=10 February 2019 |quote=Sure enough, [...] she gives a dazzling demonstration of the superiority of liberty and equality over stuffy old Austrian ways! [...] As for cleanness, many films may be worse than the Sound of Music, but stop and think – are youth, physical attractiveness and being in love the essence of marriage? Can you imagine this Julie Andrews staying with the Captain if 'the romance went out of their marriage'? Would she not divorce him and grab his children from him to be her toys? Such romance is not actually pornographic but it is virtually so, in other words all the elements of pornography are there, just waiting to break out. One remembers the media sensation when a few years later Julie Andrews appeared topless in another film. That was no sensation, just a natural development for one rolling canine female.}} He was dismissive of Mother Teresa because of her supposedly 'liberal' views.{{Cite news |last=Poggioli |first=Sylvia |date=25 February 2009 |title=Former Student: Bishop Often Attacked Judaism |url=https://www.npr.org/2009/02/25/101139679/former-student-bishop-often-attacked-judaism?t=1633767175192 |access-date=30 January 2025 |work=NPR |language=en}}

Williamson supported conspiracy theories regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the World Trade Center controlled demolition conspiracy theory, denying that the September 11 attacks were foreign terrorist attacks and claiming they were instead staged by the U.S. government.{{Cite web |last=Koch |first=Einar |title=Bishop Williamson's mad conspiracy theories — How could the pope rehabilitate him? {{!}} 'The Jews created Holocaust' and 'US planned 9/11' |url=http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/world-news/2009/02/04/bishop-williamson-holocaust-9-11-conspiracy-theories/why-did-pope-benedict-rehabilitate-this-madman.html |date=4 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106182606/https://www.bild.de/news/bild-english/why-did-pope-benedict-rehabilitate-this-madman-7306664.bild.html |archive-date=6 November 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=9 February 2019}} He also said that the 7 July 2005 London bombings were an "inside job" and propagated rumours about the likelihood of a nuclear attack on the London Olympics in 2012.{{Cite news |last=Coppen |first=Luke |title=Morning Catholic must-reads: 26/07/12 |url=http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2012/07/26/morning-catholic-must-reads-260712/ |publisher=Catholic Herald |date=26 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113170028/https://catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2012/07/26/morning-catholic-must-reads-260712/ |archive-date=13 November 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=10 February 2019}}

Williamson expressed antisemitic views.{{Cite web |url=http://www.jsantisemitism.org/pdf/jsa_1-2.pdf |title=Traditional Catholicism and the Teachings of Bishop Williamson. J. Christopher Pryor, Journal for the Study of Antisemitism (Vol. I, Issue 2, p. 233 2009) |access-date=30 January 2025 |archive-date=16 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616235730/http://www.jsantisemitism.org/pdf/jsa_1-2.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{cite book |last1=Weisbord |first1=Robert G. |url={{Google books|9B8xDwAAQBAJ|page=PT236|plainurl=yes}} |title=The Chief Rabbi, the Pope, and the Holocaust: An Era in Vatican-Jewish Relationships |last2=Sillanpoa |first2=Wallace P. |date=1992 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=978-0-88738-416-5 |location=New Brunswick, London |page=194 |quote=Williamson denies that Catholics and Jews worship the same god. Jews worship the god of the Talmud who is 'a devil, an absolute devil'. |author-link1=Robert Weisbord}} — "Williamson, one of Lefebvre's chief spokesmen in the United States", refers to: John {{bibleverse-nb|John|3:18|KJV}}: "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." {{bibleverse-nb|John|8:44|KJV}}: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."{{Cite news |last=Obituaries |first=Telegraph |date=30 January 2025 |title=Richard Williamson, outlaw bishop who denied the Holocaust and embarrassed the Vatican |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/01/30/richard-williamson-traditionalist-catholic-pope-holocaust/ |access-date=30 January 2025 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}} He called Jews the "enemies of Christ" and urged their conversion to Catholicism.{{cite news |last=Legge |first=Gordon |date=15 April 1989 |title=Holocaust stance probed |accessdate= |publisher=Calgary Herald.}}{{cite news |date=20 April 1989 |title=The Holocaust: Zeal and ignorance |accessdate= |publisher=The Windsor Star. |pages=A.10}}{{cite interview|last=Williamson|first=Richard|title=Holocaust-Leugner Williamson: 'Es geht um Beweise'|url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/holocaust-leugner-williamson-es-geht-um-beweise-1.488647|access-date=8 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730065649/https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/holocaust-leugner-williamson-es-geht-um-beweise-1.488647|archive-date=30 July 2016|url-status=live|publisher=Süddeutsche Zeitung|location=Munich|date=17 May 2010|quote=Dem Heiligen Paulus gemäß seien die 'Juden geliebt um der Väter willen, aber unsere Gegner um des Evangeliums willen'. Letztlich bedürften 'alle Menschen zu ihrer Erlösung Christus, ... auch die Juden'.|trans-title=Holocaust denier Williamson: 'It's about evidence'|language=de}} — The interviewee refers to: Romans {{bibleverse-nb|Romans|11:28|KJV}}: "As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sakes." John {{bibleverse-nb|John|14:6|KJV}}: "[N]o man cometh unto the Father, but by me." He said that Jews and Freemasons contributed to the "changes and corruption" in the Catholic Church.{{cite web |url=https://leofec.com/bishop-williamson/256.html |title=Bishops' Meeting With Cardinal Hoyos |last1=Williamson |first1=Richard |date=3 October 2000 |publisher=Leofec Network |access-date=12 February 2019 |quote=I do believe that behind the Cardinal, as I said last month, there are villains at work, either Judeo-masons or prelates working for Judeo-masonry, who are far more sinister than this Cardinal is. These villains, I do believe, are using front-men like the Cardinal for as long as he is useful to their Revolution. He is, in Lenin's phrase, "a useful idiot", who will be cast aside the moment he no longer serves their forward march to the One-World-Religion. |archive-date=12 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212011328/https://leofec.com/bishop-williamson/256.html |url-status=dead }} — Quoted by: {{cite news |last=Allen Jr. |first=John L. |author-link=John L. Allen Jr. |date=30 March 2001 |title=Pope in talks with Lefevbre group |url=http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2001a/033001/033001e.htm |url-status=live |work=National Catholic Reporter |location=Kansas City, MO |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190205044124/http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2001a/033001/033001e.htm |archive-date=5 February 2019 |access-date=9 February 2019 }}{{cite news |last=Fox |first=Thomas C. |date=6 January 2009 |title=Lefebvre movement: long, troubled history with Judaism |url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/lefebvre-movement-long-troubled-history-judaism |url-status=live |work=National Catholic Reporter |location=Kansas City, MO |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716025222/https://www.ncronline.org/news/lefebvre-movement-long-troubled-history-judaism |archive-date=16 July 2018 |access-date=9 February 2019}} He stated that Jews aim at world dominion{{cite web |url=http://www.sspx.ca/Documents/Bishop-Williamson/February1-1991.htm |title=Bishop Williamson's Letters |last=Williamson |first=Richard |date=1 February 1991 |publisher=SSPX {{!}} District of Canada |location=St. Césaire, QC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206120508/http://www.sspx.ca/Documents/Bishop-Williamson/February1-1991.htm |archive-date=6 February 2009 |url-status=dead |access-date=9 February 2019}} and believed The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to be authentic. Williamson denied that he was promoting hatred,{{cite interview |last=Williamson |first=Richard |interviewer=Stephen Heiner |title=Interview with Bishop Williamson regarding controversial positions |url=https://www.truerestoration.org/interview-with-bishop-williamson-regarding-controversial-positions/ |publisher=True Restoration |date=6 February 2008 |access-date=8 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190208223719/https://www.truerestoration.org/interview-with-bishop-williamson-regarding-controversial-positions/ |archive-date=8 February 2019 |url-status=live |quote=Only a fool is against Jews simply because they are Jews. There can be very few directors of Traditional Catholic seminaries, who have invited, as I once did, a Jewish rabbi to address seminarians. [...] [O]nly a Catholic who does not understand his faith is not against the enemies of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I am against Jews or Gentiles who are enemies of Our Lord Jesus Christ.}} identifying the contemporary enemies of the faith as "Jews, Communists and Freemasons". He argued that "Anti-Semitism means many things today, for instance, when one criticizes the Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip. The Church has always understood the definition of anti-Semitism to be the rejection of Jews because of their Jewish roots. This is condemned by the Church."{{cite interview |last=Williamson |first=Richard |interviewer=Peter Wensierski, Steffen Winter |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,606323,00.html |title=SPIEGEL Interview with Bishop Richard Williamson: 'I Will Not Travel to Auschwitz' |date=9 February 2009 |publisher=Spiegel Online |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130230844/http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/spiegel-interview-with-bishop-richard-williamson-i-will-not-travel-to-auschwitz-a-606323.html |archive-date=30 January 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=9 February 2019}}

Since the late 1980s, Williamson was accused of Holocaust denial.{{cite book |title=The Chief Rabbi, the Pope, and the Holocaust: An Era in Vatican-Jewish Relationships |url={{Google books|3wA8CPPjNCgC|page=PPA202|plainurl=yes}} |first1=Robert G. |last1=Weisbord |author-link1=Robert Weisbord |first2=Wallace P. |last2=Sillanpoa |publisher=Transaction Publishers |location=New Brunswick, London |date=1992 |isbn=978-0-88738-416-5 |page=202 |quote=Williamson also shares the view of the so-called 'revisionists' that the Holocaust never occurred. It was a Jewish invention 'so we would prostrate ourselves on our knees before them and approve of their new State of Israel,' he told a Quebec audience.}}{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/4317996/Pope-to-cancel-excommunication-of-rebel-bishops.html |title=Pope to cancel excommunication of rebel bishops {{!}} The Pope is expected to cancel the excommunication of four breakaway bishops including a Briton who has said the Nazis did not use gas chambers |date=22 January 2009 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120221313/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/4317996/Pope-to-cancel-excommunication-of-rebel-bishops.html |archive-date=20 November 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=9 February 2019}}{{cite news |last=Legge |first=Gordon |date=14 April 1989 |title=Holocaust stance probed |accessdate= |publisher=Calgary Herald.}}{{cite news |last=McAteer |first=Michael |date=21 April 1989 |title=Catholic bishop won't be charged for remarks about Jews, police say |accessdate= |publisher=The Toronto Star |pages=A10}}{{cite news |last=McAteer |first=Michael |date=14 April 1989 |title=Chief Canadian bishop denounces clergyman's anti-Jewish comments |accessdate= |publisher=The Toronto Star |pages=A11}} Citing the pseudoscientific Leuchter report, Williamson denied that millions of Jews were murdered in Nazi concentration camps and the existence of Nazi gas chambers{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-readmits-holocaustdenying-priest-to-the-church-1515339.html |title=Pope readmits Holocaust-denying priest to the church {{!}} Vatican lifts excommunication on renegade British bishop who declared: 'There were no gas chambers' |last=Willan |first=Philip |work=The Independent |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124064317/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-readmits-holocaust-denying-priest-to-the-church-1515339.html |archive-date=24 November 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=9 February 2019 |date=25 January 2009}}{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_7870000/newsid_7878500/7878580.stm |title=Seminary sacks 'Holocaust bishop' {{!}} An ultra-traditionalist British bishop who denies the Holocaust has been removed from his post as the head of a Roman Catholic seminary in Argentina |work=BBC News |date=9 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003040303/http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_7870000/newsid_7878500/7878580.stm |archive-date=3 October 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=9 February 2019}} and praised Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel. During an interview on Swedish television recorded in Germany in November 2008, he stated: "I believe that the historical evidence is strongly against, is hugely against six million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler", and "I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, but none of them in gas chambers."

Controversy over lifting of excommunication

During the early 2000s, SSPX and the Church leadership in Rome sought to heal the rift between them. Williamson opposed compromise,{{cite web |date=15 September 2005 |title=Lefebvrist bishop says no reconciliation with Rome |url=http://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=39641 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413191615/http://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=39641 |archive-date=13 April 2015 |access-date= |website=Catholic World News |publisher=}}{{cite news |date=29 August 2005 |title=Pope meets head of ultraconservative movement |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2005-08-29-popelefebvre_x.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106185318/https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/2005-08-29-popelefebvre_x.htm |archive-date=6 November 2018 |access-date= |work=USA Today |publisher=}} accusing the Vatican of deceit and of being under "the power of Satan". He was reported as viewing reconciliation between the SSPX and the Holy See as being impossible, and that some SSPX members might refuse to follow the Society in such a direction even if an agreement were reached.{{cite web |date=27 October 2006 |title=SSPX bishop sees little hope for agreement with Rome |url=http://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=47337 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413230530/https://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=47337 |archive-date=13 April 2015 |access-date= |website=Catholic World News |publisher=}}

Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications of the four bishops Marcel Lefebvre had consecrated, as they had requested.{{cite web |url=http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0900355.htm |title=Pope lifts excommunications of Lefebvrite bishops |last=Thavis |first=John |work=Catholic News Service |date=27 January 2009 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120526101040/http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0900355.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 May 2012 |access-date=11 February 2019}} The decree was signed on 21 January 2009, the same day that Williamson's interview denying the Holocaust was broadcast on Swedish television.{{cite news |last=Agnew |first=Paddy |title=Pope to lift excommunications of four 'Lefebvre' bishops |work=Irish Times |date=23 January 2009 |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0123/1232474675771.html |access-date=9 February 2019 |archive-date=8 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008065756/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0123/1232474675771.html |url-status=live }}{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100628065524/http://www.cbcpnews.com/?q=node/7212 CBCP News, Vatican: Bishop's Holocaust statements 'strongly rejected' by pope]}} The decision stirred widespread outrage, particularly in Germany, where the interview was conducted and where Holocaust denial is illegal and punishable by imprisonment of up to five years.{{cite web |url=http://www.svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=102271&a=1402152&lid=is_search527895&lpos=1&queryArt527895=sspx&sortOrder527895=0&doneSearch=true&sd=47225&from=siteSearch&pageArt527895=0 |title=Reaktioner i Tyskland – redan före sändning! |date=20 January 2009 |publisher=SVT |language=sv |trans-title=Reactions in Germany – even before shipment! |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090131150355/http://www.svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=102271&a=1402152&lid=is_search527895&lpos=1&queryArt527895=sspx&sortOrder527895=0&doneSearch=true&sd=47225&from=siteSearch&pageArt527895=0 |archive-date=31 January 2009 |url-status=dead}} Reaction from the State of Israel and much of the worldwide Jewish community was strongly negative, and Abraham Foxman, president of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote to Cardinal Walter Kasper in order to express his opposition to any ecclesiastic re-integration of Williamson.[http://www.adl.org/PresRele/VaticanJewish_96/5450_96.htm ADL To Vatican: Do Not Rehabilitate Holocaust Denier Bishop] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120124055705/http://www.adl.org/PresRele/VaticanJewish_96/5450_96.htm |date=24 January 2012 }} The Chief Rabbinate of Israel suspended contacts with the Vatican. The Chief Rabbi of Haifa told The Jerusalem Post that he expected Williamson to retract publicly his statements before any dialogue could resume.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7855816.stm|title=Pope in bid to dampen bishop row|date=29 January 2009|work=BBC|archive-date=12 October 2011|access-date=23 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012034946/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7855816.stm|url-status=live}}

Pope Benedict XVI responded by stating he deplored all forms of antisemitism and that all Catholics must do the same.{{cite web |url=https://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_wires/2009Jan26/0,4675,EUVaticanJews,00.html |title=Vatican: Comments by Holocaust Denier Unacceptable |last=Winfold |first=Nicole |publisher=Fox News |date=26 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209123243/https://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_wires/2009Jan26/0,4675,EUVaticanJews,00.html |archive-date=9 February 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=9 February 2019}} The Pope expressed his "unquestionable solidarity" with the Jewish people, and stated his hope that "the memory of the Shoah will induce humanity to reflect on the unpredictable power of hate when it conquers the heart of man",{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-jews-holocaust-idUSTRE50R4VR20090128 |last=Pullella |first=Philip |title=Pope tries to heal rift with Jews over Holocaust denier |date=28 January 2009 |publisher=Reuters |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204231506/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-jews-holocaust-idUSTRE50R4VR20090128 |archive-date=4 February 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=9 February 2019}} and condemned the denial of the Holocaust.{{Cite news |last=Pullella |first=Philip |title=Pope tells Jews Holocaust denial is "intolerable" |access-date=9 February 2019 |date=12 February 2009 |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSTRE51B2LD20090212 |publisher=Reuters |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622193213/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-jews-holocaust/pope-tells-jews-holocaust-denial-is-intolerable-idUSTRE51B2LD20090212 |archive-date=22 June 2018 |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |title=Pope condemns denial of Holocaust |publisher=BBC |access-date=9 February 2019 |date=12 February 2009 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/europe/7885933.stm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622194735/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7885933.stm |archive-date=22 June 2018 |url-status=live}} Vatican officials stated that they had not been aware of Williamson's views prior to the lifting of the excommunication;{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=6761484 |title=Priest in Italy Defends Holocaust-Denier |work=ABC News |date=29 January 2009 |author=David, Ariel |access-date=12 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207073647/https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=6761484 |archive-date=7 February 2009}}{{cite web |date=10 March 2009 |title=Letter of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to the Bishops of the Catholic Church concerning the remission of the excommunication of the four Bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre (March 10, 2009) |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/letters/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20090310_remissione-scomunica.html |access-date=27 August 2018 |publisher=La Santa Sede |quote=I have been told that consulting the information available on the internet would have made it possible to perceive the problem early on. I have learned the lesson that in the future in the Holy See we will have to pay greater attention to that source of news. I was saddened by the fact that even Catholics who, after all, might have had a better knowledge of the situation, thought they had to attack me with open hostility.}}{{cite web |url=https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/03/17/09/pope-denies-feeling-alone-over-holocaust-denying-bishop |title=Pope denies feeling alone over Holocaust-denying bishop |date=17 March 2009 |publisher=ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190205044027/https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/03/17/09/pope-denies-feeling-alone-over-holocaust-denying-bishop |archive-date=5 February 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=9 February 2019}} as a result, in a July 2009 Vatican reorganisation, the Pope tightened control and supervision over reconciliation efforts with SSPX.{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-07-09-pope-holocaust_N.htm |title=Pope orders reform after Holocaust denial flap |date=9 July 2009 |work=USA Today |access-date=9 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622173412/https://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-07-09-pope-holocaust_N.htm |archive-date=22 June 2018 |url-status=live}} The Vatican declared that "in order to be admitted to episcopal functions within the Church, (Williamson) will have to take his distance, in an absolutely unequivocal and public fashion, from his position on the Shoah, which the Holy Father (i.e., the Pope) was not aware of when the excommunication was lifted.".{{cite news |last=Magister |first=Sandro |author-link=Sandro Magister |date=4 February 2009 |title=Double Disaster at the Vatican: Of Governance, and of Communication |url=http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/214368?eng=y |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190201182543/http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/214368?eng=y |archive-date=1 February 2019 |access-date=9 February 2019 |work=L'espresso}}{{cite news |last1=Owen |first1=Richard |last2=Gledhill |first2=Ruth |author-link2=Ruth Gledhill |date=5 February 2009 |title=Pope insists Bishop Richard Williamson must renounce Holocaust denial |url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/pope-insists-bishop-richard-williamson-must-renounce-holocaust-denial-pgpx082bw92 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106182358/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pope-insists-bishop-richard-williamson-must-renounce-holocaust-denial-pgpx082bw92 |archive-date=6 November 2018 |access-date=16 January 2019 |work=The Times}}

Williamson sent the Pope a letter expressing his regret about the problems that he had caused, but did not retract his statements.{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/14946/bishop-williamson-apologizes-for-imprudent-holocaust-remarks |title=Bishop Williamson apologizes for 'imprudent' Holocaust remarks |website=Catholic News Agency |access-date=7 July 2024 |archive-date=9 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909164400/https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/14946/bishop-williamson-apologizes-for-imprudent-holocaust-remarks |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2009/01/31/bishop_apologizes_to_pope_for_distress/ |title=Bishop who denied Holocaust apologizes to pope |work=The Boston Globe |date=31 January 2009 |access-date=12 September 2009 |archive-date=3 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103181957/http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2009/01/31/bishop_apologizes_to_pope_for_distress/ |url-status=live }} On 4 February 2009 the Vatican Secretariat of State issued a note stating that Williamson would have to distance himself unequivocally and publicly from the opinions that he had expressed before he would be permitted to act as a bishop within the Church.[http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/23319.php?index=23319&lang=en Bulletin of the Press Office of the Holy See, 4 February 2009] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090209002548/http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/23319.php?index=23319&lang=en |date=9 February 2009 }}{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7869995.stm |work=BBC News |title=Holocaust bishop' told to recant |date=4 February 2009 |access-date=12 September 2009 |archive-date=30 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930081000/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7869995.stm |url-status=live }} Williamson responded that he would do so only after looking at the historical evidence for himself. On 26 February, he formally apologised for the offence that had been caused by his comments, but did not indicate that he had changed his views.[http://www.zenit.org/article-25207?l=english ZENIT article] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303070254/http://www.zenit.org/article-25207?l=english |date=3 March 2009 }} The Vatican rejected his apology, stating that he needed to "unequivocally and publicly" withdraw his comments. Jewish groups expressed disappointment at the ambiguity of his apology, because he failed to address the consensus about the Holocaust.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7915022.stm |title=Vatican rejects bishop's apology {{!}} The Vatican has rejected an apology by a British bishop who denied the full extent of the Holocaust |date=27 February 2009 |work=BBC News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171007004643/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7915022.stm |archive-date=7 October 2017 |url-status=live |access-date=27 February 2009}}

Bishop Bernard Fellay of the SSPX initially denied any responsibility, stating that Williamson's statements were his alone and that the affair did not concern the SSPX as a whole.{{cite web|url=http://www.remnantnewspaper.com/Archives/2009-0123-bishop_fellay.htm|title=Bishop Fellay's Letter to Swedish Television Station|website=www.remnantnewspaper.com|access-date=23 January 2009|archive-date=29 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090129055645/http://remnantnewspaper.com/Archives/2009-0123-bishop_fellay.htm|url-status=live}} However, he subsequently forbade Williamson from speaking out publicly about historical or political matters, and asked Pope Benedict for forgiveness for the damage done by Williamson's statements.{{cite news |url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2009/01/27/forgiveness-sought-for-holocaust-denying-bishop/ |title=Forgiveness sought for Holocaust-denying Bishop |work=East Bay Times |last=Winfold |first=Nicole |date=27 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190211041241/https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2009/01/27/forgiveness-sought-for-holocaust-denying-bishop/ |archive-date=11 February 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=11 February 2019}} He stated that if Williamson again denied the Holocaust, he would be excluded from the society.{{cite news |date=2 March 2009 |title=SSPX Head on Holocaust Denial: Williamson Apology 'A Step in Right Direction' |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/sspx-head-on-holocaust-denial-williamson-apology-a-step-in-right-direction-a-610700.html |newspaper=Der Spiegel |via=Spiegel Online}} In a subsequent interview he likened Williamson to uranium, asserting that "It's dangerous when you have it," but you can't "simply leave it by the side of the road."{{cite news |last1=Wensierski |first1=Peter |last2=Winter |first2=Steffen |date=1 February 2010 |title=Catholic Bishop Williamson Unrepentant in Holocaust Denial {{!}} Bishop Williamson's Holocaust denial embarrasses for the Catholic Church |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/catholic-bishop-williamson-unrepentent-holocaust-denial/story?id=9717252 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119220408/https://abcnews.go.com/International/catholic-bishop-williamson-unrepentent-holocaust-denial/story?id=9717252 |archive-date=19 November 2018 |access-date=9 February 2019 |work=ABC News}} Williamson was removed as the head of the seminary in La Reja, Argentina in February 2009, and the same month the government of Argentina asked Williamson to leave the country over irregularities with his visa, and stated that his recent statements about Jews "profoundly offend Argentinian society, the Jewish people and all of humanity".{{cite news |date=25 February 2009 |title=Lefebvrist bishop leaves Argentina |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/15202/lefebvrist-bishop-leaves-argentina |access-date=20 March 2010 |publisher=Catholic News Agency |archive-date=30 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241130062424/https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/15202/lefebvrist-bishop-leaves-argentina |url-status=live }} On 24 February 2009, Williamson flew from Argentina to London, where he was met by Michele Renouf, a former model known for her antisemitic views, with whom he had been put in touch by Holocaust denier David Irving.{{cite web |date=24 February 2009 |title=Holocaust-denying bishop leaves Argentina for Britain after airport scuffle |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5798286.ece |work=The Times}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/feb/25/bishop-richard-williamson-holocaust "Holocaust-denying bishop lands in UK after expulsion from Argentina"], The Guardian, 25 February 2009{{cite news |author=Totaro, Paola |date=26 February 2009 |title=Renouf greets expelled bishop |url=http://www.smh.com.au/world/renouf-greets-expelled-bishop-20090225-8i3h.html |access-date=13 September 2009 |work=Sydney Morning Herald}} Williamson subsequently repeated the denial to followers, stating that "The fact is that the 6 million people who were supposedly gassed represent a huge lie."

Conviction for Holocaust denial

On 4 February 2009, German prosecutors announced the launch of a criminal investigation into Williamson's statements.{{cite web |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/02/04/germany.bishop/index.html |title=Vatican: Bishop must recant Holocaust denial |last1=Messia |first1=Hada |last2=Vinci |first2=Alessio |last3=Pleitgen |first3=Frederik |publisher=CNN |date=4 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204231424/http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/02/04/germany.bishop/index.html |archive-date=4 February 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=11 February 2019}} In October 2009, a German court, using an "order of punishment" fined Williamson €12,000 after finding him guilty of Holocaust denial.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/oct/26/british-bishop-holocaust-fine |title=German court fines British bishop for Holocaust claims |work= The Guardian |access-date=3 January 2010|date=26 October 2009 |author=Pidd, Heidi | location=London}} Williamson denied the charges and appealed, paving the way for a full hearing that Williamson did not need to attend.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/6539567/British-bishop-to-go-on-trial-in-Germany-over-racial-hatred.html |title=British bishop 'to go on trial' in Germany over racial hatred {{!}} Richard Williamson, a British bishop who denied the Holocaust took place, has been summoned to appear in a German court for inciting racial hatred |work=Daily Telegraph |access-date=3 January 2010 |date=10 November 2009 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190205044014/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/6539567/British-bishop-to-go-on-trial-in-Germany-over-racial-hatred.html |archive-date=5 February 2019 |url-status=live}} He did not attend the trial, on orders from his society, on charges of inciting racial hatred in Regensburg, Germany on 16 April 2010, and was found guilty. The court reduced the fine to {{€|10,000}}.{{cite web |title=British bishop convicted of Holocaust denial: German court fines cleric $13,000 for saying Jews were not gassed to death |date=16 April 2010 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna36595788 |work=NBC News |access-date=9 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122125651/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/36595788/ns/world_news-europe/t/british-bishop-convicted-holocaust-denial/ |archive-date=22 January 2018 |url-status=live}} Lawyers from both sides appealed the fine; the lawyer Williamson hired was the former leader of the Wiking-Jugend, an outlawed Neo-Nazi group.{{cite news |title=Holocaust-denying bishop threatened with expulsion |first=Nicole |last=Winfield |work=Charleston Daily Mail |location=Charleston, W.V. |date=23 November 2010 |page=A.9}} The Society of St. Pius X ordered Williamson to find a new lawyer under threat of expulsion. His appeal was held on 11 July 2011. The lower court's decision was upheld at appeal, but the fine was reduced to €6,500, reportedly due to Williamson's financial circumstances.{{cite news |title=German court fines bishop for denying Holocaust |date=11 July 2011 |publisher=Reuters |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-germany-trial-holocaust-idUKTRE76A3T420110711 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190205044350/http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/07/11/uk-germany-trial-holocaust-idUKTRE76A3T420110711 |archive-date=5 February 2019 |url-status=dead}}{{cite news |last=Elgot |first=Jessica |title=Holocaust denier Bishop Richard Williamson loses appeal |publisher=Jewish Chronicle |date=11 July 2011 |url=http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/51490/holocaust-denier-bishop-richard-williamson-loses-appeal |access-date=9 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209131827/https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/holocaust-denier-bishop-richard-williamson-loses-appeal-1.24957 |archive-date=9 February 2019 |url-status=live}} On 22 February 2012 the higher court dismissed this conviction, finding that the initial charges against Williamson had been inadequately drawn, having failed to specify the nature of his offence, or at what point his filmed comments came under German jurisdiction, or in what sense he be held liable for failing to prevent their publication in Germany.{{cite web |date=22 February 2012 |title=Prozess von Holocaust-Leugner muss neu aufgerollt werden |url=https://www.abendblatt.de/politik/article107744342/Prozess-von-Holocaust-Leugner-muss-neu-aufgerollt-werden.html |url-access=registration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190205054055/https://www.abendblatt.de/politik/article107744342/Prozess-von-Holocaust-Leugner-muss-neu-aufgerollt-werden.html |archive-date=5 February 2019 |access-date=9 February 2019 |publisher=Hamburger Abendblatt}} On 16 January 2013, he was prosecuted and convicted again, but this time with a much-reduced fine of €1,600 because of his "unemployed state". He refused to pay the fine and appealed again,{{cite news |url=https://stmarcelinitiative.com/fourthtrial/ |title=Fourth Trial |last=Williamson |first=Richard |work=Eleison Comments |issue=291 |date=9 February 2013 |publisher=St. Marcel Initiative |location=St. Louis, MO |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103011828/http://eleisonkommentar.blogspot.ie/2013/02/ec-291-vierter-proze.html |archive-date=3 November 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=9 February 2019 |language=de,en}} but his appeal was dismissed.{{cite news |url=https://www.expatica.com/uk/german-court-quashes-appeal-by-holocaust-denying-bishop/ |title=German court quashes appeal by Holocaust-denying bishop |date=23 September 2013 |access-date=9 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130926110745/http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130923/german-court-quashes-appeal-holocaust-denying-bishop |archive-date=26 September 2013 |url-status=live}} On 31 January 2019 the European Court of Human Rights ruled against Williamson’s attempt to overturn a conviction for Holocaust denial on the grounds of free speech.{{cite web |url=https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/strasbourg-throws-out-britons-holocaust-denial-free-speech-claim/5069120.article |title=Strasbourg throws out Briton's Holocaust denial free speech claim |first=Michael |last=Cross |date=1 February 2019 |work=Law Society Gazette |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204174528/https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/strasbourg-throws-out-britons-holocaust-denial-free-speech-claim/5069120.article |archive-date=4 February 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=11 February 2019}}{{cite web |date=17 April 2010 |title=Holocaustleugnung: Bischof Williamson verurteilt |url=https://www.regensburg-digital.de/holocaustleugnung-bischof-williamson-verurteilt/16042010/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230707162731/https://www.regensburg-digital.de/holocaustleugnung-bischof-williamson-verurteilt/16042010/ |archive-date=7 July 2023 |access-date=7 July 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/40465/twice-excommunicated-bishop-loses-appeal-of-hate-speech-conviction |title=Twice-excommunicated bishop loses appeal of hate speech conviction |publisher=Catholic News Agency |date=1 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207015036/https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/twice-excommunicated-bishop-loses-appeal-of-hate-speech-conviction-37268 |archive-date=7 February 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=11 February 2019}}

Expulsion from SSPX

In August 2012, Williamson administered the sacrament of confirmation to about 100 laypeople at the Benedictine Monastery of the Holy Cross in Nova Friburgo, Brazil, during an unauthorised visit to the State of Rio de Janeiro. The society's South American district superior, Christian Bouchacourt, protested against his action on the SSPX website, saying that it was "a serious act against the virtue of obedience."{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/25669/bishop-causes-more-controversy-for-breakaway-catholic-group |title=Bishop causes more controversy for breakaway Catholic group |publisher=Catholic News Agency |date=13 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106185948/https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/bishop-causes-more-controversy-for-breakaway-catholic-group |archive-date=6 November 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=11 February 2019}} In early October 2012, the leadership of the SSPX gave Williamson a deadline to declare his submission, instead of which he published an "open letter" asking for the resignation of the Superior General.{{cite web |url=http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1204487.htm |title=SSPX expels Bishop Williamson, who opposed talks with Vatican |last=Wooden |first=Cindy |work=Catholic News Service |date=24 October 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130118191614/http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1204487.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 January 2013 |access-date=11 February 2019}} On 4 October 2012, the Society expelled Williamson in a "painful decision" citing the failures "to show respect and obedience deserved by his legitimate superiors".{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/9630897/Holocaust-denying-British-bishop-expelled-from-religious-order.html |title=Holocaust denying British bishop expelled from religious order: A renegade British bishop whose denial of the Holocaust precipitated a crisis in Benedict XVI's papacy has been expelled from his ultraconservative order |first=Nick |last=Squires |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=24 October 2012 |location=London |issn=0307-1235 |oclc=49632006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917181901/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/9630897/Holocaust-denying-British-bishop-expelled-from-religious-order.html |archive-date=17 September 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=9 February 2019}}

Final years and death

On his return from Argentina, Williamson settled in Broadstairs, Kent.{{Cite web |date=30 January 2025 |title=Richard Williamson, former bishop expelled from Society of Saint Pius X, dies at 84 |url=https://international.la-croix.com/religion/richard-williamson-former-bishop-expelled-from-society-of-saint-pius-x-dies-at-84 |access-date=30 January 2025 |website=La croix international |language=en}} After his expulsion from SSPX, he created the Priestly Union of Marcel Lefebvre, later known as “SSPX Resistance,” gathering Catholics who opposed the SSPX's compromising with the Vatican.{{Cite web |last=Team |first=Searchlight |date=24 October 2023 |title=No mea culpa, as Bishop Williamson re‑emerges from the shadows |url=https://www.searchlightmagazine.com/2023/10/no-mea-culpa-as-bishop-williamson-re%E2%80%91emerges-from-the-shadows/ |access-date=30 January 2025 |website=Searchlight |language=en-GB |archive-date=7 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240807183130/https://www.searchlightmagazine.com/2023/10/no-mea-culpa-as-bishop-williamson-re%E2%80%91emerges-from-the-shadows/ |url-status=live }}

Williamson continued to espouse anti-semitism views including that Jews were manipulating the stock market in order to start a world war.{{Cite web |date=26 September 2020 |title='Covid is creation of the Jews': Bishop's sick claim |url=https://www.sundayworld.com/news/irish-news/covid-is-creation-of-the-jews-bishops-sick-claim/39566519.html |access-date=30 January 2025 |website=SundayWorld.com |language=en |archive-date=17 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241217211423/https://www.sundayworld.com/news/irish-news/covid-is-creation-of-the-jews-bishops-sick-claim/39566519.html |url-status=live }} He suggested that Jews caused the COVID pandemic in order to reduce the population and enslave the world.{{Cite web |last=Shukman |first=Harry |date=27 October 2022 |title=Holocaust-denying bishop holds hate services in London library |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/holocaust-denying-bishop-holds-hate-services-in-london-library-swkf0w8w |access-date=30 January 2025 |website=The Jewish Chronicle |language=en}} In 2023, he appeared on Iranian television on which he blamed Jews for the assassination of John Kennedy, for 9/11, and for the war between Russia and Ukraine.

After his return to the UK Williamson held regular traditional Latin Masses near his home, as well as at a library in Earlsfield, London. The bookings at the library were cancelled when his views became known in 2022.

Williamson independently ordained six bishops. On 19 March 2015, Williamson ordained Frenchman Jean-Michel Faure, a former member of the SSPX, as a bishop in a ceremony in Nova Friburgo, Brazil. Like Williamson, Faure opposed reconciliation discussions between the SSPX and the Catholic Church. As this was done without papal mandate, both Faure and Williamson incurred a latae sententiae excommunication.{{cite web |url=http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/03/19/bishop-williamson-is-excommunicated-after-illicitly-ordaining-a-bishop/ |last=Glatz |first=Carol |title=Bishop Williamson is excommunicated after illicitly ordaining a bishop |work=Catholic Herald |date=19 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117174218/http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/03/19/bishop-williamson-is-excommunicated-after-illicitly-ordaining-a-bishop/ |archive-date=17 January 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=9 February 2019}} The SSPX condemned the consecration as "not at all comparable to the consecrations of 1988" and as proof that Williamson and Faure "no longer recognize the Roman authorities, except in a purely rhetorical manner".{{cite web |url=http://sspx.org/en/no-comparison-to-1988-faures-consecration-gh-communique-3-19-2015 |title=No comparison to 1988: Faure's consecration |date=19 March 2015 |publisher=SSPX {{!}} District of the USA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117070308/http://sspx.org/en/no-comparison-to-1988-faures-consecration-gh-communique-3-19-2015 |archive-date=17 January 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=11 February 2019}}

Exactly one year later, Williamson consecrated Tomás de Aquino Ferreira da Costa as a bishop in Brazil. This consecration also took place without papal approval.{{Cite web|date=30 March 2016|title=Mgr Richard Williamson ordonne un nouvel évêque|url=http://www.lavie.fr/religion/catholicisme/mgr-richard-williamson-ordonne-un-nouvel-eveque-30-03-2016-71809_16.php|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106181145/http://www.lavie.fr/religion/catholicisme/mgr-richard-williamson-ordonne-un-nouvel-eveque-30-03-2016-71809_16.php|archive-date=6 November 2018|access-date=11 February 2019|publisher=La Vie|language=fr}} Williamson consecrated a third bishop, Mexican-American prelate Gerardo Zendejas, on 11 May 2017 in Vienna, Virginia.{{Cite web|title=Statement from Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge on the Consecration of Father Gerardo Zendejas, Member of an Independent Church|url=https://www.arlingtondiocese.org/press-releases/2017/statement-from-most-reverend-michael-f--burbidge-on-the-consecration-of-father-gerardo-zendejas,-member-of-an-independent-church/|access-date=20 October 2021|website=www.arlingtondiocese.org}}{{Cite web |last=Edwards |first=Thomas |date=27 January 2025 |title=Former SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson hospitalised in serious condition – Catholic Herald |url=https://thecatholicherald.com/breaking-former-sspx-bishop-richard-williamson-hospitalised-in-serious-condition/ |access-date=4 February 2025 |language=en-GB}}

In late December 2022, Williamson stated he had privately consecrated another bishop, Giacomo Ballini, the leader of the Cork branch of the SSPX Resistance in 2021.{{Cite news |last=Gallagher |first=Conor |date=24 July 2021 |title=Cork activist questioned over allegations of harassment by Christian fundamentalists |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/cork-activist-questioned-over-allegations-of-harassment-by-christian-fundamentalists-1.4629871 |access-date=18 January 2023 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Avon |first=Simon |date=11 January 2023 |title=Ex-Lefebvrist prelate illicitly consecrates a fourth bishop |url=https://international.la-croix.com/news/religion/ex-lefebvrist-prelate-illicitly-consecrates-a-fourth-bishop/17152 |access-date=12 January 2023 |website=La Croix |language=en |archive-date=12 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112045817/https://international.la-croix.com/news/religion/ex-lefebvrist-prelate-illicitly-consecrates-a-fourth-bishop/17152 |url-status=live }} On 15 August 2022, he consecrated Michał Stobnicki as a bishop in Poland.{{cite web|access-date=15 July 2023|date=15 July 2023|language=pl|title=Bp Michał Stobnicki – NON POSSUMUS|url=https://fsspxr.wordpress.com/bp-stobnicki/|website=FSSPXR NON POSSUMUS|archive-date=15 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230715124939/https://fsspxr.wordpress.com/bp-stobnicki/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|access-date=15 July 2023|date=15 July 2023|language=en|title=Eleison Comments DCCCXXXV|url=https://stmarcelinitiative.com/two-kinds-of-bishop-i/|website=St. Marcel Initiative|archive-date=20 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230720044438/https://stmarcelinitiative.com/two-kinds-of-bishop-i/|url-status=dead}} On 12 January 2024, it was reported that Williamson performed a conditional episcopal consecration for Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò to the episcopate, during which he described Pope Francis as a "false pastor and servant of Satan".{{Cite web |last=Peloso |first=Francesco |date=16 January 2024 |title=Viganò supera a destra i lefebvriani: il fronte tradizionalista si divide dopo Fiducia supplicans |url=https://www.editorialedomani.it/politica/mondo/vigano-supera-a-destra-i-lefebvriani-il-fronte-tradizionalista-si-divide-dopo-fiducia-supplicans-qs2wob63 |access-date= |website=Domani |language=it-it |archive-date=16 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116152901/https://www.editorialedomani.it/politica/mondo/vigano-supera-a-destra-i-lefebvriani-il-fronte-tradizionalista-si-divide-dopo-fiducia-supplicans-qs2wob63 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Sartini |first=Serena |date=12 January 2024 |title=Viganò, il vescovo ribelle riconsacrato dal lefebvriano. Cresce la fronda anti Papa |url=https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/politica/vigan-vescovo-ribelle-riconsacrato-lefebvriano-cresce-2267257.html |access-date= |website=il Giornale |language=it |archive-date=24 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240124075222/https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/politica/vigan-vescovo-ribelle-riconsacrato-lefebvriano-cresce-2267257.html |url-status=live }}

On 24 January 2025, Williamson had cerebral haemorrhage and was hospitalised near his home in Kent.{{cite web |last1=Galici |first1=Francesca |title=In gravi condizioni il vescovo tradizionalista Richard Williamson: ecco chi è |url=https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/vaticano/morto-vescovo-richard-williamson-ecco-chi-era-2428350.html |website=Il Giornale |access-date=26 January 2025 |archive-date=26 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250126030519/https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/vaticano/morto-vescovo-richard-williamson-ecco-chi-era-2428350.html |url-status=live }} He died in Margate on 29 January, at the age of 84.{{cite web|title=Richard Williamson, Renegade Priest and Holocaust Denier, Dies at 84|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/world/europe/richard-williamson-dead.html|last=Nossiter|first=Adam|work=The New York Times|date=4 February 2025|access-date=4 February 2025}}{{Cite web |title=Expelled Society of St. Pius X bishop Richard Williamson dies at 84 |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/261909/expelled-society-of-st-pius-x-bishop-richard-williamson-dies-at-84 |access-date=30 January 2025 |website=Catholic News Agency |language=en}} He was buried on 26 February 2025.

References

Bibliography

{{cite encyclopedia |last=Williamson |first=Richard |editor-last=Palin |editor-first=David |editor-link=David Palin |type=with Christopher McCann, Willis D. Nutting, Walter John Marx, Peter Chojnowski |encyclopedia=The Rural Solution: Modern Catholic Voices on Going Back to the Land |title=Ruralism Versus Urbanism |pages=21–29 |url=https://epdf.tips/the-rural-solution-modern-catholic-voices-on-going.html |access-date=8 February 2019 |date=2003 |publisher=The Traditionalist Press |location=Moyne, County Longford |asin=B004BDOZE4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190208111742/https://epdf.tips/the-rural-solution-modern-catholic-voices-on-going.html |archive-date=8 February 2019 |url-status=live}} {{ISBN|978-0-9545632-0-2}} (pbk). {{ISBN|978-1-932528-57-2}}.
{{cite book |last=Williamson |first=Richard |title=Letters from the Rector |url=https://stmarcelinitiative.com/books-conferences/browse-product-sets/#!/letters-from-the-rector-pdf- |access-date=8 February 2019 |location=St. Louis, MO |publisher=Marcel Editions}}
# {{cite book |title=The Ridgefield Letters |url=http://stmarcelinitiative.com/bookstore/products/The-Ridgefield-Letters.html |volume=1 |type=covering 1983–1988 |date=May 2007 |access-date=8 February 2019}} {{ISBN|978-1-940306-00-1}} (pbk). {{ISBN|978-1-940306-05-6}}.
# {{cite book |title=The Winona Letters – Part 1 |url=http://stmarcelinitiative.com/bookstore/products/The-Winona-Letters-%E2%80%93-Part-1.html |volume=2 |type=covering 1988–1994 |date=June 2008 |access-date=8 February 2019 }}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} {{ISBN|978-1-940306-01-8}} (pbk). {{ISBN|978-1-940306-09-4}}.
# {{cite book |title=The Winona Letters – Part 2 |url=http://stmarcelinitiative.com/bookstore/products/The-Winona-Letters-%252d-Part-2.html |volume=3 |type=covering 1994–1999 |date=May 2009 |access-date=8 February 2019 }}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{ISBN|978-1-940306-14-8}}.
# {{cite book |title=The Winona Letters – Part 3 |url=http://stmarcelinitiative.com/bookstore/products/The-Winona-Letters-%252d-Part-3.html |volume=4 |type=covering 2000–2003 |date=June 2009 |access-date=8 February 2019 }}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} {{ISBN|978-1-940306-19-3}}.
{{cite book |last=White |first=David Allen |author-link=David Allen White |date=October 2018 |title=The Voice of the Trumpet: A Life of Bishop Richard Williamson in Four Movements |url=https://stmarcelinitiative.com/bookstore/products.php?product=The-Voice-of-the-Trumpet |location=St. Louis, MO |publisher=Marcel Editions |asin=B07KZJCQG2 |access-date=4 February 2019}} {{ISBN|978-1-940306-16-2}} (pbk). {{ISBN|978-1-940306-19-3}}.

External links

[https://stmarcelinitiative.com/eleison-comments/ Eleison Comments]{{deadlink|date=January 2025}} A weekly column in five languages by Bishop Richard Williamson.

Category:1940 births

Category:2025 deaths

Category:9/11 conspiracy theorists

Category:Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge

Category:Antisemitism in England

Category:British people convicted of Holocaust denial

Category:Catholic priests convicted of crimes

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Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism

Category:English conspiracy theorists

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Category:English people of American descent