# Herr Pope reinstates Holocaust Denier **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 26, 2009, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018 "2009-01-26T04:59:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/41 "2009-01-26T18:13:42Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > And I am no Catholic and truly don’t care what the Pope does to his ducklings, but I think it does look bad. Especially coming from a Pope with a German background. (I am not equating being German with being Nazi–I’m saying it looks bad). That’s okay - the OP already implied the Pope is a Nazi sympathizer. So he went further than you did anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/42 "2009-01-26T18:21:44Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Ummm, to be a cheap shot? I’ll go out on a limb and guess that Liberal doesn’t like Der Trihs and thinks that he spouts bullshit and spreads ignorance. Or he was replying to the remark the OP himself made about **Der Trihs**. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/43 "2009-01-26T18:26:39Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Last year their high school refused to let a woman referee officiate at a game they were to play. The other ref, a guy, then refused to officiate as well. And when the ref who had been about to leave, a former Army officer, was asked to stay and officiate, he adamantly refused as well. The best part of the story is that the former Army ref took the $50 he was given for officiating the first game, went and bought a $9 meal, and tipped the waitress $41 because he didn’t want to keep the school’s money. Now, that is a guy who lives his principles. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/44 "2009-01-26T18:38:20Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I’ve never pretended to ever be Catholic, or Christian for that matter. I’m unaware of the term for de-excommunication. If you read the link, you’ll see that there is talk about Benedict going further in rehabilitating this group than just reversing excommunication. > > People rightly say that it is unfair to tar all religion because a few extremists are dicks. This is a case of the leader of the largest branch of Christianity being a dick. No, it’s more a case of people who read about a pastoral proceeding, and who admit to knowing almost nothing about it, drawing conclusions from what they hear someone said that someone said they heard someone say. ETA: I suspect that having the Holocaust hook is what made so many knees at the cliff’s edge so twitchy. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/45 "2009-01-26T19:20:34Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Ummm, to be a cheap shot? I’ll go out on a limb and guess that Liberal doesn’t like Der Trihs and thinks that he spouts bullshit and spreads ignorance. That’s fine, and he’s entitled to whatever opinion he wants, but it was kind of a sideways swipe for no good reason, given **DT** wasn’t even in this thread at that point - certainly, it wasn’t a direct response to the OP’s more lighthearted dig at **DT** , which you’ll notice I didn’t object to. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/46 "2009-01-26T19:45:05Z")
Just so you know, MrDibble, I do appreciate you. I always know my ass is covered, thanks to the relentless and perpetual grip of your sharp canines. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/47 "2009-01-26T20:01:02Z")
> [@tagos](#): > > I guess God probably knows and cares. In the same sense that Batman does. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/48 "2009-01-27T04:59:34Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Just so you know, MrDibble, I do appreciate you. I always know my ass is covered, thanks to the relentless and perpetual grip of your sharp canines. Love you too, **Lib**.😉 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/49 "2009-01-27T05:12:25Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > You have absolutely no authority to make Archbishop Lefebvre a Cardinal. > You are _so_ lucky you took back the statement and apologized before I reported your post to the Pope. Yeah, wouldn’t want to get excommunicated from a religion I haven’t embraced for more than twenty years, would I? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/50 "2009-01-27T05:49:02Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > In the same sense that Batman does. God is prepared. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/51 "2009-01-27T06:24:53Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That’s okay - the OP already implied the Pope is a Nazi sympathizer. So he went further than you did anyway. I was not aware that calling a German Herr was accusing him of being a Nazi sympathizer. I better warn my daughter in school in Germany to call all men she meets hey you or something. I did think of calling attention to his war time experiences, which might have influenced him despite everything, but he had no way of not being involved, so I don’t blame him a bit. Given the history you’d think the church would be a bit more sensitive about stuff like this, but it certainly seems that wackos like this guy are cooler than John Kerry. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/52 "2009-01-27T06:27:18Z")
As bishops, they can only move diagnally, correct? (stealing from Jon Sewart) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/53 "2009-01-27T07:02:32Z")
As a minor note, the historical evidence is indeed hugely against six-million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler. Most were killed by other means, including mass shootings. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/54 "2009-01-27T07:23:43Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > No, it’s actually “how many divisions has the Pope?” attributed to a sneering Mr. Uncle Joe Stalin. Actually it wasn’t that either since he said it in Russian. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/55 "2009-01-27T07:58:04Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > No, it’s more a case of people who read about a pastoral proceeding, and who admit to knowing almost nothing about it, drawing conclusions from what they hear someone said that someone said they heard someone say. > > ETA: > > I suspect that having the Holocaust hook is what made so many knees at the cliff’s edge so twitchy. Okay, so let’s drop that part. Say one Pope excommunicated someone. That someone runs around saying humping sheep is good fun, and everyone should try it. The next Pope reaches out his holy hand and reconciles him. Aren’t we entitled to at least suspect that this Pope doesn’t have a big problem with a guy running around saying this? I mean, it is not like the guy hiked across the mountains in the dead of winter begging for forgiveness or anything. All this more so if the Pope wants to make nice with the ASPCA. The church does not support the crap this guy is saying. I’m not going to look it up, but I’d be surprised if they didn’t come out directly against it. What would be wrong for the Pope’s representatives to negotiate with this guy? Did no one tell the Pope about it? ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/56 "2009-01-27T08:18:29Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > The church does not support the crap this guy is saying. I’m not going to look it up, but I’d be surprised if they didn’t come out directly against it. What would be wrong for the Pope’s representatives to negotiate with this guy? Did no one tell the Pope about it? Sorry, does that mean that you’re against the church following its own rules instead of playing politics? Seriously? ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/57 "2009-01-27T11:04:28Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Okay, so let’s drop that part. Say one Pope excommunicated someone. That someone runs around saying humping sheep is good fun, and everyone should try it. The next Pope reaches out his holy hand and reconciles him. Aren’t we entitled to at least suspect that this Pope doesn’t have a big problem with a guy running around saying this? I mean, it is not like the guy hiked across the mountains in the dead of winter begging for forgiveness or anything. That makes absolutely NO sense. If a judge finds you not guilty of moppery that means he endorses your political views? Nonsense. Besides, I have little problem with a person who believes thet Holocaust never happened. They are wrong, obviously, but they are not saying it did happen and it was a good thing or that it should happen again. If I were Pope I would much sooner excommunicate those who voted for Bush, for invading Iraq, for Guantanamo and for torture. Those things are truly incompatible with being a good Christian. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/58 "2009-01-27T11:28:53Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Okay, so let’s drop that part. Say one Pope excommunicated someone. That someone runs around saying humping sheep is good fun, and everyone should try it. The next Pope reaches out his holy hand and reconciles him. Aren’t we entitled to at least suspect that this Pope doesn’t have a big problem with a guy running around saying this? I mean, it is not like the guy hiked across the mountains in the dead of winter begging for forgiveness or anything. No, you’re entitled to say that the sheep-humping issue had nothing to do with the excommunication in the first place, and so it has nothing to do with the reconciliation. What the Pope does or does not have a big problem with, and what the Church views or does not view as grounds for excommunication, are two different matters. But hey, I doubt you’ll let that stop you from concluding on your own that the Church and the Pope alike are a bunch of sheepfucking enablers. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018/59 "2009-01-27T11:53:59Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I gotta go with **Jaglavak** , on this one. > > Everytime I flick onto [CNN.com](http://CNN.com) or something and I see a headline which starts, “The Pope Declares …” or “The Pope Says …” or “The Pope Does Any Fucking Thing …” my first thought is … who gives a shit what the pope says? > > Yes, I know, Catholics care. It’s important news because what the Pope says influences the thinking of hundreds of millions of people. This particular issue isn’t even a storm in a teacup, but as a matter of principle what he says matters. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herr-pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier/483018.md?page=2)