SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson has apologised to Pope Benedict for the "unnecessary distress and problems" caused by his "imprudent remarks" but the fallout over the lifting of his excommunication continues.
The Washington Post reports that Bishop Williamson posted the statement on his personal blog.
Williamson's apology came in the form of a letter, dated January 28, to Cardinal Dario Castrillón Hoyos, head of the Vatican office that deals with the Society of St Pius X.
"Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of you to accept . . . my sincere regrets for having caused to yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems," Williamson wrote.
The bishop also expressed gratitude for Benedict's cancellation of his excommunication and promised to "offer a Mass" for the pope and Castrillón.
In an introductory comment for readers of his blog, Williamson suggested that critics had exploited his remarks merely to attack Benedict.
"Last week's media uproar" was "surely aimed rather at the Holy Father than at a relatively insignificant bishop," he wrote.
Williamson also hinted that his apology was not a retraction of his inflammatory historical statements but a gesture of deference to the pope.
Introducing the letter to Castrillón, Williamson noted that the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the Society of St Pius X, "gave his Society the example of never so cleaving to God's Truth as to abandon respect for the men holding God's Authority."
On Friday, an Israeli government official said the Jewish state maintains good relations with the Vatican despite the controversy over Williamson, the Associated Press reported.
Israel's ambassador to the Holy See, Mordechay Lewy, said "the climate is good" and that there is "a lot of potential for cooperation" between the Vatican and Israel.
However on Saturday, Israel's Minister for Religious Affairs, Yitzhak Cohen, threatened to suspend relationships with the Vatican following the pope's pardoning of Williamson, German news magazine Spiegel reported.
Cohen said he recommended "completely cutting off connections to a body in which Holocaust deniers and anti-Semites are members."
Meanwhile, the Catholic leadership in Regensburg has banned Bishop Williamson from entering its churches.
Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, the Catholic bishop of the German city of Regensburg, said that Williamson would not be allowed to set foot in his cathedral or on any other church property.
Public prosecutors have opened an inquiry against Williamson over his denial of the Holocaust during an interview recorded with Swedish television last week at Zaitzkofen. Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany.
The German Conference of Catholic Bishops has also rejected Williamson's remarks.
SOURCE
Bishop Apologizes to Pope but Does Not Retract Holocaust Denial (Washington Post)
Regensburg Bans Holocaust-Denying Bishop From its Churches (DW World)
Pope criticised over Holocaust denier (The Age)
Israel threatens to suspend Vatican ties (Press TV)