Not only is the Vatican not buying Society of St. Pius X Bishop Richard Williamson’s apology, but now the Lefebvrite bishop may have a warrant out for his arrest.

First for the history: Williamson was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1988 because of his illicit ordination. Pope Benedict recently lifted his excommunication and that of the three other bishops illicitly consecrated at the same time, but this did not give them episcopal powers within the church. In an interview with Swedish television filmed last November but released the day his excommunication was lifted, Williamson denied the existence of gas chambers during the Holocaust and said 200,000 to 300,000 Jews had died instead of 6 million.

This from Zenit news agency:

“The lifting of the excommunication is unrelated to the bishop’s interview and occurred in the context of Benedict XVI’s efforts to heal the schism with the Society of St. Pius X.

Still, the coincidental concurrence of the interview and the lifting of the canonical penalty was viewed as an affront to Jewish-Catholic relations in some circles. It led to Vatican officials — including Benedict XVI — making repeated clarifications about the Church’s respect for the Jews and its commitment to dialogue with Christians’ ‘elder brothers.’

In his statement Thursday, Bishop Williamson said that observing the consequences of his interview, ‘I can truthfully say that I regret having made such remarks, and that if I had known beforehand the full harm and hurt to which they would give rise, especially to the Church, but also to survivors and relatives of victims of injustice under the Third Reich, I would not have made them. [Â…] To all souls that took honest scandal from what I said, before God I apologize.’

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, said in a verbal statement today that the apology is lacking. He told journalists that the statement ‘does not seem to respect the conditions established in the Feb. 4 note from the [Vatican] Secretariat of State, which stated that [Bishop Williamson] must distance himself in an absolute, unequivocal and public way from his positions regarding the Shoah.’”

And now, out of Germany:

“Germany may issue an arrest warrant on hate crime charges against the British Holocaust-denying Catholic bishop Richard Williamson, the justice minister said today.

A German investigation into his remarks was already under way, she said.

‘Germany could issue a European arrest warrant,’ she said.

A new set of EU guidelines to toughen national anti-racism and hate crime laws was passed in 2007.

They will commit all 27 EU countries to impose criminal sanctions against people or groups that publicly incite violence or hatred against other groups or persons based on race, colour, religion, descent or ethnic origin.

The guidelines also recommend EU nations impose prison sentences of up to three years for those convicted of denying genocide, such as the mass killing of Jews during the Second World War and the 1990s massacre in Rwanda.”

Jermone Taylor at The Independent has more on Williamson’s connections.