The Catholic news agency Zenit is carrying Pope Benedict XVI's explanation for his recent decision to lift the excommunications of four ultra-traditionalist bishops, including that of a Holocaust denier who has denied that millions of Jews were murdered during World War II.
A quick summary: Benedict says he's reaching out to the bishops to promote church unity; because they deserve mercy; and because he believes the action will lead them to take steps to come into full communion with the church.
Benedict also reiterated that Nazis committed a "brutal massacre of millions of Jews, innocent victims of a blind racial and religious hate" during World War II.
Also, here's a translation of the Vatican's statement responding to the statements of one of the traditionalist bishops, Richard Williamson, who has said that Nazis did not use gas chambers and that only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews died in Nazi concentration camps.
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