Rebel Bishop Williamson dead at 84
January 30, 2025
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CWN Editor's Note: Bishop Richard Williamson, the most fractious of the four traditionalist bishops ordained by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre died in London on January 29 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 84 years old.
Ordained to the priesthood in 1976, Williamson was excommunicated after his episcopal ordination in 1988 because it was done without papal approval. In 2009, when Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication of Williamson and the other bishops of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), a fresh controversy erupted over a televised interview in which Williamson denied the reality of the Holocaust. He was soon removed from his leadership position in the SSPX and later expelled from the traditionalist group for his refusal to “show respect and obedience deserved by his legitimate superiors.”
Bishop Williamson consecrated several new bishops, acting without papal approval, thus incurring a new sentence of excommunication on himself and on the bishops he ordained.
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