From John Thavis at Catholic News Service:

Pope Benedict XVI has written a letter to the world's bishops defending his decision to lift the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops and expressing regret that it gave rise to misunderstandings and polemics, according to Italian newspapers.The pope said the controversy over Bishop Richard Williamson's statements denying the extent of the Holocaust was "a misadventure that was for me unforeseeable" and acknowledged that the Vatican should have paid more attention to information easily available on the Internet, the reports said.The pope said he was particularly saddened at the reaction of some Catholics who seemed willing to believe he was changing direction on Catholic-Jewish relations and were ready to "strike at me with hostility." He thanked "Jewish friends" who helped clarify the matter and restore a sense of trust.He emphasized that improving Catholic-Jewish relations has been a longstanding personal theological priority.As for the Society of St. Pius X, he said the church cannot ignore a community of believers that has 491 priests, 215 seminarians and thousands of faithful.He emphasized, however, that to reach full communion in the church, the traditionalist society would have to accept the Second Vatican Council."One cannot freeze the church's teaching authority at the year 1962," he said, referring to the society's rejection of many of the council's teachings.At the same time, he said, some defenders of Vatican II need to be reminded that being faithful to the council also means being faithful to the church's entire doctrinal history, without cutting "the roots from which the tree lives."

The text is to be released tomorrow by the Vatican.Update:Here, via Rocco, is the Vatican's translation.

Robert P. Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, is a longtime Commonweal contributor.

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