Wednesday\u2019s unsigned statement \u201d\u201d a rare case of the Vatican\u2019s diplomatic arm furthering earlier remarks by the pope himself \u201d\u201d not only showed an age-old institution grappling with the 24-hour news cycle. It also seemed to be a clear indication that the Vatican was facing nothing less than an internal and external political crisis.<\/p>\n
The day before, in a rare criticism from the head of a government, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany called on the pope to clarify his position on the Holocaust, saying his previous remarks had not been sufficient.<\/p>\n
Several prominent figures in the German Catholic Church joined in the criticism, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops also issued a statement condemning Bishop Williamson.<\/p>\n
But the statement from the Vatican Secretariat of State seemed to go a long way toward calming the uproar. The chairman of the German Bishops\u2019 Conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, praised it, saying Wednesday that the Vatican had \u201cclarified in an unequivocal way that every form of anti-Semitism should be condemned.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n