Richard Williamson
Former SSPX bishop
Why Is Richard Williamson Influential?
(Suggest an Edit or Addition)According to Wikipedia, Richard Nelson Williamson is a British independent Traditionalist Catholic bishop who opposes the changes in the church brought about by the Second Vatican Council. In 1988, Williamson was one of four Society of Saint Pius X priests illicitly consecrated as bishops by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, for which Pope John Paul II declared he had incurred ipso facto automatic excommunication. The validity of the excommunication has always been denied by the SSPX, who, citing canon law, argue that the consecrations were permissible due to a crisis in the Catholic Church. The excommunications, including that of Williamson, were lifted on 21 January 2009 but the suspension of the bishops from ministry within the Catholic Church remained in force. Certain exceptions were granted by Popes Benedict XVI and Francis as a way to foster dialogue and goodwill and to allow the priests to exercise limited ministry despite their canonically irregular situation.
