Lifting of the Excommunications of Four Lefebvrite Bishops

On January 21, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI, through the Vatican Congregation of Bishops, lifted the excommunications of four bishops who had been ordained by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX). These ordinations, which occurred on June 30, 1988, were conducted in violation of directives to the contrary by Pope John Paul II. Consequently, all the parties were excommunicated by the him the next day. The Society, founded as a repudiation of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, rejects the ecumenical and interreligious outreach of the Council, which it believes contradicts its understanding of Catholic "Tradition." 

The four bishops—whose ordinations were valid but not licit—are Richard Williamson, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Bernard Fellay and Alphonso de Galarret. The controversy generated by the pope's action was intensified by an interview given by one of the bishops, Richard Williamson, in which he reiterated his denial that the Shoah (Holocaust) had resulted in the deaths of six million Jews in gas chambers.