Outrageous: Call for pope to step down over Holocaust denier

Ludicrous (and I don't use the world lightly):

Attacks on Pope Benedict XVI's decision to lift the excommunication of a Holocaust denier escalated Monday, with one theologian calling on him to step down as the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Criticism following the pope's January 24 announcement has been particularly cutting in Germany, where denying the Holocaust is a crime punishable with a jail sentence.

"If the pope wants to do some good for the Church, he should leave his job," eminent liberal Catholic theologian Hermann Haering told the German daily Tageszeitung.

"That would not be a scandal, a bishop has to relinquish his position at 75 years, a cardinal loses his rights at 80 years," he said. Pope Benedict is 81. (AFP)

The amount of ignorance it requires to call for such a drastic move is staggering. Ignorance of Pope Benedict/Cardinal Ratzingers own efforst in Jewish-Christian relations.

It's no surprise the AFP picked this story up as newsworthy. Any informed source would find it laughable/pathetic.