The Simon Wiesenthal Center today condemned the reported remarks of Bishop Bernard Fellay, the head of the schismatic Catholic traditionalist group, the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), in which he called Jews “enemies of the church.”

Mark Weitzman, Director of Government Affairs of the Wiesenthal Center said, “Bishop Fellay’s description of Jews as “enemies” amply proves once again the deep rooted anti-Semitism that lies at the heart of the SSPX’s theology. Despite all of the group’s efforts to present a cleansed public face, their teaching of hate still seeps to the surface. Instead of blaming their traditional bogeymen of Jews and Masons for their problems with the Church, and accusing these enemies of being responsible for subverting the Church through the Vatican II, which shifted the relationship between Catholics and Jews into a positive direction in 1965, they would be better served by acknowledging the teachings of Vatican II and cleansing their theology of the bigotry that it espouses."

Fellay’s remarks came during an almost two hour talk that he gave on Dec. 28 in Ontario, Canada, which was posted on YouTube on Dec. 30th. Last year, the Wiesenthal Center applauded the Vatican’s announcement that talks aimed at readmitting the schismatic group into the Church had broken down over, among other issues, the Church’s insistence that Vatican II be accepted by the SSPX.

For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter page or mobile device.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).