The Holocaust denying Bishop, Richard Williamson, is on board a British Airways flight back to London after being asked to leave his post by the Argentinian Government.
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Wearing a black baseball-style cap embroidered with the 'Sacred Heart of Jesus' and rock star sunglasses, the ultra conservative bishop, a member of the traditionalist Society of St Pius X, was reported to have shoved a journalist at Buenos Aires airport as he rushed to board his flight to Britain.
It was reported that he had been asked if he would recant his Holocaust denials.
Last week, the Argentinian government gave the British-born cleric jut ten days to leave the country, stating that his views on the Jewish genocide were not only deeply offensive to the Jewish people but "deeply offensive to Argentine society and humanity as a whole."
He had already been sacked from his position as director of the Society of St Pius X seminary in Buenos Aires.
The Times of London reported that in Britain, Bishop Williamson could now face an extradition attempt by prosecutors in Germany after his interview to Swedish TV in which he queried the numbers of Jews killed in World War II but stated also that he did not believe the gas chambers existed. Denial of the Holocaust is a criminal offence in Germany.
Argentina is home to one of the biggest Jewish populations worldwide outside Israel and Bishop Williamson's statements have been roundly condemned by religious leaders, both Catholic and non, world wide.
Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to rescind the excommunication of Bishop Williamson and three other traditionalist bishops has infuriated senior officials inside the Vatican too.
Pope Benedict has also come under attack from the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, who broke with tradition and demanded he issue a clear “repudiation” of the views.
The bishops were excommunicated in 1988 after they were consecrated without permission of the Holy See. Founded by the French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the so-called Fraternity is vehemently opposed to the modernization work of the Second Vatican Council and refuse to accept saying of the mass except in Latin.
