An Austrian priest who said Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for immorality has not officially refused a promotion, the Vatican said on Monday.Gerhard Maria Wagner on Sunday told the Austrian Catholic news agency Kathpress he had decided not to accept his appointment as auxiliary bishop of Linz ''in the light of heavy criticism'' from Austrian bishops.
The ultra-conservative priest said that Pope Benedict XVI, who nominated Wagner for the new position on January 31, had already accepted his decision to quit.
But the Vatican said Monday that it had not yet received an official request.
Wagner, 54, has said he wishes to remain parish priest of the Austrian town of Windischgarsten, where he has served since 1988.
His nomination as bishop was criticised by the Austrian bishops' conference, which called an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the situation.
In the past Wagner said in a parish newsletter that Katrina was divine retribution for New Orleans' sexual permissiveness and toleration of homosexuals.
He pointed out that nightclubs and abortion clinics were among buildings destroyed by the hurricane, which killed around 1,000 in the city.
Wagner also won headlines for warning children not to read J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels on the grounds that they ''spread satanism''. The Bishop of Linz, Ludwig Schwarz, said Sunday he felt ''rather relieved'' by Wagner's announcement that he would step down as auxiliary bishop.
The row comes on the heels of a controversy over the pope's decision to lift the excommunication of a British bishop who denied the Holocaust, creating tension with Jews and within the Church.
Richard Williamson, of the breakaway Society of Saint Pius X, recently reiterated his views that there were no gas chambers and that only 300,000 Jews died at the hands of the Nazis, not six million.
The Vatican later said the pope had been unaware of Williamson's comments at the time of his rehabilitation.
The bishop was removed from his position as head of a seminary in Argentina last week after he refused to retract his denial despite a request from the Vatican.
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(Source: ANIT)