(UNDATED) The sudden storm over Pope Benedict XVI’s lifting the excommunication of four schismatic bishops reignites the slander that the Catholic Church-or the pope himself, or God forbid, all Catholics-is rife with anti-Semitism.

Somehow a comment by one of the bishops-he doubts the gas chamber murders of millions of Jews were a “deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler”-has exploded into worldwide accusations against the church.

Let’s get a grip here.

The schismatic bishop in question, British-born Richard Williamson, is a 68-year-old Anglican convert who also thinks the 9/11 attacks were staged by the U.S. government; believes conspiracy theories about the Kennedy assassination; and objects to women wearing trousers. I would think anyone would be happy to see him under Rome’s control, not out there on his own.

Williamson is one of four bishops ordained in 1988 by the late renegade Archbishop Marcel-Francois Lefebvre, who dearly wanted the Catholic Church to repudiate the reforms of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s.

There’s been trouble ever since.

Lefebvre’s followers, members of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), lean as far right as possible without falling out of the “Catholic” boat. Their issues once seemed mostly about style-they prefer pre-Vatican II Latin and lace-but troubles since Lefebvre’s death are about papal authority. That’s why they’ve been banned.

While SSPX members reject some principals of Vatican II, their biggest claim is they are the Traditional Catholics-indeed, more Catholic than the Vatican. That’s a worry for this pope, who sees Christian unity as a goal of his pontificate.

By lifting the excommunications during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Benedict underscores his drive to repair whatever cracks he can in the throne of St. Peter.

Angry commentators may want to focus on repudiated beliefs held by one or another SSPX member or cleric, but what’s more important is that requesting unity with Rome means accepting papal authority and general church teaching.

It does not, unfortunately, keep people like Williamson of the power from acting or speaking like lunatics.

Benedict may eventually offer SSPX what is called personal prelature status-a sort of diocese-without-walls that is similar to Opus Dei’s structure-that would more forcefully bring the whole crowd back into union with Rome. Since Lefebvre’s followers are active in more than 16 countries and have a number of monasteries for men and women (not to mention something in the neighborhood of 600 chapels and oratories), Benedict’s sole objective is to bring many lost sheep back to the fold. That both Benedict and the Lefebvre followers lean in the same theological direction is not accidental.

One practical result of Benedict’s lifting the excommunications will be greater availability of the Latin Mass, which Benedict already allowed back in 2007. Most Catholic dioceses are running out of priests willing and able to perform the Latin rites.

Another result will be the slinging of all sorts of criticism from outside the Church about how Benedict runs internal affairs. But before too much mud takes flight, maybe we can remember that the Catholic Church defines schism as “withdrawal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or from communion with the members of the church subject to him.”

By lifting the excommunications, Benedict-the fisher of men-has flung the net over the members of SSPX. That is what was needed. That is what it’s all about.

(Phyllis Zagano is a Fulbright Fellow in Religious Studies at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland. She also holds a research appointment at Hofstra University.)