Wednesday, July 25, 2012

The SSPX Calls "Indispensable" Conditions -- Rome Sees Willingness to Talk

(Vatican/Menzigen)  After Msgr Fellay of the Society of St. Pius X received a newly revised "Doctrinal Preamble" on June 13th for signing, the reconciliation talks between Rome and Econe have been at a standstill.  Some on both sides have spoken already of a collapse of the talks.  A less than friendly exchang also took place between the Society and the new Prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine and the Faith.

The General Chapter of the Society at the beginning of July ended with a strengthening of the General Superior, who attempted, to strengthen the unity of the Society.  Regarding the discussions with Rome there was nothing concrete to convey.  This is a sign that the talks have still not collapsed.  It is the Society founded by Marcel Lefebvre in 1970 to take its turn to address the "Preamble" of June 13th from Rome.  Such a response has not yet been received by the Vatican.

Curial Archbishop Mueller, the new guardian of the Faith of the Catholic Church is on vacation for the next few weeks.  The same applies to the curial Archbishop de Noia appointed to be responsible for the SSPX as the Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.  Bishop FEllay could therefore wait for his answer yet.  In August, not much of consequences happens in the Vatican often.  Basically, the Roman side seems to have no intention of excercising pressure for its part.

From the context of the CDF it means that the new edition of the Preamble of Pope Benedict XVI in May during the general assembly of the CDF would be sanctioned.  At the same time the contention has been contradicted, in the edition of the Preamble which Cardinal Levada gave the Society on June 13 which corresponded significantly to that of 2011 and put for that reason a step backward, because the alternate proposals and desires of the Society had not been taken into account.

Two points of the Preamble were the desire of the Pope or the Prefect of the CDF were included again in the Preamble.  The first point touched on the post-Conciliar form of the Roman Rite, the Novus Ordo.  Rome expected that the SSPX not only recognize the validity of the New Mass, but also its legitimacy.  That does not mean that the liturgical abuses may not be criticized, and those of translation may not be discussed.

The second point touched on the Second Vatican Council.  In the Vatican there is strong resistance against the presentiment that the Conciliar documents are even only described as being "erroneous" in parts.  For that reason the Society is expected to distinguish  between the Conciliar documents and their interpretation, and recognize, that the Magisterium may not be judged by any other authority, also not the Society.

It drives the issue, to put it bluntly, where the healthy Catholic way is between the idea that the Second Vatican Council was a kind of "super Council" or even a "super dogma", although it itself made no such claim, and the idea that the SSPX gets the role of a "super Magisterium" to which would be appended the Church's Magisterium.

"The aim of dialogue is to overcome the difficulties in the interpretation of the Second Vatican Council, but we can not negotiate the revealed Faith, that is impossible.  An Ecumenical Council, according to the Catholic Faith is always the highest Magisterium of the Church, "Said the new Prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine and the Faith in an EWTN interview.  Specifically, he added: "The claim that the authentic teachings of the Second Vatican Council can be in contradiction to the Tradition of the Church is wrong."

While you're waiting in Rome for the response of Bishop Fellay, the internal Society circulars are finding a lot of attention, which -- was immediately published by Internet leakers -- once more.  Father Christian Thouvenot, the Secretary of the Superior General released the proceedings of the General Council together. It was determined that the three conditions as the "sine qua non" of the agreement made reconciliation with Rome impossible.  The formulations, such as the one found in Rome, leave room for negotiation.  Among other things, the claims will be affirmed, that the Society's priests will only celebrate the classical form of the Roman Rite, but said nothing about the legality of the ordinary form of the Roman Rite.

The demand for free and public criticism of the "error or the innovations of modernism, liberalism, the Second Vatican Council and its consequences", could ultimately be read less harshly than it might seem at first glance.  "Everything will depend on the response sent to Rome by Msgr Fellay", like the Vatican, as Vaticanist Andrea Tornielli is heard to be continuously repeated these days.


The question of exempt status of the SSPX, to be free from the influence of Diocesan Bishops, the concession to have a bishop as head of the Society and other questions are held in Rome as "solved".

Text: Giuseppe Nardi 
Image: Le Barroux


Link to original...katholisches...

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