Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Cardinal Müller Sabotages SSPX Reconciliation on His Way Out

Edit: the following is a complete translation of the letter from the Cardinal as confirmed by Rorate and the excerpt of which appeared at the Remnant.  One would almost think that he'd turned over a new leaf, but he was only likely biding his time to strike out before he left.  Here he is in this letter asking for what look more or less like the unsatisfactory conditions expected of the Society before a gaggle of Old Liberal Cardinals (Schönborn, Marx) along with Müller himself were assigned to the committee overseeing the negotiations.

Maybe Ecclesia Dei will throw this letter out and continue as they were before?  Here it is:

From www.medias-presse.info comes the following excerpt of a letter from Cardinal Müller to Bishop Bernard Fellay. According to www.medias-presse.info, Cardinal Müller's letter was communicated to all SSPX members by the SSPX General House.

Excerpt from Cardinal Müller's letter:

“As you know, Pope Francis has many a time manifested his benevolence towards your Priestly Society, granting, in particular, to all priest members the faculty of confessing the faithful validly and by authorizing local Ordinaries to grant licences for the celebration of the marriages of the faithful who follow the pastoral activity in your Society. Furthermore, discussions are continuing concerning questions relative to the full re-establishment of the communion of your Society with the Catholic Church.

In relation to this, with the approbation of the Sovereign Pontiff, I judged it necessary to submit to the Ordinary Session of our Congregation (which met on May 10 last) the text of the doctrinal Declaration which was transmitted to you during the meeting of June 13, 2016, as the necessary condition in view of the full re-establishment of communion. Here are the unanimous decisions of all the members of our Dicastery in this regard:

1) It is necessary to require the adhesion of the members of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X to the new formula of the Professio Fidei dating from 1988 (c.f. annexe). Consequently, it is not sufficient to ask them to express the Professio Fidei of 1962.

2) The new text of the doctrinal Declaration must contain a paragraph in which the signatories declare in an explicit manner their acceptance of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and those of the post-conciliar period, by granting to said doctrinal affirmations the degree of adhesion which is due to them.

3) The members of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X must recognize not only the validity, but also the legitimacy of the Rite of the Holy Mass and of the Sacraments, according to the liturgical books promulgated after the Second Vatican Council.”

www.medias-presse.info adds that Cardinal Müller concluded the letter saying that “during the Audience granted to the Cardinal Prefect on May 20 2017, the Sovereign Pontiff approved these decisions”. The French website also adds that in his accompanying letter to SSPX priests, Father Christian Thouvenot, Secretary General of the SSPX, recalled the words of Bishop Fellay after the meeting of the major superiors in Anzère, Switzerland, on June 28 2016:

“The Society of Saint Pius X does not seek primarily a canonical recognition, to which it has a right because it is Catholic. The solution is not simply juridical. It pertains to a doctrinal position which it is imperative to manifest [...] Divine Providence will not abandon Its Church whose head is the Pope, Vicar of Jesus Christ. That is why an incontestable sign of this restoration will reside in the signified will of the Sovereign Pontiff to grant the means for re-establishing the order of the Priesthood, the Faith and Tradition – a sign which will be, furthermore, the guarantor of the necessary unity of the family of Tradition”.

*** The Professio Fidei of 1988 refers to the Professio fidei et Iusiurandum fidelitatis in suscipiendo officio nomine Ecclesiae exercendo (Formula to be used for the profession of faith and for the oath of fidelity to assume an office to be exercised in the name of the Church) dated July 1, 1988 (coincidentally the day after the 1988 episcopal consecrations in Ecône) and published in the Acta Apostolica Sedis in 1989.

The Profession of Faith is as follows: I, N., with firm faith believe and profess each and everything that is contained in the Symbol of faith, namely:

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God,born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith, I also believe everything contained in the word of God, whether written or handed down in Tradition, which the Church, either by a solemn judgment or by the ordinary and universal Magisterium, sets forth to be believed as divinely revealed.

I also firmly accept and hold each and everything definitively proposed by the Church regarding teaching on faith and morals.

Moreover, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman Pontiff or the College of Bishops enunciate when they exercise their authentic Magisterium, even if they do not intend to proclaim these teachings by a definitive act.


AMDG

19 comments:

Sean Mercer said...

Mueller did the same thing in 2012. Actually, I think that his departure will, unfortunately, remove the largest obstacle to the SSPX - Rome reconciliation.

Tancred said...

You might be right. I really wanted to believe he was undergoing some kind of spiritual transformation.

John Collins said...

The SSPX and any other cult like them will never be received into the Catholic Church by any Pope, liberal, conservative, trad or whatever, unless they accept unconditionally and in full all the teachings and documents of Vatican II.
All the rest is dog whistling and pipe dreams.

Tancred said...

If the SSPX is wrong today, the Church was always wrong. I can imagine also that since they are continuing the mission and protecting the things entrusted to them, that they will inspire demonic tirades in these times.

JBQ said...

@Tancred: Hear! Hear! Sad! Sad!

Catholic Mission said...

JULY 5, 2017
SSPX must ask Bishops Conferences in the USA, UK, Italy, etc to affirm Vatican Council II( Feeneyite) or not make the Council an issue for reconciliation
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.it/2017/07/sspx-must-ask-bishops-conferences-in_5.html

JULY 4, 2017
Rational and traditional Catholic apologetics based on Feeneyism and not Cushingism
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.it/2017/07/rational-and-traditional-catholic.html

JULY 4, 2017
CDF asks SSPX to interpret Vatican Council II with irrational Cushingism and reject traditional Feeneyism
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.it/2017/07/cdf-wants-sspx-to-interpret-vatican.html

Constantine said...

Mr. John Collins'statement reflects a very shallow and historically unsupported undetstanding of the Catholic Faith. His view of Catholicism reflects a faith very akin to Islam. Our Catholic Faith, unlike any other, is not a fideism. We respect Human Reason as a tool to know love and serve God, in order to be with Him in the next life. One must know God to appreciate and love Him. Through knowledge we reach God. Not by cringing terror. Faith is consistent and not independent of Reason. Basic Human Reason and Truths are never inconsistent, but simply insufficient, to arrive at certain higher, less attainable and less visible Divine Truths. I suggest Mr. Collins take time to deepen his understanding of God and his Church, as unsettling and uncomfortable as some issues are concerned, and grow in maturity and appreciation for God's gift of Reason given him. The Second Vatican Council was a Council, clearly written as a Pastoral guide for people"in our times" ["in Nostrae Aetate" for example].It was not written [and cannot be written] as a New or Rewritten CounterChurch which wipes out some or all Truths and practices based on Truths of the past.

Anonymous said...

I bet Francis himself will overturn Cardinal Mueller's act!

Watch and see

Anonymous said...

Probation of the Soverein Pontiff or order? The BoR detests all Catholics, don't forget it!

Anonymous said...

The SSPX should never have entered into this discussion with the Rome of Pope Francis in the first place. Especially since many believe that Francis is not a validly elected Pope...and that his election, far from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was an orchestrated move done by a gang of liberals who had bided their time from 2005 onward to 2013. When they had their chance, they took it.
On the SSPX side, Fellay is a wimp who would sell out the SSPX to achieve unity with the "successor of Peter" (some successor !!)
SSPX, wait until Bergoglio is either retired or dead, when we perhaps have a more orthodox and tradition minded Pope, and when the swarm of aged radicals now lurking in the Vatican and elsewhere are likewise gone.
Damian Malliapalli

Anonymous said...

The true cult is that of the morons who believe that the Church began with Vatican II, a non-binding "pastoral" council designed to open the gates to the Church's destruction---as the infernal troll "John Collins" above makes an effort to publicize. These heretics are that nervous about the legitimacy of their decadent Vatican II church, now mostly populated by Kumbaya-singing, hand-shaking blue hairs and clueless guitar-strumming would be hippies (too melancholy they missed out on the glory days of Haight-Ashbury and the sixties). What sad bores these liberals are!

Anonymous said...

The SSPX bows before the tyrant Francis and they will rue the day. He will decapitate them, in due time, with the same ruthlessness that his beloved Muslim friends decapitate what they, in their satanic illusion, call the "infidels." Bishop Fellay seems to be an unworthy spiritual son of the great and manly Marcel Lefebvre, without whose efforts most or all of us who attend the Mass of the Saints and Martyrs would not have been able to do so. Think of the prospect of those forty years or so of "staying home alone," or putting up with the abuse and clerical bullying of men like Daniel Dolan and "Father Cekada" in the sedevacantist camp or the heresy and insanity of the Novus Ordo. Thanks to Almighty God for giving us a true pastor in Marcel Lefebvre.

Anil Wang said...

Anonymous,

Marcel Lefebvre approved the Vatican II documents and was asking for less than what is being offered now. The key thing holding back the SSPX isn't doctrinal issues...it's a lack of trust and a hardening of positions on both sides.

Given Pope Francis' history of orthodox institute decapitation, I doubt the SSPX would trust him enough to submit. But if Cardinal Sarah (who was a priest under Marcel Lefebvre) becomes Pope, my prediction is that the trust will return...even if the SSPX is not offered a substantially different proposal.

Anonymous said...

Archbishop Lefebvre did not sign or approve all of the documents of Vatican II and in fact was part of a group of about 400 council fathers who opposed the surging liberalism, the Coetus Internationalis Patris. Perhaps he should have been more vocal during the debates at the council, but retroactive wisdom is always comfortable, particularly when one is outside the circumstances of the moment. This bishop almost singlehandedly save the Immemorial Mass and Catholic priesthood, as traditionally taught by the True Church. We owe him great gratitude. I hope Anil Wang above is right about both the SSPX being on to the malevolent intentions, based on his pattern of behavior, of Francis and about Cardinal Sarah's papal chances; but about the latter I have great doubts: Sarah,too, is being "decapitated" by Francis even as this evil pope stacks the College of Cardinals with heretics like himself.

Anon said...

Look at the official documents and you will see Lefebvre's signature on them. Choose your ground carefully.

Smith said...

good post

Anonymous said...

Lefebvre did not sign the religious freedom document, "Dignitatis Humanis": check your statements carefully and practice the virtue of gratitude, a form of justice.

Tancred said...

Unsigned comments will be gratuitously deleted.

John Collins said...

Anonymous 5: 43 AM, isn't it intriguing that Lefebvre signed all the documents of Vatican II (yes, Gaudium et Spes, Sacrosanctum Concilium etc) with the exception of Dignitatis Humanae. That document upholds the primacy of individual conscience and religious liberty, the very principle he invoke when he 'discerned' the righteousness of his decision to consecrate three bishops without indult and to 'reordain' men who had previously been ordained according to the revised rite of presbyteral and episcopal ordination?