Open Opens Talks with "Latin Mass Renegades"

This meeting is very encouraging.  I understand Bishop Fellay is a very reasonable man.  The SSPX folks ought to be back in formal union with Rome.  Something we all should pray for.  I have no doubt that some SSPX will not accept any deal with Rome--and some liberals in the Vatican will not want any deals either--but if an agreement could be reached and most would return, that would be fabulous.

August 29, 2005

Pope opens talks with Latin Mass renegades
From Richard Owen in Rome

POPE BENEDICT XVI, who reached out to Muslims and Jews last week on his
first trip to his native Germany since his election, is preparing to mend an
enduring schism within the Roman Catholic Church.

Vatican sources say that the Pope is planning to lift the excommunication of
a group of renegade ultra-traditionalists by his predecessor, John Paul II,
17 years ago.

In an unprecedented move, the Pope is to receive Bishop Bernard Fellay, the
Superior General of the Society of St Pius X, for conciliation talks at his
summer residence at Castelgandolfo today.

The society (or brotherhood) was set up in 1969 by Archbishop Marcel
Lefebvre, of France, who gathered around him right-wing traditionalists
opposed to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and established a
seminary at Ecône in Switzerland.

Archbishop Lefebvre and his followers claimed that the reforms had dissolved
traditional Catholicism. The reforms were designed to bring Church rituals
closer to ordinary people by introducing everyday language into the liturgy
in place of the traditional Tridentine or Latin Mass. The Latin Mass,
established by the Council of Trent in the 16th century, is not banned but
can be used only with the permission of a local bishop and with approval
from Rome.

The ultra-traditionalists' relations with the Vatican frayed to breaking
point in 1976 when Archbishop Lefebvre accused Catholic modernists -
including Pope Paul VI - of heresy. In response, Paul VI banned the
Archbishop and his followers from saying Mass or taking the sacraments.

John Paul II, after his election as Pope in 1978, sought to mend the rift
but excommunicated Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988 for ordaining four bishops at
Ecône despite repeated warnings that he was no longer in communion with the
Pope.

Archbishop Lefebvre died in 1991 but his breakaway group continues to
operate worldwide, with 4 bishops, 460 priests, 7 seminaries and nearly 500
churches, all using the Latin Mass.

Andrea Tornielli, a papal biographer, said that Benedict XVI - formerly the
guardian of Vatican tradition as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - was well placed
to mend the rift since he had himself shown a preference for the Latin Mass.

Four years ago, when still John Paul II's right-hand man, Benedict referred
to the followers of Archbishop Lefebvre as "our brothers and sisters",
adding "we must do whatever is possible to attract them back. It is better
to heal our wounds within the Church rather than letting them fester outside
it."

Vatican sources said that the Pope hoped to build on Ecclesia Dei - the
pontifical commission that was created by John Paul II to monitor the
Lefebvrists - by creating a body that would supervise the
arch-traditionalists under the Pope's direct control.

The Lefebvrists, in turn, are seeking the lifting of their excommunication
and the right to hold Latin Masses without first seeking the approval of the
Vatican.

Richard Williamson, one of the four bishops created by Archbishop Lefebvre
and a noted hardliner, said that the hopes surrounding Bishop Fellay's
meeting with the Pope were unrealistically optimistic. Bishop Williamson, a
British Catholic convert from Anglicanism, who was one Archbishop Lefebvre's
earliest recruits, said that the "web of deceit" had been "spun by the
Vatican for too long. It is a case of 'welcome to my parlour, said the
spider to the fly'."

He thought it unlikely that the Pope would give his "unconditional blessing"
to the Lefebvrists, adding: "The war goes on between the friends and enemies
of the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ." He warned Bishop Fellay to beware of
Vatican duplicity.

HISTORY OF THE SCHISM

1869-70: First Vatican Council approves doctrine of papal infallibility

1962: Second Vatican Council begins under Pope John XXIII; ends under Paul
VI, 1965. Reforms agreed that remain basis of Vatican policy and Roman
Catholic doctrine

1969: Marcel Lefebvre, leader of opposition to Vatican II as betrayal of
"traditional Catholicism", founds seminary in Switzerland known as Society
of St Pius X. Adherents refuse to accept use of vernacular in the liturgy
instead of Latin Mass

1988: Archbishop Lefebvre excommunicated by John Paul II for ordaining
bishops without Rome's approval. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had tried to
bring Lefebvrists into the fold

1991: Lefebvre dies in Martigny, Switzerland

2003: Cardinal Ratzinger says rift must be healed

2005: The cardinal becomes Pope Benedict XVI

Comments

[Civitatensis]

Interesting development. I do find that the title of the posting and some of the comments are a bit misleading. At times, title included, it sounds as though the essence of the discord with Lefrebvre is exclusively over the Tridentine rite (the old Latin mass). There are several places in the world where Tridentine mass is regularly celebrated in perfect communion with Rome. Bishops are individually allowed to choose whether they want to have Tridentine Latin masses in their jurisdictions. Celebrating mass in the Tridentine rite is not in and of itself a schismatic question, as parts of your posting seem to suggest.

The Fraternity of St Peter (http://www.fssp.org/) has for years been making available to Catholics in many countries the Indult of the Tridentine Rite.

See also http://www.latinmass.org/faq.html

[Jesuvera]

Thanks for that posting. Really an interesting development and we look forward to the outcome.

[twebber]

It is good to see others following this story, as it is of paramount importance to the Church. However, you aren't correct in linking the Vatican I Council's declaration on Papal Infallibility to the situation of the Society of St. Pius X and the late Archbishop Lefebvre. They have absolutely nothing to do with each other. I think you are mixing up the SSPX and the Old Catholics, which are not even in the same zip code. Also, it is very inflammatory to call those that make use of the SSPX chapels as Lefebvrists. They are Roman Catholics, plain and simple. You will not find any person in the pew at an SSPX mass refer to themselves as a "Lefebvrist". Also, to term the issue between the Pope and the SSPX "schism" shows an absolute ignorance of the situation and what the word schism means. The SSPX doesn't dispute that the Pope has authority over them. Nor does the SSPX dispute that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ. If you want to call the SSPX and the Archbishop disobedient, then you may be correct, but there does not exist a "schism". Finally, to call Bp. Williamson one of Archbishop Lefebvre's "early recruits" (as well as other incorrect descriptions) is, again, a testament to your ignorance of the SSPX and its situation. Archbishop Lefebvre was retired and not recruiting anybody to do anything. The entire work of the SSPX began when the Archbishop himself was sought after by seminarians who saw the method of priestly formation being dismantled as a result of the Vatican II Council. These seminarians were advised by many seminary professors and prelates in the Vatican and surrounding See's, to seek after the Archbishop. If you were to read a couple books about the Archbishop or by the Archbishop you would know this. Your story gives the impression that Archbishop Lefebvre and the SSPX are some "ultra-traditionalist" right wing group-and that just isn't true. Sure, there may be some right wing folks that make use of the SSPX chapels and there may be some SSPX clergy that may appear to the modern mind as right wing hardliners, but the SSPX as an organization, and particularly the late Archbishop are loyal sons of the Church-they are Catholic. Are you aware that Archbishop Lefebvre was on the Preparatory Council of Vatican II? He was hand picked by Pope John 23rd. It would be nice if in the same posts that besmirch the good name of Archbishop Lefebvre with the statements that they are hardliners against Vatican II, please make note that he was one of the members that prepared the schemas of which the Council was to be based upon. So if there is a criticism to be had about Vatican II, then Archbishop Lefebvre is a very credible source. If you would like to know more about the SSPX situation, or if you would like to check your facts with someone who knows the SSPX, you may email me privately and if I can't answer the question, I can get the answer. The SSPX does too much good for the Church. The SSPX is not an "ultra-traditionalist" right wing group. They are Catholics-plain and simple. You won't find any contracepting Catholics in their pews, nor will you hear their priests say that the official Dogmatic teachings of the Church can be disobeyed or are up for discussion. These are standard Catholic positions, and if which not held, make a person not Catholic. The SSPX is devoted to the Holy Father, and they always will be. The problem is, and this is my opinion, that the Holy Father and the good prelates of our Church don't realize what a friend they have in the SSPX. The best thing that could happen for the SSPX and the Pope is to lift the bill of excommunication and free the Mass according to the 1962 Missal for all priests to say anywhere in the world in any parish at any time, and then you will see the "New Evangelization" and the new "springtime" in the Church.

In Christian Charity