Vatican summons the head of the Lefebvrists

Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the
Society of St. Pius X, founded by Archbishop Lefebvre, has been summoned
to the Vatican next 14 September. 

It is the first summit after the
doctrinal talks last year in Rome, where there were clashes between  the Holy See and Lefebvrian

delegations.

As readers will recall, since
2009 the Commission Ecclesia Dei, which deals with the Society of St.
Pius X, has been incorporated in the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith and it has been entrusted to the leadership of Monsignor Guido
Pozzo.

The doctrinal discussions, which addressed all of the
nodes considered problematic by Lefebvre, who believes that, in some
places, the Second Vatican Council represents a break with the tradition
of the Church, have been concluded in recent months.

Now the
Vatican should subject to Fellay some memoranda of understanding,
clarifying doctrinal points, as for the Council, on the interpretation
of the continuity in the reform suggested since December 2005 by Pope
Benedict XVI as the more authentic interpretation of the texts of
Vatican II.

A proposal for a canonical adjustment will be
submitted to the Society only if doctrinal difficulties are overcome,
and that will resolve the current situation, in which the Lefebvrist
community finds itself now.

 

Although the Pope, in a gesture of goodwill,
nullified the excommunication of the four bishops ordained by Archbishop
Lefebvre in January 2009, bishops and priests of St. Pius X still live
in a state of canonical irregularity.

The proposal which has been studied by the Vatican, would allow Lefebvrists the establishment of an ordinariate similar
to that offered by the Pope has to Anglicans who wanted to come into
communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

In this way, the Fraternity
would depend on the Holy See (and specifically on the Ecclesia Dei
Commission) and could retain its characteristics without having to
answer to the diocesan bishops.

The meeting of 14 September,
that Vatican Insider is able to confirm, therefore, represents a new
step in the journey of these troubled years. But it is premature to
provide conclusions: in fact, it is known that within the SSPX there
coexist different sensitivities and some consider difficult to reach an
agreement.

It should be noted that Pope Ratzinger, who wanted
to close the Lefebvre mini-schism, has already completed two very
significant steps in the direction requested by the Fraternity: he has
liberalized the old pre-Conciliar Missal and has lifted the
excommunications in force since 1988.

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