Pope to let hardline group back in Church

The Scotsman ^ | PHILIP PULLELLA

[narses]

POPE Benedict is considering lifting the excommunication of the heads of an ultra-traditionalist group that broke with the Vatican 18 years ago, according to reports yesterday.

The Pope is said to be planning to meet top advisers later this month to discuss more ways of bringing the traditionalists, known as the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), back into the mainstream Catholic fold.

The SSPX, founded by the late French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, rejects many of the liberal reforms of the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council. It sticks to the old Latin Mass and opposes recognising the validity of other religions.

The late Pope John Paul II sanctioned the excommunication of the traditionalist leaders in 1988, when Archbishop Lefebvre defied his warnings and ordained four bishops without papal permission.

Since his election last April, Pope Benedict has been trying to hold out an olive branch to the SSPX, which sees itself as the guardian of true Catholicism.

Last August, he resumed direct dialogue with the group when he held a surprise meeting with its leader, Bishop Bernard Fellay.

The Pope reportedly wants to hold a meeting with cardinals in mid-February "to discuss the possibility of lifting the excommunication of the bishops" Archbishop Lefebvre ordained.

The Vatican had no immediate comment on the report.

The traditionalists have demanded the lifting of the excommunication as one prerequisite for a dialogue aimed at healing the schism. The group now has four bishops and some 480 priests around the world. It claims about a million members or supporters.

This article:

http://www.scotsman.com/?id=171962006

Catholic church:

http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=174

Web links:

Scottish Catholic Media Office http://www.scmo.org.uk/

The Vatican http://www.vatican.va/phome_en.htm

Scottish Catholic Observer http://www.scottishcatholicobserver.com/

Catholic Herald http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/

[narses]

+

[sageb1]

I had a feeling he would, but will SSPX come back? I bow to those who have more knowledge.

[DesScorp]

Well, they have to agree to obeidience to the Vatican, or this is all for naught. PJPII had good reasons to boot them...

[ChocChipCookie]

Is this the same group that Mel Gibson belongs to?

[narses]

They will. They see themselves as being obedient to eternal Rome, not the Modernism that infected Rome in the last few decades.

[narses]

Most will, if the can be allowed to fight FOR Christ and Tradition.

[narses]

Maybe or maybe better said sometimes.

[ArcadeQuarters]

So you can be gay, pro baby killing and completely immoral but if you're a traditionalist, you're out. Odd.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Headline editor is putting the cart before the horse. Maybe he/she is an SSPXer.

[SoCalPol]

Ping

[Rocketman]

I've been to some of these guys websites and man they just nuke vatican II, Charismatic renewal and all of the last 5 popes all at anti-christs. It is quite some reading -- once sight made it all a petecostal plot that dates back to the Anabaptists in the 1500 --talk about tin foil hat stuff -- these guy have charts and timelines like their trying to teach evolution only these perps they list never knew each other, and would never fellowship with each if they had.

I actually copied and pasted some of their stuff for furter comment which I have not felt particular inspired to dredge through.

[TheEaglehasLanded]

If they don't kick out child molesting priests and just move them around, how can they kick out a group that practices true Catholicism as it was practiced until 1961?

[onyx]

I can hardly wait for Black Elk to comment!

[Unam Sanctam]

Vatican II as represented in the council documents are not "liberal". They are part of the authentic magisterium of the Church and fully consistent with Scripture and Sacred Tradition.

[Unam Sanctam]

Please cite where any recent Pope has taught "Modernism".

[tiki]

This could be wonderful but it would then be left to see if they wanted to come back.

[sockmonkey]

[Diva]

You know Narses I was wondering that perhaps another reason for wanting the SSPX to come back is the cultural aspect. I'm not saying it is the most important reason but perhaps important enough considering the cultural state of Europe. I doubt many would argue (I could be wrong) on this thread that Vatican II has weakened the Church culturally. It was happening before Vatican II but at least the Mass was intact. I think Vatican II as it was interpreted by progressives accelerated the process of the destruction of Catholic culture.

I have friends that argue Vatican II was the "fall back" possition. And, in truth, if the documents had been read and followed perhaps the liturgical experimentation would not have been quite so dreadful. I think lots of what went wrong with the liturgy after Vatican II was an attempt to dumb it down by self-admiring liturgists who thought the rest of us were too stupid to understand the richness of Catholic Faith.

So, perhaps this Pope sees potential allies in the great cultural war we are most definately within the midst. I for one would love to have as much help in this war as possible.

[narses]

Assisi I and II is an example.