Posted on 02/13/2013 7:03:15 PM PST by narses
Rorate can independently confirm the report --hinted at just now in Le Forum Catholique -- that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has sent a letter with a final offer to the Society of Saint Pius X (FSSPX / SSPX): resume the dialogue with the Holy See by February 22, or else the Holy See will make an offer of reconciliation and full communion to individual SSPX priests. (What kind of offer or structural basis will be offered is unclear.)
We can only wonder how things would be like if dissenting liberal theological faculties and the individual heretics teaching in them were approached by the CDF with the same diligence and focus.
In other news: Mons. George Ratzinger highlights two events that deeply pained the Pope in his pontificate. These events may not have directly caused the resignation, but they certainly inflicted great bitterness on the heart of His Holiness, in his brother's opinion. They were the Vatican leaks scandal and relations with the Society of Saint Pius X (the failure of an agreement, possibly - the report speaks of "Pius Brotherhood", but that is only the literal translation of the name by which the SSPX is known in German):
Ratzinger said the pope’s time in office had “created great challenges for him,” highlighting two particular issues that concerned his brother.
"Within the church a lot of things happened, which brought up troubles, for example the relationship to the Pius Brotherhood or the irregularities within the Vatican, where the butler had let known indiscretions,” he said.
“These were emotional years, but with God's help and his own commitment, I think he mastered it rather well,” he added.
Ratzinger did not specify the pope’s issues with the Pius Brotherhood, or Society of St. Pius X as the group is formally known.
(NBC news report - tip: Sancte Pater)
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
It would cause me extreme discomfort if the new pope withdraws support for the continued use of the extraordinary form. I prayerfully hope that doesn’t happen. In fact, I would be looking toward St. Malachy if that happened.
On Thursday, Pope Benedict will meet in Paul VI Hall with the clergy of the Diocese of Rome and reflect on the Second Vatican Council.
In light of the above, I'm not encouraged that there will be any forthcoming breakthrough with the SSPX.
Realistically I don’t see how he could do it.
He could do it as easily as Paul VI did.
No, he couldn’t. Benedict, with the moto proprio and the resulting clarifications, made it plain that ANY PRIEST could say the old Mass without any special permissions being necessary. No subsequent pope will just role that back as if it didn’t exist.
Plus, Benedict XVI said explicitly that the Mass in the extraordinary form was never abbrogated. What was sacred for many centuries cannot all of a sudden no longer be sacred.
Just bought a book with pastoral letters written by Archbishop Lefebvre. He was brilliant-—his understanding of Catholic Theology was correct. We see the evil fruits of Vatican II which he knew would occur. I see it at “mass” every Sunday—and the evil Marxism/Socialism which has seeped into the liturgy and the circus atmosphere that didn’t exist prior to Vatican II and absence of addressing sin and saving souls.
Vatican II has devastated the Catholic Church and opened the door for heresy. Pope Benedict inherited a very damaged Church. Why he resigned? Don’t know.....but it is an extremely interesting time for the Church.
They should have SSPX lead the way to sanity and Rational Theology again in the tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas. Faith and Reason! SSPX understands why the Church —infiltrated-—no longer embraced or taught the Truth. The Church is irrelevant and hardly “holy” when they just embrace popular culture. They need to get back to Tradition and the Truth about Contraception. They can’t skirt the issues any longer and has to condemn evil (sin) in strong terms.
Obedience to the magisterium is crucial for SSPX. What good does their brilliance do in schism? Absolutely nothing.
Not in my diocese.
They’ve already started cracking down the last few years. A lot of priest who do the extraordinary form now, are going to be getting into a lot of trouble for their actions.
Yes, in your diocese too - unless your priests are cowards and they might be. I’m not trying to be rude. Any priest can start saying the Latin Mass. The bishop has no authority to stop him. That’s Church law.
That's true. However, the Bishop can make life miserable for a priest who insists on using the Extraordinary Form, or for that matter, doing anything else the Bishop doesn't like.
The bishop can’t suspend his faculties, cancel his insurance, cut his usual allowances, or cut his basic monthly pay. All he really can do is blather uselessly, say he doesn’t like it, drop the priest from diocesan boards or councils, or send him to a parish in the hinterland. By the way, being sent to the hinterland means you get to say the old Mass as often as you like.
The SSPX leaders somehow hallucinate that they have some business instructing popes as to what is acceptable Church doctrine. It does not work that way. The pope is in charge not Marvelous (Excommunicated) Marcel or His Majesty Fellay.
The SSPX also has the colossal gall to claim that SSPX has been responsible for the return of the Tridentine Mass when SSPX has been a stumbling block top its return causing many bishops to imagine that those who favor the Tridentine Mass are a pack of disobedient ecclesiastical revolutionaries. We have numerous orders of priests who are thoroughly in communion with their diocesan bishops and with the Holy See and who say the Tridentine Mass and some like the Institute of Christ the King say ONLY the Tridentine Mass. I attend the Tridentine Mass every week and Holy Day. It is available every day. Weddings, funerals, Tridentine confirmations, and all the bells and whistles. I was married in a Tridentine wedding Mass after Marcel was excommunicated and before SSPX was much of a presence in the room, if they ever have been.
The Institute of Christ the King, unlike SSPX illicitly consecrated bishop de Mallerais, also keep civil and reverent tongues in their heads when referencing John Paul II. Unlike Williamson, they do not deny the Holocaust, etc., etc., etc. Unlike Fellay, they do not presume to rule the pope.
They do not want to accept the decrees of Vatican II???? Neither do a lot of Catholics but we do. The so-called "Spirit of Vatican II" is quite another thing. If the SSPX wants its own Magisterium, it should found its own church and go the way of the Arian heretics, the Albigensians, the Donatists, the Nestorians and others and disappear justifiably from history.
Pepe Benedict XVI has made the prudential mistake of trying to reconcile them to the Church. The SSPX will settle for nothing short of total surrender by the Vatican. No thanks. Be gone!
Perhaps this long nightmare of pope abuse by the SSPX schismatics being rewarded by earnest but futile efforts to reconcile them is drawing to an end tomorrow night.
“Pepe Benedict XVI has made the prudential mistake ...”
Who resigned and made you pope?
“No subsequent pope will just role that back as if it didn’t exist.”
Sure they can. Pope Paul VI did the very such thing with Pope St Pius V’s Bull Quo Primum. I recommend you read it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.