Posted on 06/10/2011 12:51:46 PM PDT by Mary Kochan
There has only been one official schism in the Roman Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council. That occurred in 1988, when Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops against the express instructions of Pope John Paul II. That led to the excommunication of Lefebvre and those four bishops, and the schism of Lefebvre and his followers from Rome. Now 23 years have passed.
In the history of the Church, it is often the case that, once a schism endures for a certain time, it becomes less easy to restore full union. Separate ecclesial cultures evolve, positions harden. Reunion postponed is often reunion lost.
Pope Benedict XVI has made it clear that he would like to heal this schism during his pontificate.
And he has taken three dramatic steps in that regard...
(Excerpt) Read more at catholiclane.com ...
Not a day earlier.
Were it not for him and his diabolical influence, there would be a reconciliation.
Bishop Williamson is not the issue.
The SSPX is having discussions with the Vatican in hopes of clearing up ambiguities in Vatican II. Traditionalists consider some liberal conclusions drawn from thd council to be heretical. Conservatives dispute liberal conclusions, but the SSPX is not willing to sign on to Vatican II until heresies currently tied to the council by liberals are ruled out. The Vatican hesitates because it is likely that the liberal bishops would finally go into open schism if their heresies were definitively rejected. World media and governments would likely side with the liberals and denounce the Church as “intolerant.”
The issue may take decades to resolve. The SSPX represents itself as a sanctuary of the unchangeable Catholic faith as it has existed for almost 2000 years prior to the mid-1960s. Conservatives in the Vatican sympathize with the traditionalists and wish to restore clarity, but the issue will remain unresolved until these conservatives can overcome the liberals.
No, the French element in the SSPX is the problem. If the SSPX were an American organization, or British, the split would have been healed years ago. The French are just plain arrogant.
I think mcpf had it right. The liberal Catholic church would split, or threaten to, if the SPPX was brought in.
Of course, some thought the same over the Latin Mass.
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