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April 1, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) -- Of all the people many would assume to be Pope Francis’ greatest enemy, the head of the Society of Saint Pius X would likely hit the top of many lists. Bishop Bernard Fellay, the head of the SSPX, however has made some remarkably hopeful statements about the Pope, revealing what he sees as Francis’ own embrace of the SSPX. Rumors of reunification effort have been circulating since Pope Francis’ surprise announcement that the priests of the SSPX would be given permission to hear confessions of all Catholics during the Year of Mercy. Those rumors were...

New York, NY, September 16, 2011 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) urges the Vatican to ensure that a breakaway Catholic sect which teaches anti-Judaism will be required to accept the church's official positive teachings about Jews and Judaism before they are fully accepted back into the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican announced earlier this week that in order for The Society of St. Pius X to gain full reconciliation with the church, SSPX must accept some core church teachings, but they have not been made public. It was unclear from news reports and Vatican statements whether the landmark reforms of...

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...

I have a vanity question for anyone who is schooled in Roman Catholic theology and well-versed in USCCB decisions. My brother is getting married in a Society of St. Pius X church next month. He and his wife are practicing Roman Catholics, but the bride's family is Society of St. Pius X. They got a dispensation of form (for venue change), but since SSPX is not really in harmony with Rome, are any of us Catholics allowed to receive communion in the SSPX church during the mass? Since I as a Catholic know that this communion is either illicit or...

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....

We're in the middle of the disintegration of the Latin rite" — Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz. Bishop Fernando Rifan of the Apostolic Administration of St. John Marie Vianney, Campos, Brazil, said there were four U.S. bishops who allowed their diocesan priests full approval to offer the Classical Roman rite of Mass while delivering the keynote address for an Una Voce America Conference held November 18-20 in Providence, R.I. His words of encouragement to U.S. traditional Catholics at the conference, coupled with those of Msgr. Michael Schmitz, U.S. provincial superior, Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, made it clear that the...

SSPX PRESS COMMUNIQUÉ On the death of Pope John Paul II Menzingen[, Switzerland] Easter Saturday 2 April, 2005 The Superior General of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X and his two assistants, together with all its members: bishops, priests, brothers, sisters as well as the faithful, join in the prayer of the Universal Church at the announcement of the passing of the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. We commend his soul to the mercy of God the Father and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There will be a Requiem Mass said in each house of the...

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 2, 2002 (Zenit.org).- Still hopeful for a reconciliation, the Holy See says that recent statements by members of the St. Pius X Fraternity haven´t given due recognition to papal authority. Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy, sent the letter to Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the traditionalist group founded by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, in response to statements circulated on Internet and other media by fraternity representatives. Cardinal Castrillón is also president of the pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei," created by John Paul II in 1988, following the schismatic action of...