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Editor’s Note: We’re reproducing the following article from The Remnant (February 1987) as a means of calling to mind how traditional Catholics generally reacted to the first interreligious prayer meeting held at Assisi in 1986. So scandalous was that event that to this day it is often cited as the “straw that broke the camel’s back” with respect to the breakdown in discussions between the Vatican and Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who described it as “an immeasurable scandal that has no precedent”. With a 25th anniversary event having been scheduled by the Vatican to take place in Assisi in October 2011,...

Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta holds a monstrance containing the Eucharist (Photo: CNS)The current Catholic Herald debate on the collapse of the doctrinal discussions between the Vatican and the SSPX is getting a substantial response, and has been noticed elsewhere in the blogosphere. The whole debate, according to one blog, The Sensible Bond, was predictable: “On the one side, high-minded papal loyalists cannot say enough about how disobedient the SSPX is, or how proud. On the other side, SSPX tub thumpers jeer about the hierarchy’s tendency to wink at all rebellions apart from the SSPX’s, and the busted flush of...

Monsignor Charles Scicula (L), a Vatican doctrinal official, watches as Vatican's spokesman Father Federico Lombardi speaks during a news conference in the Holy See press office at the Vatican July 15, 2010. Vatican talks with a controversial Catholic splinter group are nearing an end without any accord on reintegrating the ultra-traditionalists, including a bishop whose denial of the Holocaust has embarrassed Pope Benedict.Bishop Bernard Fellay has said his Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) has not succeeded in convincing Vatican officials to turn Church teaching back half a century to where it stood before the reforms of the Second...

The Society of Pius X identifies the measures of Education Minister Klaus Kessler (Grüne) as "politically ideological" and will challenge them legally. Saarbrücken (kath.net) The Education Ministry of Saarland has concluded that with the end of the current half of the school year, two Saarland schools, which are operated by the Society of Pius X, must conclude their operation. It falls upon the grade school in St. Arnual in Fechingen, according to SR-Online. The back ground for this is, according to Education Minister Kessler (Grüne), the long conflct related to the dormitory of the Heart of Jesus Realschule, which the...

Fr. Franz Schmidberger: Above all the old who continuously try to revive the promise of the "Spirit of the Council". That means that the Counciliar ideology will sooner or later become obsolete. [kreuz.net] The Christ Child is the King of all times and lands. This was what the German District Superior of the Society of St. Pius X,, Father Franz Schmidberger said this Holy Night in a video speech.

[b]The SSPX Buys a New Church in Cologne [/b] Recently Purchased "New Apostle Church" in Cologne (kreuz.net, Köln) The Society of Pius X has purchased a new church in Cologne. They've recently just made this known. The Superior of the German District, Father Franz Schmidberger is "very happy" about the new purchase: "It is like a Christmas gift, that has come about because of the willingness of our faithful to sacrifice." Father hopes that the new Church will bring the blessings of the Immemorial mass in and around Cologne. [Where there has been some trouble getting the Mass properly available...

The New Book About "Hetzendorf" by Publisher 'Facultas' Today a book was ordered in Vienna, that didn't just bring the local Archdiocese to snort. The first drops of sweat are flowing. (kreuz.net, Wien) This evening Heidemarie Seblatnig presented her new book "Hetzendorf and the Iconoclasim of the Second Half of the 20th Century" in Vienna according to neo-Conservative videosite 'gloria.tv'.

In fact the Society of St. Pius says there are two parties in Rome: "One always has to ask, who will have the last word" -- explained the Society's Head in an Exclusive interview. [kreuz.net] Today Bishop Bernard Fellay -- the General Superior of the Priestly Society of St. Piux X -- on the occasion of the Fortieth Anniversary Jubilee of his Society. He did this in the context of an exclusive interview with French Pius-Portal 'La Porte Latine'. The Society of Pius X was recognized in 1970, November 1, by the then Bishop of Freiburg in Switzerland, Msgr Francois...

Different Bishop, different morals: In the last years the Society of Pius X has celebrated with thousands of faithful in open air High Masses behind the Basilica of Lisieux. Tomorrow the Faithful may use the Basilica. [kreuz.net, Lisieux]Tomorrow afternoon the Society of Saint Pius X will celebrate the Old Rite in the Basilica of St. Lisieux. The Society has published this on their French Website. The yearly pilgrimage on foot to Liseux was organized from the Priory of the Society in the village Gavrus in Normandy.

Munich (kath.net/KAP) British Bishop Richard Williamson will stand before the court for the judgment he received from the Regensburg Court for sedition and "trivializing" the Holocaust. The appeal against the April fine of 10,000 Euro is set for the 29th of November. The speaker of the National Court of Regensburg, Johann Piendl, verified this for the German Catholic News Service, KNA. "I am pretty certain, that my client will participate", explained Williamson's attorney, Mattias Lossmann, on Thursday. In April Williamson, who belongs to the Society of Pius X, which is not recognized by Rome [kath.net just had to throw that...

[b]Pius Believers are Unfortunately Not Anglicans[/b] [b]The Superior General of the Society of Pius X made the point: If Saint Bonifatius had followed the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, there wouldn't be any Catholics in Germany.[/b] [kreuz.net, Fulda] On the past Sunday 1500 Traditionalists made a Pilgrimage to the grave of St. Bonifatius (+754) in Fulda. It is the seventh national pilgrimage of the German District of the Society has undertaken to the tomb of the Saint. The Pontifical Office was celebrated on Sunday by the General Superior of the Society of Pius X, Bishop Bernard Fellay.

Editor: the meeting is interesting, as we've said before, in light of the talks currently taking place each month with the Society of Pius X. It is hard to see, given the previous statements about statements which appear to capitulate the Church's previous positions to the modern world, will square with the resistance shown to the Society's representatives. The fact is, we don't know what is being said about Vatican II, but there is almost no doubt that the concerns that were realized by the Society of Pius X will be dealt with in this meeting and that whatever the...

Sitting over an overpriced gin and tonic at the Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel, I probed the excommunicated bishop about his secret sedevacantism. I didn't toss the issue naked on the table, since he would simply have denied everything. But I knew from several sources that, while the man publicly claimed to accept the legitimacy of then-Pope John Paul II, privately he sowed doubts among his friendlier seminarians. He whispered that the "formal and material heresies" taught by that pope had quite possibly deprived Karol Wotyjla of the throne. That would have left the seat (sede) of...

In response to my own frustration, I prepared a statement for my grown children who were raised in the post-Vatican II church, having been born in the mid-1960's. After floundering in the Novus Ordo churches for many years, my husband and I discovered, by the grace of God, the Catholic Faith was alive and well in a neighborhood SSPX Chapel. By this time, our adult children were suffering from poor catechetics, diluted doctrines, pabulum sermons and undemanding Catholicism. Totally ignorant of the pre-Vatican II church, our return to "Tradition" was confusing and bewildering for them. Where do you begin to...

Editor: The Traditionalists never left the Catholic Church, and it's Bishop Williamson who hasn't denied the Holocaust in Germany where it's a crime to speak one's mind. In any event, these figures for the Church are promising and show that the German people can, as many of them always have, think for themselves. This should also put a bit of a stopper on those Austrian Statistics indicating 100,000 departures. You look at this, after lifting of excommunications, the German Church was still growing. The numbers in departures are climbing only lightly despite the conflict concerning the SSPX: According to the...

Three years after 'Summuorum Pontificum' the German traditionalists are still outdistanced by the Society of Saint Pius X which is by far the best. [kreuz.net] In Germany there are 133 locations, at which the Old Mass is celebrated. The website 'paixliturgique.at' reported on the numbers, which have been published by the organization 'Pro Missa Tridentina'. 58 locations are only celebrated during the week -- without Sundays. That is 43 percent of all the official listed possibilities for participating in the Old Liturgy.

He desired that a Priest of the Society of Pius X would say a Requiem in his parish church. Had he been protestant, he would have had no problem. [Kreuz.net] In the middle of July François died in the village of Troistorrents in the southwest of Switzerland. Troistorrents is a 4000-soul community in the extreme west of the southwest Swiss Canton of Wallis. The deceased had lived his entire life in the village. He was an adherent of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X. Troistorrents is located 44k west of Ecône, where the french speaking Pius seminary is located.

BERLIN — The controversial Society of St. Pius X plans to consecrate three priests June 26 in Germany, a move the local bishop called a "provocation" that could upend a tentative peace with the Vatican. The conservative society, which rejects many of the Catholic Church's modernizing reforms, has long had a difficult relationship with the Vatican. A decision to consecrate four bishops against the orders of Pope John Paul II in 1988 led to excommunications that were lifted in 2009. The Vatican was deeply embarrassed after one of the rehabilitated bishops, Richard Williamson, turned out to be a vocal denier...

—EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW— Bishop Bernard Fellay on the Rosary Crusade and Doctrinal Talks Nearly 20,000,000 Rosaries offered to Holy Father from Traditional Catholics Worldwide! By Brian Mershon REMNANT COLUMNIST, South Carolina (Posted 05/11/10 www.RemnantNewspaper.com) Bishop Bernard Fellay, SSPX, greets the Holy Father Houston, Texas—Superior General Bishop Bernard Fellay of the Society of St. Pius X recently spoke to The Remnant in an exclusive interview following the completion of their third Rosary crusade for the Holy Father on March 25, 2010. Despite Cardinal Kasper’s most recent obvious attempt to “poison the well” and upend the ongoing discussions with the Society’s theologians and...

If you’re a Catholic who’s faithful to the Church’s teaching Magisterium, you’ve probably met up with followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre’s 1988 schism, known as the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). They’re filled with devotion to the Blessed Mother, extremely conservative with regard to most moral issues afflicting the Western world today, and quite reverent before the Blessed Sacrament during their old Latin liturgies. In short, on the surface, adherents to Archbishop Lefebvre’s schism appear to be devout Catholics. It’s easy to sympathize with these folks since most of them have joined the SSPX after being scandalized by contemporary...