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Catholic World News News Feature

Talks continue between Vatican, SSPX September 21, 2006

The Vatican is continuing talks with the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), still hoping to achieve reconciliation with the Lefebvrist group, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos has revealed.

The prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, who has been the Vatican's chief contact in talks with the SSPX since 2000, told the I Media news agency that talks with the group are proceeding normally, unaffected by the creation of a new institute for traditionalist clerics in France.

The Holy See's recognition of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, announced earlier this month, was "not an extraordinary thing," Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos told I Media. He said that group-- composed of priests and seminarians who have left the SSPX-- is a sign of the Church's willingness to help clerics find an appropriate means of serving the Church, maintaining "their own specific identity."

Asked whether the Vatican's recognition of the new institute could endanger talks with the SSPX, Cardinal Castrillon responded: "I don't really see the logic of that question." The two groups are different, he observed, and a successful effort to achieve reconciliation with one group should not inhibit similar efforts with the other.

Regarding the announcement that the priests of the Good Shepherd institute would have the right to use the Tridentine liturgy exclusively, the Colombian cardinal again insisted that the policy is not remarkable. "The rite of St. Pius V has never been excluded from the life of the Church," he said.