American prelate named to key Vatican post for talks with SSPX
June 26, 2012
Pope Benedict XVI has appointed an American prelate, Archbishop Augustine Di Noia, to the newly created post of vice president of the Ecclesia Dei commission. The appointment underlines the Pope’s determination to achieve reconciliation between the Holy See and the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).
In announcing the appointment, the Vatican said that it was “a sign of the Holy Father’s pastoral solicitude for traditionalist Catholics in communion with the Holy See and his strong desire for the reconciliation of those traditionalist communities not in union with the See of Peter.”
Archbishop Di Noia, who had worked closely with Pope Benedict in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has been serving since 2009 as secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship. He will be replaced in that post by Bishop Arthur Roche of Leeds, England.
The Ecclesia Dei commission was established in 1988 to coordinate Vatican outreach to traditionalist Catholics. Since 2009 the commission has been working within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, involved in the negotiations aimed toward reconciliation of the SSPX. Cardinal William Levada, the prefect of the CDF, doubles as president of the Ecclesia Dei commission.
A trained theologian who is familiar with the doctrinal issues involved in the Vatican talks with the SSPX, Archbishop Di Noia is also conversant with traditionalists’ keen concerns about the liturgy. The Vatican announcement of his appointment noted that the archbishop, in his work at the Congregation for Divine Worship, has been involved in the Vatican’s preparations for Pope Benedict’s motu proprio broadening use of the traditional Latin Mass. The announcement said that his experience will “facilitate the development of certain desired liturgical provisions in the celebration of the 1962 Missale Romanum”
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Further information:
- Notice from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (VIS)
- Curia: Abp Di Noia moves to “Ecclesia Dei” Commission (Vatican Radio)
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