Reactions to lifting of SSPX excommunications

January 26, 2009

Vatican Press Office director Father Federico Lombardi called the lifting of the excommunications of four bishops ordained by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1988 “great news that we expect to be a source of joy for the whole Church … It is a beautiful thing that the lifting of the excommunication occurred on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the announcement of the Second Vatican Council, in such a way that this fundamental event now cannot any longer be considered an occasion of tension but of communion.”

Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the Society of St. Pius X, declared, “We express our filial gratitude to the Holy Father for this gesture which, beyond the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, will benefit the whole Church. Our Society wishes to be always more able to help the pope to remedy the unprecedented crisis which presently shakes the Catholic world, and which Pope John Paul II had designated as a state of ‘silent apostasy.’”

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, was less enthusiastic; he told The New York Times that he had not been consulted, and emphasized the Italian daily La Repubblica that the "stupid" and "unacceptable" public remarks by Bishops Williamson, questioning the Holocaust, were completely unrepresentative of Catholic opinion.

There was negative reaction from the Jewish community because of Bishop William's recent comments. “We have no intention of interfering in the internal workings of the Catholic Church,” said the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See. “However, the eagerness to bring a Holocaust denier back into the Church will cast a shadow on relations between Jews and the Catholic Church.”

“The Pope must now make very, very clear that he condemns Holocaust denial,” said Shimon Samuels of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Paris. “After all, the Pope lived the Nazi period in his own flesh. He knows it on a personal basis and therefore he has a higher responsibility. And I believe that he must condemn Holocaust denial and not even countenance a member of his Church, a member of his inner council in fact, being a propagator of Holocaust denial.” An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said that the decision would not affect the pontiff’s anticipated visit to Israel in May.

Other responses indicated concerns about the conservative theological inclinations of the SSPX, and the effects of reconciliation upon the wider Church. In France, Cardinal Jean-Marie Ricard of Bordeaux emphasized that the Pope's decision to lift the excommunications did not resolve the juridical status of the SSPX, which remains irregular. Instead, the French cardinal said, the move was "the beginning of the process of dialogue." Cardinal Ricard added that this process leading to full reconciliation "will undoubtedly be long."

The New York Times, citing the discontent of the dissident theologian Hans Küng, suggested that the Pope's move could prompt a separate schism. Kung claimed that reaching out to traditionalists the Pope “is alienating himself from the larger part of the Catholic Church and Christianity.”

 

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Further information:

• Lefebvre Group Step Hailed as Unity Week Success (Zenit)
• Bishop's Response to Lifting of His Excommunication (Zenit)
• Vatican: Cardinal slams bishop for Holocaust denial (AKI)
• Yad Vashem blasts Pope's rehabilitation of Holocaust-denying bishop (Ha’artetz)
• By Forgiving Traditionalists, the Pope Offends Jews (Time)
• Damian Thompson: Pope Benedict is taking a huge risk in lifting the SSPX excommunications (Daily Telegraph)
• Déclaration du Card. Ricard à propos de la levée de l'excommunication (French bishops' conference)
• Healing Schism, Pope Risks Another (New York Times)
• Vatican decree lifts excommunication of SSPX bishops (CWN, Jan. 24)