Bishop Williamson warns against rumored ‘political deal’ between SSPX, Holy See
August 23, 2010
Bishop Richard Williamson of the Society of St. Pius X, one of the four bishops illicitly ordained by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1988, is warning against a possible “political deal” between the society and the Holy See.
“While the Rome-Society of St Pius X discussions are, by accounts from both sides, running into a doctrinal brick wall, reports from France and Germany together with a rumour from Rome spell danger for Catholics,” Bishop Williamson writes. “That danger is a political deal which would simply go round the side of the doctrinal blockage. Politics threaten to circumvent doctrine.”
“From France and Germany, I was told me a few weeks ago that a large proportion of Catholics attending SSPX Mass centers are only hoping and waiting for some agreement to come out of the discussions,” he continued. “Such Catholics may get full marks for wishing not to be cut off from what appears to be Rome, but they get low marks for not grasping that as long as the discussions remain doctrinal, there is no way in which the neo-modernist teaching of Vatican II can be reconciled with the Catholic doctrine of the true Church. Such Catholics may venerate and love Archbishop Lefebvre as they see him, but they have not understood what he was all about. They had best wake up if they are not in one way or another to fall into the arms of the neo-modernist Romans.”
“The rumor from Rome is precisely that he is thinking of a Motu Proprio which would accept the SSPX ‘back into the Church’ once and for all, yet require from the SSPX no explicit acceptance of Vatican II or the New Mass, but only, for instance, the acceptance of John-Paul II's 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is substantially modernist but in a quiet way,” Bishop Williamson added. “Thus the SSPX would not appear to its followers to be accepting the Council or the New Mass, yet it would be softly, softly, beginning to go along with the substance of neo-modernism.”
“Thus all seekers of unity would be content. Only not believers in Catholic doctrine. DANGER!”
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Further information:
- For the record: Rumors of a new Motu Proprio... (Rorate Caeli)
- Bishop Williamson: Vatican, SSPX hold 'absolutely irreconcilable' positions (CWN, 1/20/10)
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Posted by: ebierer1724 -
Aug. 23, 2010 4:03 PM ET USA
Another example of schism born of schism?
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Posted by: koinonia -
Aug. 23, 2010 11:12 AM ET USA
The situation has always been tenuous. The crisis is a challenge of faith, and the sedevacantists have chosen the easy way out- the path of least resistance. The SSPX, however,has always defended the legitimacy of recent pontiffs. B. Williamson holds that the "Newchurch" is irreconcilable with Catholic Tradition. While circumstantial evidence is considerable, we must hold fast to Christ's promise to be with His Church always and keep praying for a positive outcome for the good of the Church.
