Catholic World News News Feature
No compromise with Vatican, SSPX leader says February 08, 2006
The leader of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has indicated that the group will not compromise its stance in order to achieve a reconciliation with the Holy See.
In a homily delivered on February 2 at the SSPX seminary in Flavigny, Bishop Bernard Fellay, the superior general of the traditionalist group, underlined his insistence that the group will not accept Vatican policies regarding religious liberty and ecumenism.
Regarding the widespread rumors that the SSPX is close to an agreement with the Holy See, Bishop Fellay said: "It is not at all true; it's all hot air."
The traditionalist leader said that the SSPX would unflinchingly support the same arguments that drove Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre to break with Rome in 1988. He insisted that the Vatican moved away from Catholic traditions after the Second Vatican Council. "Rome seems to have lost its way," he said, and no accord would be possible unless the Vatican changed its policies.
"We are not opposed to agreements," Bishop Fellay said. "But it has to be made possible." To make a deal possible, he continued, Rome must change its stance, "because we will not budge; we want to remain Catholics."
The SSPX leader said that during talks with Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos last November, he perceived that the Vatican leaders were unhappy with trends in the Church. "They are very concerned," he said; "and the Pope most of all." However, he added that he could not agree with the Pope on the reason for the turmoil in Catholicism, which the SSPX attributes to the teachings of Vatican II.
Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to meet with leaders of the Roman Curia on February 13, according to widespread reports, to discuss the prospects for reconciliation with the SSPX. For several weeks rumors have suggested that an accord is close, although spokesman for both the Vatican and the traditionalist group have downplayed those suggestions.
