SSPX ordinations are illicit: Vatican spokesman
July 05, 2011
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The ordinations of new priests within the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) are “illegitimate,” the Vatican’s top spokesman has told reporters.
Answering reporters’ questions about the traditionalist group, Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, pointed out that although Pope Benedict XVI has lifted the excommunication of the bishops who head the SSPX, those bishops remain suspended from ministry.
Father Lombardi cited the Pope’s letter to the world’s bishops, issued on March 10, 2009. The Pope said in that letter that the SSPX “has no canonical status” and consequently its leaders “do not legitimately exercise any ministry in the Church.”
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Posted by: koinonia -
Jul. 07, 2011 9:12 PM ET USA
Bishop Fellay's comments at the ordination in the US were interesting. He cited specific examples of the struggle within the Vatican between those who despise the traditional Faith and those who are working to restore order. Fellay was advised in personal conversation by a Vatican official that not everything that "comes from the Vatican" is from the the Holy Father. The behind-the-scenes struggles are remarkable, and there are powerful figures in the Church working against Pope Benedict.
