SSPX leader: talks with Vatican continue, with Pope's support
March 22, 2016
The head of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) reports that conversations with the Vatican are continuing, and that Pope Francis has supported efforts to promote reconciliation with the group.
In an interview focused on relations between the SSPX and the Vatican, Bishop Fellay discloses that talks continue and in fact "have never been interrupted," although the pace of discussions slowed for some time. Talks on doctrinal issues continue, he said, "in a more flexible form, and therefore not entirely official."
Bishop Fellay makes the observation that Pope Benedict XVI was sympathetic to the traditionalist cause, and Pope Francis is not. But the current Pontiff, he says, may be inclined to work toward regularization of the SSPX because of his concern for "anything that is marginalized."
Bishop Fellay reports that he has tried to make it clear to Vatican officials that his group will not compromise on principle, and "we should be accepted as we are."
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Posted by: koinonia -
Mar. 28, 2016 6:26 PM ET USA
"Credidimus caritati: We have believed in charity." Thus goes the motto of AB Lefebvre as claimed by his biographer Bishop Tissier de Mallerais, SSPX. Pope Francis himself has read the biography twice per the consistent testimony of Bishop Fellay. Any Catholic who desires to offer an opinion about this organization of priests ought first to read the biography. Bishop Fellay's interview is also worth a glance. At life's end one might find no finer epitaph than "He has believed in charity."
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Posted by: rjbennett1294 -
Mar. 22, 2016 6:14 PM ET USA
Bishop Fellay thinks that Francis "may be inclined to work toward regularization of the SSPX"? Bishop Fellay may be kidding himself. Or, if Francis ever does "regularize" the SSPX, no one should be surprised if Bishop Fellay and his confreres are then all at once included in the group of faithful Catholics that the Pope habitually attacks as "pharisees," "rigorists," and "doctors of the law," to mention only a few of the compliments Francis repeatedly pays us.
