SSPX leader optimistic about accord with Vatican
May 18, 2016
Bishop Bernard Fellay, the leader of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), expressed optimism about the prospects for achieving an accord with the Vatican in a lengthy interview with the National Catholic Register.
Bishop Fellay said that under Pope Francis, talks between the SSPX and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith have taken a new direction, with Vatican officials no longer demanding that the breakaway traditionalist group must fully accept the teachings of Vatican II. He said that the longer talks continue, "the more lenient Rome becomes."
The situation is paradoxical, the traditionalist leader said, insofar as the SSPX continues to decry changes in Church teaching, at the same time that Vatican officials move closer to regularizing the group.
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Further information:
- SSPX’s Bishop Fellay: Little By Little Rome Is Giving Us All We Need for Reconciliation (National Catholic Register)
- Pope ready to regularize SSPX? (CWN, 4/27)
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Posted by: koinonia -
May. 19, 2016 10:51 PM ET USA
The interview is fascinating. Bishop Fellay, as usual, finds a way to be candid, factual, honest, courteous, firm, and at times humorous while staying on point. Evidently- and he has a copy of a draft apparently- not only is the criteria much more acceptable but Rome in some way is actually indicating that the SSPX might prove quite helpful to Holy Mother Church moving forward in these tempestuous times. English is not his first language, but man can he communicate in English.
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Posted by: koinonia -
May. 19, 2016 10:49 PM ET USA
The interview is fascinating. Bishop Fellay, as usual, finds a way to be candid, factual, honest, courteous, firm, and at times humorous while staying on point. Evidently- and he has a copy of a draft apparently- that not only is the criteria much more acceptable but that Rome in some way is actually indicating that the SSPX might in some way prove helpful to Holy Mother Church moving forward in these tempestuous times. English is not his first language, but man is he communicate in English.
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Posted by: Randal Mandock -
May. 19, 2016 4:26 PM ET USA
"...the more lenient Rome becomes." Very poorly said. If I believed this, I would not only leave the FSSP community but would stop believing that the gates of hell could not prevail. If Francis is being genuine in his outreach to the SSPX, then I say again that what we are witnessing is a supreme act of mercy on his part. If I, for example, were to consider certain of the Vatican II documents without their preambles, I could easily find myself in the SSPX camp. But the preambles are really there
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Posted by: Mike in Toronto -
May. 18, 2016 10:21 PM ET USA
The teachings of the Second Vatican Council are among the teachings of the Catholic Church. I find it patently ridiculous, and a dangerous precedent, that the SSPX might be permitted to engage in formal Cafeterialism. So much for universal doctrine.
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Posted by: rjbennett1294 -
May. 18, 2016 5:57 PM ET USA
I have to say once again that I sincerely hope I'm wrong about this, but I really think Bishop Fellay is kidding himself if he thinks Pope Francis will ever agree to a reconciliation with the SSPX. After all, aren't SSPX members the very embodiment of the insults the Pope has leveled at faithful Catholics for the past few years? "Pelagians, triumphalists, rigid Christians", etc., etc., etc.
