Staring Contest Between Rome and the SSPX

Staring Contest Between Rome and the SSPX - Guess Who Just Blinked 2

JMJ

I said in an earlier post that the history of the relations between Rome and the SSPX appear to be repeating themselves.

Last Time:

Good Cop: Private people in high places contacting Bishop Fellay
Bad Cop: Cardinal Levada

This year's version ...

Good Cop: Archbishop Pozzo
Bad Cop: Bp. Semeraro

I post Rorate's translation below. This seems to give weight to Mr. Verrecchio's "Reports of openness to SSPX greatly exaggerated".

So what we have is an official notification from Cardinal Mueller (sp) and an unofficial communication that indicates a compromise on the part of Rome.

Then we have the "schismatic" accusation being trotted out ... yet again (see below and Rorate for some astute commentary).

Now some will automatically accuse the Pope of being two-faced.

I offer a slightly different though equally possible explanation (even if it isn't as plausible).

This is simply a cultural backlash because the Pope has allowed the concessions made by Archbishop Pozzo.

What will happen next is, frankly, predictable: The rift within the Church will continue to widen, until the real schism becomes apparent.

I don't think we'll have long to wait. I believe it will be 'soon'.

P^3

Postscript: Of course this could also be the modernist dialectic at work - putting the two extremes into a cage match.

Source: Rorate-Caeli

Suburbicarian Diocese of Albano

NOTIFICATION TO PASTORS [PARISH PRIESTS]

ON THE "SOCIETY OF SAINT PIUS X"

In the past few weeks, requests of clarification have reached the Diocesan Chancery regarding the celebration of Sacraments at the "Society of Saint Pius X" of Albano Laziale.

Regarding it, it is right and proper to point out that the above-mentioned "Society" is not an institution (neither parish, nor association) of the Catholic Church.

This applies even after the decree of the Congregation for Bishops of January 21, 2009, by which the Holy Father Benedict XVI, reaching out in good will in response to reiterated requests by the Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X, revoked the excommunication in which the four Prelated had incurred since June 30, 1988.

This was highlighted by Benedict XVI with his Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church of March 10, 2009:"the Society has no canonical status in the Church, and its ministers – even though they have been freed of the ecclesiastical penalty – do not legitimately exercise any ministry in the Church." (in AAS CI [2009], n. 4, p. 272). The same Benedict XVI, in the following Letter m. p. Ecclesiae Unitatem, of July 2, 2009, added: "the remission of the excommunication was a measure taken in the context of ecclesiastical discipline to free the individuals from the burden of conscience constituted by the most serious of ecclesiastical penalties. However, the doctrinal questions obviously remain and until they are clarified the Society has no canonical status in the Church and its ministers cannot legitimately exercise any ministry." (in AAS CI [2009], p. 710-711).

As a consequence of the above, it is right and proper to restate what had been formulated in the Pastoral Note on the Society of Saint Pius X of [former bishop of Albano] Dante Bernini, in which it can be read:

The Catholic faithful cannot participate at Mass, neither request and/or receive Sacraments from or in the Society. Acting otherwise would mean to break communion with the Catholic Church.

Therefore, any Catholic faithful who requests and receives Sacraments in the Society of Saint Pius X, will place himself de facto in the condition of no longer being in communion with the Catholic Church. A readmission to the Catholic Church must be preceded by an adequate personal path of reconciliation, according to the ecclesiastical discipline established by the Bishop.

It is sincerely saddening that such options [measures], particularly when in reference to the Christian Initiation of Children and Adolescents, be in constrast with the pastoral orientations of the Italian Church and, consequently, with the choices of the Diocese of Albano, where formative paths for the growth and maturation of the life of faith are favored.

To the Parish priests, the duty to give adequate information to the faithful.

From the Albano Chancery, October 14, 2014, Prot. 235/14.

+ Marcello Semeraro, Bishop.

The Vatican and SSPX – An Organizational Culture Perspective

Introduction The recent and continuing interactions between the Vatican and the SSPX have been a great opportunity for prayer and reflection. The basis for the disagreement is theological and not liturgical. As noted by Dr. Lamont (2012), the SSPX theological position on the four key controversial aspects of the Second Vatican Council are base on prior theological work that resulted from relevant magisterial pronouncements. So it is difficult to understand the apparent rejection of the theological position of the SSPX.

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