For the Record: Ecclesia Dei Secretary confirms Vatican delegation to Superior-General of SSPX to judge a Society priest

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JMJ

In May, Bishop Fellay gave a conference and noted that the CDF has provided him with the authority to judge a case in which charges were brought against a priest of the SSPX.

The CDF provided Bishop Fellay (who from their perspective is suspended) to judge the case of a member of a congregation (who from their perspective does not exist).


Attached below is Rorate's For the Record and a link to the Vatican Insider article.

Vatican Insider: Holy See puts Fellay in charge of trying one of his own priests

Rorate: For the Record: Ecclesia Dei Secretary confirms Vatican delegation to Superior-General of SSPX to judge a Society priest

This action by the CDF is significant because this is objectively the granting (albeit for one case) of one of the six conditions set by the 2012 Chapter of the SSPX.

The six conditions are:

Sine qua non conditions:

1. The freedom to preserve, transmit and teach the sound doctrine of the constant Magisterium of the Church and of the unchangeable truth of divine Tradition; the freedom to prohibit, correct and reprove, even publicly, those who foment the errors or innovations of modernism, liberalism, the Second Vatican Council and their consequences; 
2. The freedom to use the 1962 liturgy exclusively. To preserve the sacramental practice that we presently have (including: Holy Orders, Confirmation, Matrimony); 
3. A guarantee of at least one bishop.

Desirable conditions:

1. Society should have its own tribunals, in the first instance,
2. Exemption of houses of the SSPX from the diocesan bishops,
3. A Pontifical Commission in Rome for Tradition “answering directly to the Pope, with the majority of its members and governing board in favor of Tradition.” 

"A procedural rule was established: the superior general and his council will not exercise their own authority to accept a proposed canonical normalization, but will convoke an Extraordinary General Chapter that will have a deliberative vote, with an absolute majority required for acceptance. "
(Taken from various sources including: CatholicWorldReport)

This reminds me of the measured pace in which the two pre-conditions for discussions were granted by the Church.

Much to pray for!


P^3

PS. I noticed that the 'Resistance' is quite in a lather about this authority being used to judge Bishop Williamson et al.

What rubbish.

The report clearly indicates that it was concerning a single case. That the 'Resistance' rashly assumes it was Bishop Williamson et al is probably due to their exaggerated opinion of their importance.

Like Archbishop Lefebvre said of the sede-vacantists: We can no longer work together ...

That was it.

For the Record: Ecclesia Dei Secretary confirms Vatican delegation to Superior-General of SSPX to judge a Society priest

The revelation came from the Superior-General himself a few days ago, in a sermon in a visit to Arcadia, California, and Archbishop Guido Pozzo, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei confirmed it to La Stampa's Vatican Insider yesterday.

We post the main excerpts here for the record of current events:

[Bp. Fellay] announced it himself during the course of a sermon at Our Lady of the Angels church in Arcadia, California, on May 10, 2015: the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has appointed the Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), Bishop Bernard Fellay, as first-instance judge in a case involving a Lefebvrian priest. The former Holy Office is in charge of dealing with a number of “delicta graviora”. The one that pops up most frequently, is the one involving the sexual abuse of minors. Fellay presented this as an example of the “contradictions” in the Holy See’s approach to the Fraternity.

“We are labeled now as being irregular, at best. “Irregular” means you cannot do anything, and so for example they have prohibited us from saying Mass in the churches in Rome, for the Dominican sisters who had their pilgrimage in Rome in February. They say, “No, you cannot, because you are irregular”. And these people [who] say that, were people of [Pontifical Commission] Ecclesia Dei.”

...

What is new in this case is that the former Holy Office headed by Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller has decided to entrust the case to Mgr. Fellay himself, making him first-instance trial judge. An expression of attention. A sign that the path toward full communion with the Lefebvrians continues, as Archbishop Guido Pozzo confirmed in a statement to Vatican Insider. He archbishop, who is also Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, said: “The decision of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith does not imply that existing problems have been resolved, but it is a sign of benevolence and magnanimity. I see no contradiction here, but rather, a step toward reconciliation.” (source)

The declaration by Bishop Bernard Fellay is available in the video below, from the sermon delivered on May 10 (in English, naturally) -- the specific statements start after 31:00.

Holy See puts Fellay in charge of trying one of his own priests

BERNARD FELLAY

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has appointed the Superior of the Society of St. Pius X, founded by Lefebvre, to be the first-instance trial judge in the case against a Lefebvrian priest who is accused of a serious crime

ANDREA TORNIELLIVATICAN CITY

He announced it himself during the course of a sermon at Our Lady of the Angels church in Arcadia, California, on May 10, 2015: the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has appointed the Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), Bishop Bernard Fellay, as first-instance judge in a case involving a Lefebvrian priest. The former Holy Office is in charge of dealing with a number of “delicta graviora”. The one that pops up most frequently, is the one involving the sexual abuse of minors. Fellay presented this as an example of the “contradictions” in the Holy See’s approach to the Fraternity.

“We are labeled now as being irregular, at best. “Irregular” means you cannot do anything, and so for example they have prohibited us from saying Mass in the churches in Rome, for the Dominican sisters who had their pilgrimage in Rome in February. They say, “No, you cannot, because you are irregular”. And these people [who] say that, were people of [Pontifical Commission] Ecclesia Dei.” 

“Now, sometimes, unfortunately,” Bishop Fellay said, “also priests do silly things, and they need to be punished. And when it is very, very serious, we have to make recourse to Rome. So we do. And what does the Congregation of the Faith do? Well, they did appoint me as the judge for this case.  So I was appointed by Rome, by the Congregation of the Faith, to make judgements, canonical Church judgements on some of our priests who belong to a non-existent Society for them (for Rome,Ed.). And so, once again, a beautiful contradiction indeed.”

This is not the first time the SSPX has made recourse to Rome when it comes to “delicta graviora” and dispensations from priestly obligations. What is new in this case is that the former Holy Office headed by Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller has decided to entrust the case to Mgr. Fellay himself, making him first-instance trial judge. An expression of attention. A sign that the path toward full communion with the Lefebvrians continues, as Archbishop Guido Pozzo confirmed in a statement toVatican Insider. He archbishop, who is also Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, said: “The decision of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith does not imply that existing problems have been resolved, but it is a sign of benevolence and magnanimity. I see no contradiction here, but rather, a step toward reconciliation.”

Readers will recall that another important sign came last April, when the Archbishop of Buenos Aires gave the green light for Lefebvrians to be registered by the Argentinian government as a “diocesan association”. Also, a large group of SSPX pilgrims was allowed to celebrate the Eucharist in Lourdes Basilica.

So why does Fellay speak of a contradiction? His comment was in reference to last February’s pilgrimage to Rome, which saw the participation of 1500 faithful. The pilgrimage was organised by Dominican sisters with links to the SSPX. A request was submitted to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei for mass to be celebrated at the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica. On this occasion, however, the heads of the Commission, decided that the celebration of a mass by a Lefebvrian priest before existing problems were resolved in view of canonical regularisation and full communion would have sent out the wrong signal. Nevertheless, Pope Francis gave his approval to a proposal for the requested mass to be celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica but by an Ecclesia Dei priest and according to the old rite. Leaders of the Fraternity declined the offer.

Still, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s appointment of Fellay as first-instance trial judge, shows that progress is being made in terms of the dialogue between the Church and the SSPX.