Cardinal Says Dignitatis Humanae and Nostra Aetate Are Non-Binding

Edit: this blurb is from Rorate Caeli, which recognizes what was said in earlier weeks by Cardinal Levada, who had said that the Holy Father was willing to concede points on Vatican II as far as the SSPX is concerned.

What this should do is take the wind out of the sails of those critics within the SSPX who are insisting that the Society will not have the opportunity to speak critically on Vatican II and it will also challenge those critics who frequently attack Catholics who are concerned about the binding nature of Vatican II and what doctrines are obliged for us to believe.

All one needs do now the next time one is criticized for questioning Vatican II is to cite Cardinals Levada, Brandmuller and Msgr Bux. All one needs to do when one says that Vatican II's doctrines won't be permitted to be criticized in the Church is to point to +Brandmuller. There he is, doing just that.

In an interview to Radio Vaticana, Abp. Marchetto answered several questions, including the following: Q. – Let us return to the hermeneutic of discontinuity, of rupture, and the hermeneutic of reform: which one prevails today within the Church?

A. – Unfortunately, I must say, the one of rupture prevails. I would rather add that it is acknowledged today that not only the extreme fringe - of what was the majority in the Council -, but also the Traditionalist movements say the same thing. For them also there was a rupture. Therefore, there is still much work to be done.

Catholic News Service recorded some interesting words by Card. Brandmüller, who was also present:

In the book, Cardinal Brandmuller said the SSPX and the Old Catholics who rejected the papal infallibility teaching of the First Vatican Council "have in common a rejection of the legitimate developments of the doctrine and life of the church." While the cardinal described the Old Catholics as having an "insignificant role" in global Christianity today, he said the vitality of the SSPX forces the church "to demonstrate that their protests are unjustified. One can only hope this will happen." Asked about the passage in the book, Cardinal Brandmuller told reporters, "We hope that the Holy Father's attempt to reunify the church succeeds." ...

"There is a huge difference between a great constitution," like the Vatican II constitutions on the church, the liturgy and divine revelation, "and simple declarations," like the Vatican II declarations on Christian education and the mass media. "Strangely enough, the two most controversial documents" for the SSPX -- those on religious freedom [Dignitatis humanae] and on relations with non-Christians [Nostra aetate] -- "do not have a binding doctrinal content, so one can dialogue about them," the cardinal said. "So I don't understand why our friends in the Society of St. Pius X concentrate almost exclusively on these two texts. And I'm sorry that they do so, because these are the two that are most easy to accept if we consider their canonical nature" as non-binding, he said.