Bishop of Pistoia Against New Chapel of SSPX

Bishop Tardelli with Pope Francis

(Rome) Different bishops, different customs in dealing with the Society of St. Pius X

In October 2015  Archbishop Lorenzo Ghizzoni of Ravenna-Cervia in Romagna invited the SSPX into his archdiocese, so they celebrated in Holy Mass in a parish in the Immemorial  Roman Rite. The Archbishop thus addressed the desire of the faithful who had allowed the celebration of Holy Mass in the Immemorial Rite. The archbishop had also wanted to create another old rite community. Since there is a priory of the SSPX in the near Rimini, he turned to them.

This is unlike Bishop Fausto Tardelli of Pistoia in Tuscany. He does not follow the "openness" towards the SSPX, as practiced by Pope Francis, who accorded the SSPX priests  the right to lawfully and validly dispense the sacrament of Penance for the Holy Year of mercy and offered the possibility of canonical recognition  of the Society.

Bishop Tardelli wrote the faithful of the parish of Montale a letter inviting them not to visit "the lefebvrian private church," which had been built by a citizen of Montale in his house.

Holy Mass in the Traditional Rite in the Villa Tosca

A native of Tyrol, Father Elias Stolz of the SSPX at the first Holy Mass celebragted  in June 2015 in the Villa Tosca

Alessandro Meoni rennovated his family home in the center of Montale, ten kilometers from Pistoia, a remote municipality with around 10,000 inhabitants. In the "Villa Tosca", named after his grandmother, he also built a chapel. He celebrated an "open day" where the citizens of Montale visited the restored Villa in June 2015. The house blessing was connected with a Holy Mass in the traditional rite."An opportunity for the citizens of Montale, to experience again the old Latin Mass," says the local online newspaper NoiDiQua . Since then, a  priest of the SSPX has been celebrating Holy Mass in Montale.

The construction of the chapel earned Meoni  'excommunication' by Bishop Tardelli, as the local newspaper Il Tirreno reported. However, the excommunication was not open to question. The  Bishop's letter was posted at the church door of Montale and read last Sunday during the Holy Mass in the parish church.

The bishop did not call anyone from Montale by name but spoke of the building of the chapel in a "private home without ecclesiastical permission". What was mentioned by name by the bishop, however, was the Society of St. Pius X, who celebrates the liturgy in the chapel.

Bishop: "Truly Catholic faithful stay away"

Bishop Tardelli exhorted the faithful that the SSPX "not an institution (neither a parish nor a society) is the Catholic Church". Despite the "lifting of the excommunication of four prelates of the Fraternity." Pope Benedict XVI was arranged, "remain the doctrinal questions". The bishop stressed the fact that the Society "has no canonical status in the Church"  and "therefore continues to be in an irregular situation" and "not in full communion with the Apostolic See."

"That's enough," said Bishop Tardelli, "that every truly Catholic believer keeps away the celebrations", which take place at the said place. This applies "especially" for those who "Allow and organize celebrations in their privately owned homes."

Msgr. Tardelli, who was appointed by Pope John Paul II., Bishop of San Miniato in Tuscany in 2004, is considered traditional friendly. On May 2013 he took up the invitation of the Coordinamento Toscano Benedict XVI. to participate at the annual pilgrimage of tradition to Our Lady of Montenero. He lived the Holy Mass in the traditional rite, which was celebrated by  Father Serafino Lanzetta of the Franciscans of the Immaculate. A few weeks later a Calvary for the Order began. The Roman Congregation of Religious placed the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, with the approval of Pope Francis, under provisional administration. As deacon and sub-deacon he was then assisted by two priests of the Institute of Christ the King and High Priest, whose seminary is located in Tuscany.

Following the pilgrimage Bishop Tardelli, conferred three adults Confirmation in the traditional rite.

In October 2014 Pope Francis appointed him bishop of Pistoia.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Il Tirreno / NoiDiQua (screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
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