Cardinal Müller Sabotages SSPX Reconciliation on His Way Out

Edit: the following is a complete translation of the letter from the Cardinal as confirmed by Rorate and the excerpt of which appeared at the Remnant.  One would almost think that he'd turned over a new leaf, but he was only likely biding his time to strike out before he left.  Here he is in this letter asking for what look more or less like the unsatisfactory conditions expected of the Society before a gaggle of Old Liberal Cardinals (Schönborn, Marx) along with Müller himself were assigned to the committee overseeing the negotiations.

Maybe Ecclesia Dei will throw this letter out and continue as they were before?  Here it is:

From www.medias-presse.info comes the following excerpt of a letter from Cardinal Müller to Bishop Bernard Fellay. According to www.medias-presse.info, Cardinal Müller's letter was communicated to all SSPX members by the SSPX General House.

Excerpt from Cardinal Müller's letter:

“As you know, Pope Francis has many a time manifested his benevolence towards your Priestly Society, granting, in particular, to all priest members the faculty of confessing the faithful validly and by authorizing local Ordinaries to grant licences for the celebration of the marriages of the faithful who follow the pastoral activity in your Society. Furthermore, discussions are continuing concerning questions relative to the full re-establishment of the communion of your Society with the Catholic Church.

In relation to this, with the approbation of the Sovereign Pontiff, I judged it necessary to submit to the Ordinary Session of our Congregation (which met on May 10 last) the text of the doctrinal Declaration which was transmitted to you during the meeting of June 13, 2016, as the necessary condition in view of the full re-establishment of communion. Here are the unanimous decisions of all the members of our Dicastery in this regard:

1) It is necessary to require the adhesion of the members of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X to the new formula of the Professio Fidei dating from 1988 (c.f. annexe). Consequently, it is not sufficient to ask them to express the Professio Fidei of 1962.

2) The new text of the doctrinal Declaration must contain a paragraph in which the signatories declare in an explicit manner their acceptance of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and those of the post-conciliar period, by granting to said doctrinal affirmations the degree of adhesion which is due to them.

3) The members of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X must recognize not only the validity, but also the legitimacy of the Rite of the Holy Mass and of the Sacraments, according to the liturgical books promulgated after the Second Vatican Council.”

www.medias-presse.info adds that Cardinal Müller concluded the letter saying that “during the Audience granted to the Cardinal Prefect on May 20 2017, the Sovereign Pontiff approved these decisions”. The French website also adds that in his accompanying letter to SSPX priests, Father Christian Thouvenot, Secretary General of the SSPX, recalled the words of Bishop Fellay after the meeting of the major superiors in Anzère, Switzerland, on June 28 2016:

“The Society of Saint Pius X does not seek primarily a canonical recognition, to which it has a right because it is Catholic. The solution is not simply juridical. It pertains to a doctrinal position which it is imperative to manifest [...] Divine Providence will not abandon Its Church whose head is the Pope, Vicar of Jesus Christ. That is why an incontestable sign of this restoration will reside in the signified will of the Sovereign Pontiff to grant the means for re-establishing the order of the Priesthood, the Faith and Tradition – a sign which will be, furthermore, the guarantor of the necessary unity of the family of Tradition”.

*** The Professio Fidei of 1988 refers to the Professio fidei et Iusiurandum fidelitatis in suscipiendo officio nomine Ecclesiae exercendo (Formula to be used for the profession of faith and for the oath of fidelity to assume an office to be exercised in the name of the Church) dated July 1, 1988 (coincidentally the day after the 1988 episcopal consecrations in Ecône) and published in the Acta Apostolica Sedis in 1989.

The Profession of Faith is as follows: I, N., with firm faith believe and profess each and everything that is contained in the Symbol of faith, namely:

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God,born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith, I also believe everything contained in the word of God, whether written or handed down in Tradition, which the Church, either by a solemn judgment or by the ordinary and universal Magisterium, sets forth to be believed as divinely revealed.

I also firmly accept and hold each and everything definitively proposed by the Church regarding teaching on faith and morals.

Moreover, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman Pontiff or the College of Bishops enunciate when they exercise their authentic Magisterium, even if they do not intend to proclaim these teachings by a definitive act.

AMDG

Cardinal Hoyos: "The Society of St. Pius X Never Accomplished a Complete Schism"

(Rome) Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos stated in an interview with Rome Reports that the priestly Society of St. Pius X, "has never completed a complete schism".

The emeritus Curial Cardinal from Colombia, was chairman of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei from 2000-2009. Since 2012, this office has been subject to the Prefect of the Roman Congregation for the Congregation for the Faith, Gerhard Cardinal Müller.

Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos repeated what he had said in earlier years, at a time when only a few said it, and many had held the opposite. There were times when "Lefebvrians" were fought as schismatics and sectarians. This has changed since Pope Benedict XVI. Fundamentally changed. The opening of official talks between the Holy See and the Society has led to a clear relaxation. The unconstrained dealings of Pope Francis with the Society has left the progressive part of the Church largely silent.

Rome Reports has published only a small part of a very extensive interview. It can therefore only be reported what has been made public. In this, the cardinal expresses himself as "satisfied" about the "possible solution to the conflict". The Holy See offered canonical recognition to the Society  as a personal prelature. Only Opus Dei has such a legal status.

Castrillon Hoyos has said of the Society, founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970:

"In one case, we have always agreed: they have never taken the path of heresy. They had moments of distance, but they never accomplished a complete schism."

The Cardinal stated that the Society "never created its own jurisdiction" because "to create a jurisdiction outside the jurisdiction of the Church, which means to separate itself."

The cardinal also refused to speak of "Lefebvrians", but the right name of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X.

According to Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, the "majority" of the Society and of the faithful  had "served in full unity with the Church". On statements of Council documents, which are controversial between the Holy See and the Society, the Cardinal said that these were, on the part of the Society, is in part a reaction "to a postconciliar abuse"

"There are points in which there is a lack of complete clarity [formulations suitable for different interpretations, note Rome Reports.] And on these points, many postconciliar actors have treated the subject in a way that is not the correct way of the Council.

There were interpretations that were "neither in the light of the Council nor the Magisterium.

https://youtu.be/Ry2J9oL1u60

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Ecclesia Dei Confirms the Deal is Near

Edit: we don't make any bones about it, this is something we wanted to happen. It was opposed by all the right people, and should have happened shortly before Benedict resigned when the deal was mysteriously and arbitrarily altered. The Society is getting the deal it had initially hoped for, but some people will have to stick a finger in the wound to know this deal has come back from the dead, no doubt, and a few more will have to see it in action.

[Rorate] From Andrea Tornielli, who has been one of the unofficial spokesman for Pope Francis in his pontificate, in an article this morning for La Stampa:

"We are working at this moment in the completion of some aspects of the canonical frame, which will be the Personal Prelature." Archbishop Guido Pozzo, Secretary of the Ecclesia Dei commission, charged with dialogue with the Society of Saint Pius X, confirms [SSPX Superior-General Fellay's words] to Vatican Insider that the stage of full communion with the Lefebvrians is near. The accomplishment of the agreement is now in plain sight, even if some time is still needed.

"Shock Statement" by Bishop Fellay? -- Rome: Talks With SSPX Will Continue After the Summer

Internet site of the Belgian Bishops' Conference Reported a
"Shock Statement" by Bishop Fellay, but in Rome the situation is
being downplayed

(Rome / Menzingen) The publication yesterday of a press release by the Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X led the media to various speculations.  It's the case especially for official media: the more dismissive the attitudes towards the SSPX the more hysterical the reporting. In the Vatican, however, one who is directly involved has downplayed this and strove for reassurance.

From the Church media, who are less than friendly to the SSPX, criticism of Pope Francis was placed in the foreground, for example, by the [very aberrosexual] German section of Vatican Radio. The Internet platform Cathobel of the Belgian Bishops' Conference, which is comparable to Katholisch.de of the German Bishops Conference, even reported a "shock statement" by the Superior General.

This was made with respect to  the following sentence:

"In the great and painful confusion that prevails currently in the Church, the proclamation of Catholic doctrine requires the opposition to errors which - fatally favored by a large number of shepherds, and even the Pope himself -  have penetrated even into her heart"

Other media stressed the statement that the acquisition of a canonical recognition was "not" the primary objective. Thus, the media's tenor is that the SSPX had  "slammed the door  in the face" of Rome and "slammed the door to Rome."

However, the Superior General of the SSPX had also said that this, as a "Catholic work", is a "right" of [official] recognition. 

Archbishop Pozzo: my critique is probably the "quite controversial" Post-Synodal Letter Amoris laetitia

A very different reaction took place in Rome with Curial Archbishop Guido Pozzo.  As secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, it is he who is among those who are directly involved in the talks between the Holy See and the Society founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

Curial Archbishop Guido Pozzo

Msgr. Pozzo sees the declaration as no cause for alarm. The allegations of the SSPX are largely "already known". The Curial Archbishop also expressed his [own] conviction that is sharply critical of Pope Francis referring to  the Post-Synodal Letter Amoris laetitia, particularly on the issue of remarried divorcees that indeed is "quite controversial."

With regard to canonical recognition, so Pozzo, to  the French-speaking news agency I.Media, Bishop Fellay has only brought a "wait and see" attitude.

The declaration is therefore not to be considered as "negative act", which  the French daily La Croix also printed, citing Msgr.Pozzo. However, you'll realize that an imminent solution to the problems is not to be expected.

According I.Media and the Internet platform cath.ch of the Swiss Bishops' Conference,  talks between Rome and the SSPX will continue after the summer.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Cathobel / Vatican Insider (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

Society -- Vatican - Signals of Approach by Both Sides, But no Decision

Priestly Ordination of SSPX in Zaitzkofen

(Menzingen / Rome) Recently, the signals, which seemed to indicate that the talks between the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X and the Holy See have reached  an understanding. The superiors of the SSPX have met since last weekend to exchange ideas. It should also consider the talks with Rome. They also didn't come to any concrete decisions. The conversation with Rome will continue.

"The aim" of  the SSPX "consists mainly in the formation of priests", according to an official statement of the Superior General of the SSPX, Bishop Bernard Fellay. This is "an essential condition for the renewal of the Church and the restoration of society".

Specifically, the positioning is defined in four points, the canonical recognition is "not" identified as the priority target, because the Brotherhood "as a Catholic work" has a "claim" to this.

The Catholic Church is ruled by a "great and painful confusion", which is encouraged by a "large number of shepherds", "up to the pope himself."

Subsequently, the four points in the text.

1. 1. In the great and painful confusion that currently reigns in the Church, the proclamation of Catholic doctrine requires the denunciation of errors that have made their way into it and are unfortunately encouraged by a large number of pastors, including the Pope himself.

2. The Society of Saint Pius X, in the present state of grave necessity which gives it the right and duty to administer spiritual aid to the souls that turn to it, does not seek primarily a canonical recognition, to which it has a right as a Catholic work. It has only one desire: faithfully to bring the light of the bi-millennial Tradition which shows the only route to follow in this age of darkness in which the cult of man replaces the worship of God, in society as in the Church.

3. The “restoration of all things in Christ” intended by Saint Pius X, following Saint Paul (cf. Ep.h 1:10), cannot happen without the support of a Pope who concretely favors the return to Sacred Tradition. While waiting for that blessed day, the Society of Saint Pius X intends to redouble its efforts to establish and to spread, with the means that Divine Providence gives to it, the social reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

4. The Society of Saint Pius X prays and does penance for the Pope, that he might have the strength to proclaim Catholic faith and morals in their entirety. In this way he will hasten the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary that we earnestly desire as we approach the centennial of the apparitions in Fatima.

Subsequently, the communiqué of the Superior General as an audio file in French

The current state of talks with Rome was described by Bishop Fellay recently in the June 12 National Catholic Register published interview.  June 29th Register. [Pentin thinks it's off.]

He said at the time:

"With the new Pope, Pope Francis, we have now entered a new phase, a new situation, which is very interesting, but even more confusing indeed. I call it a paradoxical situation, because - if one wants to say so - it just aggravate the problems, which we condemn, in the Church. At the same time begin, especially in Rome, some voices are loud and acknowledging that something must be done. "

The recently signals were emitted by both sides, nevertheless, that gave rise to suspicions that a canonical recognition of the Fraternity could be imminent by Rome.

Signal of the SSPX

On June 21, the published Salzburger Nachrichten an interview with the Superior General of the SSPX, Bishop Bernard Fellay. Here the bishop sent remarkable signals in Rome: "No bishop shall be entitled to participate rise to the leadership of the Church, if he is not with the Pope and under the Pope." Likewise Bishop Fellay said, the SSPX "has always recognized the primacy of the Pope" and "did not want a separation from Rome for anything in the world."

The valid but illicit episcopal ordinations of 1988, was responded to by  Rome with excommunication, said the General Superior,  that the founder of the Brotherhood, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre,  that the consecrations might have "appeared from the outside" as "an act of disobedience,"  yet they were, however, seen as a "self-defense". Therefore, says Fellay, for the SSPX to affirm: "We are not schismatics, we are not separated from the Church."

Here, the SSPX and the reigning Pope and his immediate circle are not close. Both sides have made no bones about it in the past three years.

Signal of Regensburg Bishop Voderholzer

On June 22, Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg made a public statement on this year's ordinations by the SSPX in Zaitzkofen. It is in his diocese where  the international seminary of the Fraternity for the German-speaking countries and Central Europe resides. Bishop Voderholzer designated in the ordinations of the SSPX as "harmless". He signaled the fact that the ordinations are officially "tolerated".

In the past, there was a different sound. The incumbent Cardinal Prefect of the CDF, Gerhard Müller had criticized the annual ordinations as Bishop of Regensburg and Voderholzer's predecessor, as an "act of schism" and "provocation".

Since then, things have changed.

Signals from Rome

In early May the Catholic Internet newspaper Nuova Bussola Quotidiana wrote that Rome and the SSPX  that things " have never been so close."  It's an assessment that seemed to find indirect confirmation in May in reports from the German media, including the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitungand and the Spiegel , whose evident intention of it seemed to be to torpedo any agreement.

On April 1,  Bishop Fellay surprised the public when he was  received by Pope Francis. The conversation was "good," it was said, coming from both sides. As the Bishop reported a few days later in a sermon, the Pope had recognized the SSPX without limitation as "Catholic" and encouraged the Society  to establish a seminary in Italy.

Curial Archbishop Guido Pozzo, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei , who is responsible for the traditional communities, had told the SSPX that it could proceed without problems on this year's ordinations. The Ecclesia Dei Commission reports directly to Cardinal Müller. It can therefore be assumed that the new course is also represented in its meaning.

2012 has been agreement already within reach

In 2012 the reconciliation between Rome and the Fraternity seemed well within close reach. The Superior General Fellay had then traveled to Rome in June in the conviction that they had reached an agreement that would lead to canonical recognition of the SSPX.  At the last moment the agreement fell apart, for reasons still not exactly clarified: a chronicle of events .

Since then, there  is still the persistent rumor, that this "failure" of the multi-year discussions had ripened  Benedict XVI's intention to resign. He had been barely elected pope in 2005, and invited Hans Küng from the modernist side and Bishop Fellay of the traditionalist side for a personal interview to Rome. While he had no further steps with Küng, he began detailed theological talks with the SSPX.

Under Pope Benedict XVI. the SSPX was asked to the sign a "Doctrinal Preamble" that was highly controversial in the Society. It was sometimes even regarded as an affront because it demanded much more than was demanded from other Catholics as a commitment.

In September 2014 Cardinal Müller began the talks new

While after the failure in 2012 began a standstill, an unexpected sign of relaxation followed two years later by Pope Francis. It was initiated by Cardinal Prefect Müller, the end of September 2014. Bishop Fellay was received in Rome, wherewith the talks were resumed, although parallel, a confidant of the Pope to the faithful who receive the sacraments at the SSPX priests, even threatened with excommunication .

Late 2014 and early 2015 endowed Cardinal Walter Brandmüller and Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider from institutions of SSPX visits. Then Rome recommended the recognition of the community founded in 1970, " as it is ".

There has since been no more talk of a doctrinal preamble. In autumn 2015 Rome presented the Society a new proposal. Since then it has been in question.

"Expression of will of the Pope" with personal prelature

Last February Curia Archbishop Pozzo stressed, however, that "the clear expression of will of the Pope was to promote the canonical recognition of the SSPX".

Unchanged are the offer of Rome, the SSPX in the event of an agreement, to be canonically recognized in the form of a personal prelature. It's an offer that is certainly recognized by the SSPX as generous.

So far only Opus Dei has this legal form which ensures the community the greatest possible autonomy and independence from local bishops. With a bishop at the head of a personal prelature it has, unlike the other religious orders and communities, its own bishop.

The Opus Dei was recognized with the status of  a personal prelature in 1982. Since 1994, Msgr. Javier Echevarria is the only prelate of a  personal prelature in  the Catholic Church. He is quite thoroughly opposed to the recognition of the SSPX  as the second personal prelature.

According to Vatican legal experts commissioned by Pope Francis working on the offer for canonical establishment, the SSPX should - reportedly - be granted even more rights  than the Opus Dei has currently.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Seminary of the Sacred Heart (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

Pope Invokes New Evangelization to Encourage the Society for Saint Pius X For Jubilee of Mercy

Edit: does Bishop Athanasius Schneider have the Pope's ear? Apparently so, since he has heard many good things about the Society, and that Bishop Schneider was visitor.

Apparently, "all are welcome".  Here is the text:

To My Venerable Brother Archbishop Rino Fisichella President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization

With the approach of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy I would like to focus on several points which I believe require attention to enable the celebration of the Holy Year to be for all believers a true moment of encounter with the mercy of God. It is indeed my wish that the Jubilee be a living experience of the closeness of the Father, whose tenderness is almost tangible, so that the faith of every believer may be strengthened and thus testimony to it be ever more effective. 

My thought first of all goes to all the faithful who, whether in individual Dioceses or as pilgrims to Rome, will experience the grace of the Jubilee. I wish that the Jubilee Indulgence may reach each one as a genuine experience of God’s mercy, which comes to meet each person in the Face of the Father who welcomes and forgives, forgetting completely the sin committed. To experience and obtain the Indulgence, the faithful are called to make a brief pilgrimage to the Holy Door, open in every Cathedral or in the churches designated by the Diocesan Bishop, and in the four Papal Basilicas in Rome, as a sign of the deep desire for true conversion. Likewise, I dispose that the Indulgence may be obtained in the Shrines in which the Door of Mercy is open and in the churches which traditionally are identified as Jubilee Churches. It is important that this moment be linked, first and foremost, to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and to the celebration of the Holy Eucharist with a reflection on mercy. It will be necessary to accompany these celebrations with the profession of faith and with prayer for me and for the intentions that I bear in my heart for the good of the Church and of the entire world. 

Additionally, I am thinking of those for whom, for various reasons, it will be impossible to enter the Holy Door, particularly the sick and people who are elderly and alone, often confined to the home. For them it will be of great help to live their sickness and suffering as an experience of closeness to the Lord who in the mystery of his Passion, death and Resurrection indicates the royal road which gives meaning to pain and loneliness. Living with faith and joyful hope this moment of trial, receiving communion or attending Holy Mass and community prayer, even through the various means of communication, will be for them the means of obtaining the Jubilee Indulgence. My thoughts also turn to those incarcerated, whose freedom is limited. The Jubilee Year has always constituted an opportunity for great amnesty, which is intended to include the many people who, despite deserving punishment, have become conscious of the injustice they worked and sincerely wish to re-enter society and make their honest contribution to it. May they all be touched in a tangible way by the mercy of the Father who wants to be close to those who have the greatest need of his forgiveness. They may obtain the Indulgence in the chapels of the prisons. May the gesture of directing their thought and prayer to the Father each time they cross the threshold of their cell signify for them their passage through the Holy Door, because the mercy of God is able to transform hearts, and is also able to transform bars into an experience of freedom. 

I have asked the Church in this Jubilee Year to rediscover the richness encompassed by the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. The experience of mercy, indeed, becomes visible in the witness of concrete signs as Jesus himself taught us. Each time that one of the faithful personally performs one or more of these actions, he or she shall surely obtain the Jubilee Indulgence. Hence the commitment to live by mercy so as to obtain the grace of complete and exhaustive forgiveness by the power of the love of the Father who excludes no one. The Jubilee Indulgence is thus full, the fruit of the very event which is to be celebrated and experienced with faith, hope and charity. 

Furthermore, the Jubilee Indulgence can also be obtained for the deceased. We are bound to them by the witness of faith and charity that they have left us. Thus, as we remember them in the Eucharistic celebration, thus we can, in the great mystery of the Communion of Saints, pray for them, that the merciful Face of the Father free them of every remnant of fault and strongly embrace them in the unending beatitude. 

One of the serious problems of our time is clearly the changed relationship with respect to life. A widespread and insensitive mentality has led to the loss of the proper personal and social sensitivity to welcome new life. The tragedy of abortion is experienced by some with a superficial awareness, as if not realizing the extreme harm that such an act entails. Many others, on the other hand, although experiencing this moment as a defeat, believe that they have no other option. I think in particular of all the women who have resorted to abortion. I am well aware of the pressure that has led them to this decision. I know that it is an existential and moral ordeal. I have met so many women who bear in their heart the scar of this agonizing and painful decision. What has happened is profoundly unjust; yet only understanding the truth of it can enable one not to lose hope. The forgiveness of God cannot be denied to one who has repented, especially when that person approaches the Sacrament of Confession with a sincere heart in order to obtain reconciliation with the Father. For this reason too, I have decided, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, to concede to all priests for the Jubilee Year the discretion to absolve of the sin of abortion those who have procured it and who, with contrite heart, seek forgiveness for it. May priests fulfil this great task by expressing words of genuine welcome combined with a reflection that explains the gravity of the sin committed, besides indicating a path of authentic conversion by which to obtain the true and generous forgiveness of the Father who renews all with his presence. 

A final consideration concerns those faithful who for various reasons choose to attend churches officiated by priests of the Fraternity of St Pius X. This Jubilee Year of Mercy excludes no one. From various quarters, several Brother Bishops have told me of their good faith and sacramental practice, combined however with an uneasy situation from the pastoral standpoint. I trust that in the near future solutions may be found to recover full communion with the priests and superiors of the Fraternity. In the meantime, motivated by the need to respond to the good of these faithful, through my own disposition, I establish that those who during the Holy Year of Mercy approach these priests of the Fraternity of St Pius X to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation shall validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins. 

Trusting in the intercession of the Mother of Mercy, I entrust the preparations for this Extraordinary Jubilee Year to her protection. 

From the Vatican, 1 September 2015