The Society of St Pius X has defied a Vatican order by ordaining three priests in southern Germany on Saturday. A further eight priests and 10 deacons are to be inducted today by the group at its base in Econe, Switzerland in a ceremony already declared "illegitimate" by the Catholic Church.
The ordinations come five months after Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication of four of the society's bishops, including Holocaust denier Richard Williamson. The lifting was meant as the first step in a process of reconciliation with the fundamentalist group.
About 1,200 people attended Saturday's ceremony at Zaitzkofen near the Bavarian city of Regensburg which saw a Swede, a Pole and a Swiss ordained priests.
A priest in the sect, Stefan Frey, said the society finds itself in a "grey area" with regard to religious law, and deplored the fuss surrounding the ordinations.
The Pope said in March that while the bishops excommunicated by his predecessor John Paul II have been "invited" back into the fold, they "do not (yet) legitimately exercise any ministry in the Church".
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Source (CTHN)
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