The Society of St. Pius X has replied to the Vatican and the answer is a positive one.
The Superior of the Lefebrvians, Bishop Bernard Fellay, has signed the Doctrinal pPeamble which the Holy See had presented last September as a condition for the Society to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church and secure canonical regularization.
An official confirmation of the reply should be released in the next few hours. Apparently the text of the Preamble sent by Fellay includes some non-substantial changes compared to the version originally drafted by the Vatican Authorities.
Readers may recall that the Ecclesia Dei commission did not want to make the document (two closely written pages) public because they wanted to leave open the possibility for small changes that would not alter the meaning of the Preamble.
The Preamble includes the “professio fidei”, the profession of faith required by those taking on a role in the Church and ensures “a religious submission of the intellect and will to a doctrine which the Supreme Pontiff or the college of bishops declare concerning faith or morals when they exercise the authentic Magisterium, even if they do not intend to proclaim it by definitive act,” as is the case for the vast majority of the Magisterium‘s documents.
Vatican leaders have reiterated several times that signing the preamble would not mean an end to the “legitimate discussion, study and theological explanation of particular expressions or formulations found in the documents of the Second Vatican Council.”
Now, the preamble, including the changes proposed by Fellay and his signature as Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X will be shown to Benedict XVI.
This reply has long been long awaited by the Pope and in the next few weeks it will put an end to the wound that opened up in 1988 with the illegitimate appointment of bishops by the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Fellay’s reply will probably also be examined by the cardinals of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, during the next “Wednesday” meeting which should take place in the first half of May.
Few extra weeks will be needed for canonical regularization it is likely that the Society be awarded the status of “personal prelature” a new juridical role added to the Canon Law in 1983 and so far adopted only by Opus Dei.
The prelate is a direct subject of the Holy See.
The Society of St. Pius X will keep celebrating mass according to the old Latin rite and they will form their priests in their own seminaries.