While divisions between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X
still exist, representatives from both sides have said the proposal of a
personal prelature appears to be the best option for manifesting unity,
and steps are already being taken to study it.
The SSPX believes “that the Roman authorities consider the personal
prelature to be the canonical structure which best reflects our real
situation,” Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the Society, said
in an interview with Spanish magazine Vida Nueva published Feb. 3.
And when it comes to the Society themselves, he said, “we also think
that the personal prelature is the most appropriate regimen for the
Society in the current circumstances.”
A personal prelature, which is a Church jurisdiction without
geographical boundaries designed to carry out particular pastoral
initiatives, has been on the table for the SSPX for years. At present,
the only personal prelature in the Church is Opus Dei, so should they
take the offer, they would become the second entity to embrace such a
structure.
Despite past hesitancy to accept the prelature in the past, Bishop
Fellay seems to imply that the Society’s opinion on the matter is
changing.
In an interview with Vida Nueva released simultaneously with that of
Bishop Fellay, Archbishop Guido Pozzo, head of Ecclesia Dei – the
Vatican office responsible for doctrinal discussions with the SSPX –
said a “profound examination” is being made of the legal text.
Once this is done a draft of the constitutions will then be presented
to the Holy Father, he said, but stressed that on the Vatican side,
“the necessary condition for the canonical recognition is adherence to
the contents of the Doctrinal Statement that the Holy See presented to
the SSPX.”
The SSPX was founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970 to form
priests, as a response to what he described as errors that had crept
into the Church following the Second Vatican Council.
Its relations with
the Holy See became particularly strained in 1988 when Archbishop
Lefebvre and Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer consecrated four bishops
without the permission of Pope John Paul II.
The illicit consecration resulted in the excommunication of the six
bishops; the excommunications of the surviving bishops were lifted in
2009 by Benedict XVI, and since then, negotiations “to rediscover full
communion with the Church” have continued between the Society and the
Vatican.
In remitting the excommunications, Benedict also noted that
“doctrinal questions obviously remain and until they are clarified the
Society has no canonical status in the Church and its ministers cannot
legitimately exercise any ministry.”
The biggest obstacles for the Society's reconciliation have been the
statements on religious liberty in Vatican II's declaration Dignitatis humanae as well as the declaration Nostra aetate, which it claims contradict previous Catholic teaching.
However, in a sign of goodwill, Pope Francis during the Jubilee of
Mercy extended to the priests of the SSPX the faculty to validly hear
confessions and absolve penitents. He has since extended this faculty
until further notice.
In his interview, Bishop Fellay said there are still hurdles that
need to be jumped before full unity is reached, and that “both today and
yesterday, the main obstacle is the degree of obligation of adherence
to the Second Vatican Council.”
An “important step” was taken when Archbishop Pozzo made a previous
declaration that “certain texts of the Council did not constitute
criteria for Catholicity.” Among these, he said, are texts related to
religious freedom, relations with non-Christian religions, ecumenism,
and liturgical reform.
“If we were able to determine that this is the line of the whole
Church and not of one person or another, that would be decisive,” he
said, but cautioned that there are still several “red lines” the Society
isn’t yet willing to cross.
These lines, he said, are drawn when it comes to documents outlining
“the way in which ecumenism is practiced, including statements very
dangerous for the faith, that make you think all have the same faith;
the liturgical question or the relationship between the Church and the
State.”
“All these are issues on which we will not yield. This is not a
matter of a position or personal point of view, or only peculiar to our
congregation,” he said, adding that the Society upholds “what the Church
has already taught and defined on those issues.”
“We could summarize by saying that the conditio sine quae non (condition without which it is not) is that Rome accept us the way we are.”
Bishop Fellay noted that another point that makes unity difficult the
fact that there is currently “a deep division in the Church between
conservatives and progressives, which reaches to the highest levels.”
“In a certain measure, we are the victims of this dispute, since the
official declaration for our communion with the See of Peter will hardly
be satisfactory for both positions,” he said, but noted that while it’s
hard to place a date when reconciliation will take place, Rome seems to
be more open to a public recognition of “our status as Catholics.”
Responding to labels frequently associated with the Society such as
“ultraconservative” and “sectarian,” Fellay said that if a person wants
to “disqualify” the SSPX with these labels, “then you have to condemn
the entire Catholic Church, throughout its entire history.”
“We simply follow and apply what was practiced by the Church in the
entire world for centuries,” he said, but noted that while “they wanted
to change the Church” in both the pre and post Council era, “we did not
abandon the rich heritage of our Holy Mother the Church.”
“This simple fact is enough to give us a conservative look,” he said,
adding that the Society’s attempts to “defend and protect” themselves
from these type of attacks since the 1970s have been “misunderstood.”
Bishop Fellay also said that despite ongoing points of division, the
process of unification has sped up under Pope Francis. While things
began with St. John Paul II and continued with Benedict XVI, who played
“a very important role,” it seems that “the most important steps were
taken in Francis' pontificate.”
Noting the uptick in priestly vocations within the SSPX, Fellay said
what makes their understanding of the priesthood unique is “the spirit
of the sacrifice of the Cross, of the sacrifice of the altar, which the
priests renews in intimate union with Our Lord, and with which he must
identify himself.”
In his interview, Archbishop Pozzo said that when it comes to the
question of Vatican II, “it’s a false problem to ask if a Catholic can
accept the Council or not.”
“A good Catholic cannot reject it,” he said, “because it is a universal assembly of bishops gathered around the Pope.”
The real problem, then, is with the interpretation of conciliar
documents. Pointing to an idea that came from Benedict XVI, Archbishop
Pozzo said the correct interpretation is that the documents be read “one
in the line of renewal in continuity with tradition.”
“Vatican II must be understood and read in the context of the
tradition of the Church and of her constant magisterium,” he said, but
stressed that “the magisterial authority of the Church cannot stop in
1962.”
“Neither is the magisterium above the Word, written or transmitted,
nor progress, in the best understanding of the mysteries of faith,” he
said, adding that teachings of the Vatican II “have a different degree
of authority, which corresponds to a different degree of adherence.”
Once full reconciliation between the Vatican and the SSPX is reached,
further discussion could take place on certain issues “that are not
proper to the matter of the faith, but of themes that refer to the
pastoral application of conciliar orientations and teachings,” he said,
pointing to the relation between Church and state, ecumenism,
interreligious dialogue and liturgical reform as examples.
“A deeper discussion of these themes could be useful for greater
precision and clarification, in order to avoid misunderstandings or
ambiguities which, unfortunately, are widespread,” he said, explaining
that it’s important to “avoid being rigid” or stuck on “maximum
positions” while claiming to be open to discussion.
However, he said that ongoing dialogue with the SSPX “can
increasingly help to specify the correct interpretation, to avoid
misunderstandings, errors or ambiguities that are present in a certain
way of understanding and interpreting some conciliar teachings.”
Archbishop Pozzo said he is “confident” in the path the Vatican is
taking with the SSPX, explaining that “I am not an optimist nor a
pessimist, but a realist (and) I have confidence we are going in the
right direction.”