One step forward, one step back in Vatican-SSPX talks
As well as saying more talks will be needed, the Vatican has expressed concerns over Richard Williamson, the SSPX bishop who says the Holocaust did not happen.
- Alessandro Speciale
- Vatican City
- May 18, 2012
The Vatican's doctrinal office said "further discussions" will be needed with the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) in order to heal a decades-long split within the Roman Catholic Church.
Cardinals and bishops from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith met on Wednesday (May 16) to discuss the response of the SSPX Superior General, Bishop Bernard Fellay, to a Vatican reconciliation proposal delivered last September.
According to a Vatican statement, members of the Vatican doctrinal office drafted a series of "observations" that "shall be taken into consideration in further discussions between the Holy See and the SSPX."
Pope Benedict XVI has actively sought to achieve reconciliation with the conservative breakaway group that rejects most of the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), which include the church's acceptance of religious freedom and ecumenism and its rejection of anti-Semitism.
After Wednesday's meeting, the Vatican also displayed concerns about an emerging rift within the SSPX, and about the positions of some of its leaders.
Earlier this month the French website "Riposte catholique" published letters between Fellay and the group's three other bishops, who are opposed to any reconciliation with Rome while Fellay seemed to favor it.
In light of the "positions taken by the three other bishops of the SSPX," the Vatican warned that "their situation must be treated separately and individually."
The Vatican's chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, mentioned the anti-Semitic statements of SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson as a particular source of concern. Williamson deeply embarrassed Benedict with comments in 2009 that denied the extent of the Holocaust, just as Benedict had lifted the 1988 excommunications of the SSPX bishops.
Full Story: Vatican And Traditionalist SSPX Unity Needs 'Further Discussions'
Source: Huffington Post Religion
Cardinals and bishops from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith met on Wednesday (May 16) to discuss the response of the SSPX Superior General, Bishop Bernard Fellay, to a Vatican reconciliation proposal delivered last September.
According to a Vatican statement, members of the Vatican doctrinal office drafted a series of "observations" that "shall be taken into consideration in further discussions between the Holy See and the SSPX."
Pope Benedict XVI has actively sought to achieve reconciliation with the conservative breakaway group that rejects most of the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), which include the church's acceptance of religious freedom and ecumenism and its rejection of anti-Semitism.
After Wednesday's meeting, the Vatican also displayed concerns about an emerging rift within the SSPX, and about the positions of some of its leaders.
Earlier this month the French website "Riposte catholique" published letters between Fellay and the group's three other bishops, who are opposed to any reconciliation with Rome while Fellay seemed to favor it.
In light of the "positions taken by the three other bishops of the SSPX," the Vatican warned that "their situation must be treated separately and individually."
The Vatican's chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, mentioned the anti-Semitic statements of SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson as a particular source of concern. Williamson deeply embarrassed Benedict with comments in 2009 that denied the extent of the Holocaust, just as Benedict had lifted the 1988 excommunications of the SSPX bishops.
Full Story: Vatican And Traditionalist SSPX Unity Needs 'Further Discussions'
Source: Huffington Post Religion
