Rome is not requiring total acceptance of the teachings of Vatican II a condition of the traditionalist Society of St Pius X (SSPX).
Accepting the Council’s teaching is no longer “a prerequisite for the canonical solution” according to Superior General of SSPX’s Bishop Bernard Fellay.
Fellay made his remarks in an interview published on the Society’s website.
He also disclosed that it was the Vatican approach the Society to begin talks, not vice-versa.
“So the attitude of the official Church is what changed; we did not,” he said. “We were not the ones who asked for an agreement; the Pope is the one who wants to recognise us.”
“We are still not in agreement doctrinally, and yet the pope wants to recognize us. Why? The answer is right in front of us: there are terribly important problems in the church today.”
The reconciliation talks, he said, are a sign that the Catholic Church has begun to recognize it needs to recover traditions and traditional teaching eclipsed by the Second Vatican Council.
Speaking to members of the SSPX who are wary of reconciliation, Fellay said “one of the great dangers is to end up inventing an idea of the church that appears ideal, but is in fact not found in the real history of the church.”
“Some claim that in order to work ‘safely’ in the church, she must first be cleansed of all error. This is what they say when they declare that Rome must convert before any agreement, or that its errors must first be suppressed so that we can work,” he said.
But the reality of the church’s history shows that “often, and almost always, we see that there are widespread errors” and that God calls holy men and women to work within the church to correct the errors, Fellay said.
“We are being asked to come and work just as all the reforming saints of all times did,” he said.
Sources