A former official at the Vatican office responsible for reaching out to Catholic priests in schism with the church over the Second Vatican Council has been returned to the post. Guido Pozzo, a curial official who was made an archbishop in the interim period, is once again the secretary for the pontifical commission “Ecclesia Dei.” Read more
The superior of the Society of St Pius X has told his followers that no progress has been made in achieving a canonical reconciliation with the Holy See. In a letter to SSPX members, Bishop Bernard Fellay said negotiations with the Holy See in 2012 put the society in “a delicate position”. He said the Read more
The breakaway traditionalist group Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) expelled on Wednesday Bishop Richard Williamson, a British prelate. Williamson sparked a global crisis in Jewish-Catholic relations in 2009 for denying the Holocaust shortly before Pope Benedict XVI readmitted him to the Church. The SSPX announced that Williamson had been “excluded” from its ranks on Read more
The Vatican has no more plans for further talks with Catholic traditionalists who insist the Church must revoke modernising reforms launched five decades ago, a report by Reuters quoted Archbishop Gerhard Mueller, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Catholic News Agency (CNA), however, quoted Mueller as saying hope must be Read more
Pope Benedict’s bid to draw rebel Catholic traditionalists back to the Roman fold seems to have hit a dead end with little apparent hope of a solution, a Reuters report said. Bishop Bernard Fellay, one of the leaders of the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), who Church officials expect will send a formal reply Read more
More internal strife has arisen in the breakaway Catholic Society of St. Pius X, after Bishop Richard Williamson made an unapproved visit to a large group in Brazil. Fr. Christian Bouchacourt, the society’s district superior of South America, said the bishop’s visit was “a serious act against the virtue of obedience” that did not respect Read more
The teachings of the Second Vatican Council have emerged as the main obstacle to reconciliation between the Society of St Pius X and the Holy See. Three conditions for SSPX reconciliation with Rome have been revealed in a letter from its secretary-general, Father Christian Thouvenot, to regional superiors. Part of the first condition is “The Read more
Both the Society of St Pius X and the Vatican have left the door open for further dialogue after an exchange of statements in which the SSPX affirmed it recognises the authority of the Pope over the universal Church. The SSPX issued a statement drafted by 40 of its most senior members who met in Read more
The new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has re-stated that the acceptance of the Second Vatican Council is a prerequisite for the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X to rejoin the Church. “One can only be Catholic if one fully recognizes the faith of the Church. This includes the Second Read more
Today’s startling, and sickening, news of the appointment of Archbishop Gerhard Müller as Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith is just one more nail in the coffin of the hoped for inauguration of a new era of understanding between the Roman authorities of the novus ordo establishment and Catholic traditionalists. This marks a Read more