Scottish Catholic Observer

The traditionalist Society of St Pius X (SSPX) has recognised the authority of the Pope and wants further discussions about reconciliation with the Vatican but remains steadfast about protecting Church teaching from error.

News of these developments came in a declaration from society’s general chapter yesterday that said ‘the supreme power of government over the universal Church belongs only to the Pope, vicar of Christ on earth.’ However a Vatican spokesman said the Holy See was still waiting for an official response from the society to earlier discussions.

The Second Vatican Council

Yesterday’s statement, decided upon at the SSPX’s general chapter last week, said its members remain concerned at they believe to be the errors of the Second Vatican Council.

“As for all the novelties of the Second Vatican Council, which remain tainted with errors, and for the reforms derived from it, the society can only continue to uphold the affirmations and teachings of the constant Magisterium of the Church,” the statement said.

Chapter participants ‘determined and approved the necessary conditions’ for an eventual, full reconciliation with the Vatican, it said. If the conditions are met, ‘an extraordinary chapter with deliberative vote will be convened.’

Members added that they would continue to seek guidance from the ‘constant tradition of the Church’ as they await ‘the day when an open and serious debate will be possible which may allow the return to tradition of the ecclesiastical authorities.’

Holy See’s response

Pope Benedict XVI launched a new series of doctrinal discussions with the SSPX in 2009, lifting excommunications imposed on its four bishops, who were ordained in 1988 without Papal approval, and expressing his hopes they would return to full communion with the Church.

However, Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said yesterday that the Vatican does not consider the statement to be ‘a formal response’ by the SSPX to the last document it asked Bishop Bernard Fellay (above), the society’s superior general, to sign. Because ‘we do not consider it a formal response,’ Fr Lombardi said, the Vatican would not comment on the statement’s content.

“The Holy See has taken note of this declaration, but awaits the forthcoming official communication [of the society as its] dialogue with the Pontifical Commission ‘Ecclesia Dei’ continues,” he said.

Ecclesia Dei now headed by Archbishop Augustine Di Noia, is handling the discussions with the SSPX under the guidance of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Society’s aims

The SSPX statement said members of the general chapter believe ‘the paramount duty of the society, in the service which it intends to offer to the Church, is to continue with God’s help to profess the Catholic Faith in all its purity and integrity with a determination matching the intensity of the constant attacks to which this very Faith is subject nowadays.’

Ending with a prayer, the statement asked Mary ‘to chase the enemies out from inside the Church,’ saying some inside the Church ‘are trying to destroy it more radically than its enemies from outside.’

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