Preamble for Reonciliation With SSPX Allows Critical Discussion of Vatican II

Edit:  It's time for the neo-Conservatives to start eating some crow.  Wait, you can actually criticize Vatican II and still be Catholic?  Wow.

After conferring the leadership of the Society of St. Pius X, it is likely this document will be signed as it will allow the SSPX to continue its measured and reasonable criticism of the Vatican Council Documents.

In the linked article below, Bishop Fellay describes a phone conversation he had with Cardinal Hoyos wherein the Cardinal admitted that +Fellay could have such reservations and level those criticisms while being Catholic at the same time.

Today, for the sake of objectivity, I must acknowledge that in the doctrinal preamble there is no clear-cut distinction between the inviolable dogmatic sphere and the pastoral sphere that is subject to discussion. The only thing that I can say, because it is part of the press release, is that this preamble contains “certain doctrinal principles and criteria for the interpretation of Catholic doctrine, which are necessary to ensure faithfulness to the Church’s Magisterium and to "sentire cum Ecclesia" [thinking with the Church]. At the same time, it leaves open to legitimate discussion the examination and theological explanation of individual expressions and formulations contained in the documents of Vatican Council II and of the later Magisterium.” There you have it; no more and no less.

Link to here...Dici

Rome Expects Certain Conditions For Reconciliation With SSPX

Edit: apparently there will be ground rules the SSPX will be expected to follow in its resistance to the principles of Vatican II. It's interesting to note, and worth repeating, that many allegedly Catholic Bishops in good standing with the Vatican don't actually follow many principles outlined in the Vatican documents themselves.

This should be interesting.

Also taking into account the concerns and the issues presented by the SSPX regarding the integrity of the Catholic faith considering the hermeneutic of rupture of the Second Vatican Council with respect to Tradition – mentioned by Pope Benedict XVI in his Address to the Roman Curia of December 22, 2005 – the CDF maintains that a fundamental basis of full reconciliation with the Apostolic See is the acceptance of the Doctrinal Preamble which was delivered during the course of today’s (Wed., September 14th, 2011) meeting. This preamble enunciates some of the doctrinal principles and criteria for the interpretation of Catholic doctrine necessary to guarantee fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church and sentire cum Ecclesia (thinking with [the mind of] the Church), while at the same time leaving the theological study and explanation of particular expressions and formulations present in the texts of the Second Vatican Council and of the Magisterium that followed it open to legitimate discussion.

In the course of the same meeting, some elements were proposed regarding a canonical solution for the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, which would follow the eventual and hoped-for reconciliation.

Link to The Vatican Today...

Le Figaro Says "Integristes" Are Reconciling with Rome

Edit: at least this anti-Catholic paper isn't as hostile as the usually dependable Tornielli. Integraliste is much more accurate and appealing than "Lefebrian".

Une réunion historique doit se tenir mercredi matin à Rome entre le Saint-Siège et Mgr Fellay, leader des lefebvristes, laquelle pourrait aboutir dans les semaines qui viennent à leur réintégration dans l'Église catholique.

Au Vatican, les rendez-vous les plus importants ne sont pas les plus spectaculaires. Mardi matin, dans les bureaux les plus discrets de la cité, ceux de la Congrégation pour la doctrine de la foi, va se tenir une rencontre absolument...

Link to Le Fig...

H/t AQ...

General Superior of the SSPX Called to Rome

Edit: the following has been translated from the Society Website of Germany and he requests prayers. This was previously reported by Mundabor.

The General Superior and his two assistants, Father Niklaus Pfluger and Father Alain-Marc Nely have been invited to a special meeting in Rome on 14. September 2011.

 This is according to Father Franz Schmidberger of Germany in the forward to his next newsletter.

Here it is:

"Exactly in this sense we ask you to raise your prayers to heaven for the 14th of September. On this day, on the Feast of the Holy Cross, Msgr Fellay, our honorable General Superior, has been ordered to an audience by Cardinal Levada, the Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, in regard to the outcome of the two year doctrinal talks between the Holy See and the Priestly Society."

It is noteworthy that not only the General Superior, but the General Counsel of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X has been ordered to Rome: The General Counsel consists of the General Superior and his assistants.

The Society has established preparations with the Talks with the Holy See under the direction of Bishop de Galarreta which has been left in a very good climate.

It is generally understood that this meeting will turn to the canonical situation of the Society.

Pope Benedict XVI has lifted the Decree of Excommunication of 1988 on 21. January 2009. (Dekret nachlesen) Since then the Society is no longer "excommunicated", therefore the question of the canonical status is left unanswered all along.

Opponents of the Society of St. Pius X., above all the German Episcopate, have used this as a pretext in the recent past, to deny any collaboration with the Society. Recent examples are the First home Mass of Father Jeindle in the Diocese of Vienna as well as the national Pilgrimage to Altötting in July of this year.

All Catholics, who receive the Sacraments in the churches and chapels of the Society of St. Pius X in Germany, are requested to offer their prayers for this meeting on the Feast of the Holy Cross.

Link to the German District Website...

Bishop Fellay of SSPX Has Mixed Reactions about Clarification: Sees no Reconcilation Short Term

Editor: The future's uncertain and the end is always near.

Clarity is not the Charism of the Conciliar Church

The General Superior of the Society of Pius X has made it clear that a reconciliation with the Vatican is not foreseeable "in the short term".

(kreuz.net, Stuttgart)  The instruction 'Universae Ecclesiae' has affirmed the importance of the Old Mass for the whole Church.

Bishop Bernard Fellay -- the General Superior of the Society of St. Pius X -- said this in a German video interview with the website 'pius.info'.

This occured on Tuesday at during a visit by Msgr Fellay in Stuttgart.

The Bishop was leased that Bishops and Priests will be permited to offer the Old Rite.

At the same time Msgr Fellay sees shadows in the Instruction.

Legitimacy of the New Mass

The Bishop especially criticized number 19 of the Instruction.

It reads: "The faithful who ask for the celebration of the forma extraordinaria must not in any way support or belong to groups which show themselves to be against the validity or legitimacy of the Holy Mass or the Sacraments celebrated in the forma ordinaria or against the Roman Pontiff as Supreme Pastor of the Universal Church."

The General Superior took the entire paragraph to mean that the legitimacy of the New Mass may not be doubted.

Actually, it's a fact "that probably ninety percent of those, who are attending the Old Mass see."

Because: Why should one attend the Old Mass if one is happy with the New -- asked the Prelate.

With this point, the Society is "surely not pleased".

Careful Criticisms

Additionally, Msgr Fellay criticized number 31 of the Instruction. There, the Diocesan Bishops are strenuously forbidden to offer Priestly ordinations in the Old Rite.

The section from 31 reads: 31. "Only in Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life which are under the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, and in those which use the liturgical books of the forma extraordinaria, is the use of the Pontificale Romanum of 1962 for the conferral of minor and major orders permitted."

Bishop Fellay had hoped for the same openness to ordination as with the Mass.

As a whole he greets the new Instruction "with mixed feelings".

As far as that goes, he hopes that the good will grow and that the Old Mass will be more and more celebrated.

No Reconciliation in the Short Term

Of the Conferences with the Vatican, Msgr Fellay said that he remains committed to them.

If it will produce a common clarification or not, only the future can tell.

The Bishop isn't expecting too much.

In the short term he does not see a reconciliation. The Society should not expect that Rome will suddenly say: "I was wrong".

Long term Msgr Fellay hopes for certain emendations -- especially of the Pastoral Council:

"It is very, very difficult, to say anything clear about the results of the Discussions."

Link to original...here.