Friday, June 28, 2013

SSPX Issues Declaration Formally Condemning Vatican II - Ends Dialogue With Rome

VATICAN CITY — On the 25th anniversary of the illicit ordination of four bishops by traditionalist Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the Society of St. Pius X indicated a definitive break of talks with the Catholic Church.

In a statement June 27, three of the four bishops originally ordained expressed “their filial gratitude towards their venerable founder, who, after so many years spent serving the Church and the Sovereign Pontiff, so as to safeguard the faith and the Catholic priesthood, did not hesitate to suffer the unjust accusation of disobedience."

The document — titled “Declaration on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the episcopal consecrations (30th June 1988 – 27th June 2013)” — is signed by Bishops Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais and Alfonso de Galarreta.
Read the rest here.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Good for them. I wish more Catholics had balls to condemn Vatican II for the monstrosity that it is.

rick allen said...

I also say, "Good for them," but in the sense of "Goodbye and good luck."

I admire Benedict for his willingness to seek the lost sheep, at the cost of much sniping from every direction. But he was absoutely right that the Catholic faith is not a matter for negotiation. One can, of course, judge Vatican II a "monstrosity," as one could so judge Trent, or Nicea, or any ecuminical council. But that has consequences, and I'm glad that both parties have now, in effect, recognized those consequences.

May they do as much good as they can as a separate ecclesial community. As I would say, too, of those who dissent from the left.

bob said...

Papists without a pape. Latin rite protestants. What a joke.

Unknown said...

Why do you say this ends the dialogue with Rome? Bishop Fellay has said repeatedly that he will continue to discuss these issues with Rome, and this document itself says that, 'Meanwhile, faced with this crisis which continues its ravages in the Church, we persevere in the defence of Catholic Tradition and our hope remains entire, as we know by the certitude of Faith that “the gates of hell will not prevail against her."'

May I also say, the reason Athanasius defended Nicea against the Arians is because the Arians were wrong. There was a content, that content had meaning. The comment that Vatican II is like Nicea--ignores the content and goes for the label: they're both councils and therefore everything they say must be right. Wrong! Vatican II deliberately abandoned the protocols for a doctrinal body, for an infallible body. You must argue from the content, you must examine the questions SSPX has raised with theologians from around the world on religious freedom (think free love, please! same heresy), collegiality, and ecumenism. Do you know how the discussions finally ended up? 'SSPX is wrong, Vatican II was right, it is continuous with tradition because the Council and tradition talk about the same subject.' So not theology, so not Catholic, so very ruinous. Rome is today's Arians, and they will either reasonably discuss content or history will cut them down with the continuing crisis. Bishop Fellay is ready to talk. He is standing on the porch in the rain, knocking, and SSPX will keep knocking for as long as it takes. That was his Candlemas sermon.

bob said...

Unknown, If the Roman Catholics are right (I don't think they are) then when the Pope calls a council, it's a COUNCIL. On their reckoning who on earth (precisely) else would they trust? If they say a Pope is wrong, well, they're in the 39 Articles of the Episcopalians. As I said, papists without a pape = protestant. They sure aren't Orthodox. The SSPX folks have painted themselves nicely into a corner as all schismatics eventually do.