The SSPX: When negotiations are one sided

Rorate Caeli has an excellent post on this history of the dialogue and relationship between Rome and the Society of St. Pius X. It closely aligns with my own view and I strongly recommend it. See also my own post a couple spots down on the blog. Obviously I am not Catholic and so have no dog in this fight. But it would seem to me that if Rome is serious about desiring some sort of reproachment with Orthodoxy, they could start by backing off the alarming claim that the pope has the authority to unilaterally suppress the 1500 year old liturgical patrimony of the Christian West. If such power is claimed over the Latin Rite, why would this super bishop with claimed universal jurisdiction not be able to do the same thing to the liturgical rites of the Christian East? To say that said claim would be a show stopper for any kind of serious dialogue aimed at restoration of communion should be so obvious as not to require further explanation. 

Vatican Declares SSPX Schismatic

No surprise. They consecrated bishops without permission and essentially dared Leo to do something about it. Making matters worse, this is a flagrant second offense after the SSPX asked Benedict XVI to lift the original excommunications. Which he did. The Holy See has made quite a few concessions to a group that since its inception has basically set itself up in judgement over the pope and hierarchy of their own church. So yeah, I think Leo basically saw this as a slap in the face and decided that it was time to, in his own words, "move on." Rome is clearly not inclined to leniency at this point. The entire society including its lay followers are subject to the excommunication. And Rome has issued fairly stringent conditions for their readmission to communion, on an individual and case by case basis. Reading between the lines, this suggests that the Vatican has given up on a corporate return of the Society. 

Pope Leo XIV Issues New Warning to SSPX

Looks like Leo is drawing a line in the sand.

Catholic Schism Likely as SSPX Confirms Episcopal Consecrations without Papal Permission

The announcement

Latin Mass supporters say SSPX controversy has ‘thrown a hand grenade’ into TLM debate

SSPX Plans to Consecrate Bishops (again)

No surprise really. Of the four bishop's Lefebvre consecrated (illicitly under Catholic canon law) back in 1988, two have reposed, one after going off into sedevacantism and general nuttery. The two remaining are getting up there in years and the level of work for them has certainly not diminished in the last 38 years. This is going to throw a lot of gasoline (petrol for our overseas readers) on the slow burning debate over the traditional Catholic liturgical rites, and those attached to them, that Francis loathed. (The feelings were mutual.) Leo XIV had initially planned to address the red hot liturgy war at his recent consistory of Cardinals, but there wasn't enough time and so the matter was tabled for future consideration. But it was still there under the surface. Cardinal Roche disseminated an attack on the Old Rite and basically called for its formal and complete suppression, which provoked indignant rebuttals to His Eminence's frankly lame arguments. 

Now this is going to become quite possibly the first serious crisis of Leo's pontificate. Under Catholic canon law, the consecration of bishops without the sanction of the Holy See is considered an act of formal schism and carries an automatic excommunication. How will Rome and the new Pope respond? 

The formal communique of the Society of St. Pius X.

Richard Williamson Has Died

The schismatic former SSPX Catholic bishop (and antisemite/Holocaust denier) was 84. 

Kyrie eleison. 

SSPX contemplating new bishops?

Fr. Z: SSPX to consecrate more bishops?

I've had my differences with the SSPX in the past. But they do seem to have gone a long way towards putting their house in order when they firmly showed the door to Bp. Williamson and his fellow antisemite/Holocaust deniers. Given the current state of affairs in the Roman Church, they are probably the best available refuge for (small 'o') orthodox Catholics.

FTR I actually met Bp. Fellay around thirty years ago and was much impressed by the man. These are times of extreme crisis and no Orthodox should be indulging in triumphalist pleasure at the catastrophe now in full force within the Catholic Church. 

For the SSPX Bishop Williamson is like a bad cold that you just can't get rid of

A British Catholic priest who has been excommunicated twice by different popes is allegedly harbouring clergy accused of sexual abuse in his renegade religious order.

Richard Williamson, who was illicitly ordained as a bishop in 1988 by an ultra-conservative group, the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), and later convicted of Holocaust denial by a German court, is now head of the “SSPX Resistance”, based in Broadstairs, Kent.

Two Catholic SSPX priests who have been accused of sexual abuse have found a refuge in Williamson’s breakaway movement, according to an investigative documentary to be aired on Swedish television on Wednesday.

The Golden Jail, made by Ali Fegan, a Swedish journalist whose interview with Williamson about his Holocaust denial was broadcast in 2009, claims that the SSPX protected priests and failed to report claims of abuse to the police or civil authorities. Internal canonical trials of two men – one French, one English – were allegedly conducted with Vatican approval.

The English priest, referred to as Father S, left the SSPX before the conclusion of the trial to join the SSPX Resistance in 2014, going to live in Broadstairs. He declined to speak to the documentary team.

The French priest, Father P, was found guilty and banned from working with children. He joined the SSPX Resistance, and was filmed celebrating mass at a church in Bordeaux last November. He also refused to discuss allegations against him with the TV journalists.

Williamson’s movement, also known as Respice Stellam, describes itself as “a group of traditional Catholics who wish to practise their faith without compromise to liberalism or modernism”. It says reforms over recent decades have “contributed and are still contributing to the destruction of the church, to the ruin of the priesthood, to the abolition of the sacrifice of the mass and of the sacraments, to the disappearance of religious life.”

Read the rest here.

From the grapevine

This much is more than rumor. It appears that Pope Francis is to publish an Apostolic Letter on Monday entitled “Misericordia et Misera.” Beyond which multiple sources are suggesting, with no details, that the SSPX will be at least mentioned in the letter.

Hmmm...

Pope Francis grants SSPX authority to hear confessions for one year

This is a significant development with a lot of potential implications. Details can be found here.

Former SSPX Bishop Williamson to Consecrate Bishop(s)

Details at Rorate.

Honestly, is there anyone at all who didn't see this coming?

SSPX Rumors

There has been a meeting but it doesn't appear to have been part of any major warming of relations. The SSPX is throwing cold water on the rumors.

HT: Rorate

What a surprise!

Bishop Williamson (formerly of the SSPX)...

Pope Francis merely expresses more blatantly than his five predecessors the madness of Vatican II. The question remains whether any of the six Conciliar Popes ... can really have been Vicars of Christ. The question is not of prime importance. If they have not been Popes, still the Catholic Faith and morals by which I must “work out my salvation in fear and trembling” (Phil. II, 12) have not changed one iota.

From here. I have been saying for years that in addition to being an all around nut, Williamson is a closet sede vacantist. It seems he is starting to inch out of the closet.

Senior Vatican Official: SSPX is Schismatic

The leaders of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) are in schism, and remain suspended from the sacraments, says the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Archbishop Gerhard Müller said that although Pope Benedict XVI lifted the canonical excommunication of SSPX prelates, they remain suspended from the sacraments because “by their schism they have broken away from communion with the Church.”

Archbishop Müller said that while talks with the SSPX have reach an impasse, the Vatican will not close the door to reconciliation. However, he said, a restoration of full communion would require the SSPX to accept the authority of the Church and of the Pope. 

From here.

Actually the cardinal said they were "de facto schismatic." The distinction is not unimportant among Roman Catholics. But yeah, he is basically affirming what I have been saying for years. I wonder if he reads the blog?

SSPX Disrupts Interfaith Service Marking the Holocaust

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Ultra-traditionalist Catholics have openly challenged Pope Francis by disrupting one of his favorite events, a ceremony that he and Jewish leaders led in the Metropolitan Cathedral each year to promote religious harmony on the anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust.

The annual ceremony brings together Catholics, Jews and Protestants to mark Kristallnacht, the Nazi-led mob violence in 1938 when about 1,000 Jewish synagogues were burned and thousands of Jews were forced into concentration camps, launching the genocide that killed 6 million Jews.
 
A small group disrupted Tuesday night's ceremony by shouting the rosary and the "Our Father" prayer, and spreading pamphlets saying "followers of false gods must be kept out of the sacred temple."

Read the rest here.
 HT: Deacon Greg

Update: SSPX offers to celebrate funeral for Nazi war criminal (updated correction)

The latest from the AP is here.

The Diocese of Rome, presumably with the full approval of the Pope, had forbidden any of its priests from offering the Requiem Mass in public for the unrepentant Nazi. See here for the previous posting on the subject.

Update: Multiple sources are reporting that the priest who intended to offer the Requiem Mass is no longer affiliated with the SSPX. The text of the linked story has also changed drastically overnight.

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.

Trouble in the SSPX?

I am not sure what to make of this. Damian Thompson is a well respected columnist who does have a clue about matters Catholic. But the source he is citing strikes me as questionable. Don't get me wrong, I have long held the view that Williamson is several fries short of a Happy Meal. But I seriously doubt that this watchdog group that supposedly keeps an eye on the lunatic right has a serious grasp of Catholic ecclesiology or the internal politics within the SSPX. Absent some more details, my guess is that this may just be a plot to set up yet another schismatic splinter group. And while Williamson is without a shadow of a doubt an anti-Semitic Holocaust denier who attracts others of a similar ilk, I think they are overstating his influence. Yes there is a nasty undercurrent within the society but it is not as open as Williamson and his crowd.

Ultimately I agree with Thompson's conclusions. The SSPX had their chance but that ship has now sailed. Their mentality (though they heatedly deny it) is basically that they are the Church and Rome needs to run up the white flag. They have been on their own for too long. I doubt they will ever reconcile with Rome. And their baggage is such that the Holy See would be better off just ignoring them.

SSPX: Is time running out?

An interesting post over at Rorate well worth a read on the subject of the SSPX. I don't know what the future holds anymore than anyone else does. But it is exceedingly difficult for me to see the next Pope bending over backwards the way Benedict has to accommodate and reconcile them. As I have said many times, from personal experience, I think the Society is deeply infected with a schismatic mindset which has only hardened over the years. I hope they reconcile with Rome as they could do a lot of good. But I confess that if it happens I will be surprised. And yes, deep down my gut says this may be their last best chance.

Rome Gives Ultimatum to SSPX

Rorate has the details.