Vatican says unity with traditionalist SSPX needs ‘further discussions’

The Vatican’s doctrinal office said “further discussions” will be needed with the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) in order to heal a decades-long split within the Roman Catholic Church.

Cardinals and bishops from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith met on Wednesday (May 16) to discuss the response of the SSPX Superior General, Bishop Bernard Fellay, to a Vatican reconciliation proposal delivered last September.

According to a Vatican statement, members of the Vatican doctrinal office drafted a series of “observations” that “shall be taken into consideration in further discussions between the Holy See and the SSPX.”

Pope Benedict XVI has actively sought to achieve reconciliation with the conservative breakaway group that rejects most of the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), which include the church’s acceptance of religious freedom and ecumenism and its rejection of anti-Semitism.

After Wednesday’s meeting, the Vatican also displayed concerns about an emerging rift within the SSPX, and about the positions of some of its leaders.

Earlier this month the French website “Riposte catholique” published letters between Fellay and the group’s three other bishops, who are opposed to any reconciliation with Rome while Fellay seemed to favor it. [more]

SOURCE

AP via Washington Post