World News
Vatican says reconciliation talks with SSPX still ongoing
Published: May 16, 2012
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Reconciliation talks between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X have not reached their conclusion but will continue, the Vatican said May 16, after members of its doctrinal congregation examined the latest communication from the head of the breakaway traditionalist group. "Some observations were formulated which will be kept in mind in further discussions," said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, following a meeting of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Those observations regarded the SSPX's official response to a "doctrinal preamble," prepared by the Vatican in September, outlining "some doctrinal principles and criteria for the interpretation of Catholic doctrine necessary to guarantee fidelity" to the formal teaching of the church, including the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. The response was submitted in April by Bishop Bernard Fellay, the society's superior general. While Bishop Fellay has been generally positive about the possibility of reconciliation with Rome, leaked letters show that the society's three other bishops have had serious reservations about the process. "In consideration of the positions taken by the three other bishops of the Society of St. Pius, their situation will have to be treated separately and individually," Father Lombardi said in a statement. In addition to the hesitancy of the three bishops to support fully Bishop Fellay's efforts, Father Lombardi said, Bishop Richard Williamson's public denials of the Holocaust and anti-Semitic statements also would require discussions separate from those of reconciliation with the SSPX as a whole.
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