Be that as it may, my
comments appear at the bottom of this page.
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[A Catholic Prelate]
Following
the reactions caused by the recent Decree of the Congregation for
Bishops, with
which the excommunication of the four Prelates of the Fraternity of
Saint Pius
X was remitted, and regarding the negationist or reductionist
declarations on
the Shoah from Bishop Williamson, of the same Fraternity, it is
considered
convenient to clarify a few aspects of past events
1. Remmission
[sic] of the excommunication.
As
already published previously, the Decree of the Congregation for
Bishops, dated
January 21, 2009, was an act by which the Holy Father graciously
responded to
the reiterated requests by the Superior General of the Fraternity of
Saint Pius
X.
His
Holiness desired to remove an obstacle which prevented the opening of a
door to
dialogue. He now expects that an equal disposition will be expressed by
the
four Bishops in complete adherence to the doctrine and the discipline
of the
Church.
The
extremely grave censure of latae sententiae excommunication, in which
the
aforementioned Bishops had incurred on June 30, 1988, then formally
declared on
July 1 of the same year, was a consequence of their illegitimate
ordinarion [sic] by
The
removal of the excommunication released the four Bishops from an
extremely
grave canonical censure, but has not changed the juridical position of
the
Fraternity of Saint Pius X which, at the current moment, does not enjoy
any
canonical recognition by the Catholic Church. Not even the four
Bishops, though
released from the excommunication, have a canonical function in the
Church and
they do not exercise licitly a ministry in it.
2.
Tradition, doctrine, and the Second Vatican Council.
For a
future recognition of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X, the full
recognition of
the Second Vatican Council and of the Magisterium of Popes John XXIII,
Paul VI,
John Paul I, John Paul II, and of the same Benedict XVI is an
indispensable
condition
As it
was already affirmed in the Decree of January 21, 2009, the Holy See
will not
avoid, in the forms judged appropriate, to deepen the the interested
party the
still open questions, so as to be able to reach a full and satisfactory
resolution of the problems which originated this painful division.
3. Declarations
on the Shoah
The
positions of
Bishop
Williamson, for an admission to episcopal functions in the Church, will
also
have to declare, in an absolutely unequivocal and public manner,
distance from
his positions regarding the Shoah, unknown to the Holy Father in the
moment of
the remmission [sic] of the
excommunication.
The Holy
Father asks to be joined by the prayers of all the faithful, so that
the Lord
may enlighten the path of the Church. May the
effort of the Pastors and of all the faithful grow in support of the
delicate
and burdensome mission of the Successor of Apostle Peter as "custodian
of
the unity" in the Church.
From the Vatican, February
4, 2009.
Epilogue
If you can think of
any other accusations with which to attack the Church, please send them
to the
Secretariat of State as soon as possible. That will allow us to add
them to the
arbitrarily evolving conditions required to bring the SSPX bishops back
to the
Church from wherever we may decide they have been.
Please do not allow
facts to worry you. We have prelates who, former acrobats, are capable
of
rearranging or, if need be, dispensing with facts at the drop of a
biretta.
+ [A Catholic Prelate]
____________________________
NOTA DELLA SEGRETERIA DI STATO
A seguito delle reazioni suscitate dal
recente Decreto della Congregazione per i Vescovi, con cui si rimette
la
scomunica ai quattro Presuli della Fraternità San Pio X, e in relazione
alle
dichiarazioni negazioniste o riduzioniste della Shoah da parte del
Vescovo
Williamson della medesima Fraternità, si ritiene opportuno chiarire
alcuni
aspetti della vicenda.
1. Remissione della scomunica.
Come già pubblicato in precedenza, il Decreto
della Congregazione per i Vescovi, datato 21 gennaio 2009, è stato un
atto con
cui il Santo Padre veniva benignamente incontro a reiterate richieste
da parte
del Superiore Generale della Fraternità San Pio X.
Sua Santità ha voluto togliere un impedimento
che pregiudicava l’apertura di una porta al dialogo. Egli ora si
attende
che uguale disponibilità venga espressa dai quattro Vescovi in totale
adesione
alla dottrina e alla disciplina della Chiesa.
La gravissima pena della scomunica latae
sententiae, in cui detti Vescovi erano incorsi il 30 giugno 1988,
dichiarata
poi formalmente il 1° luglio dello stesso anno, era una conseguenza
della loro
ordinazione illegittima da parte di Mons. Marcel Lefebvre.
Lo scioglimento dalla scomunica ha liberato
i quattro Vescovi da una pena canonica gravissima, ma non ha cambiato
la
situazione giuridica della Fraternità San Pio X, che, al momento
attuale, non
gode di alcun riconoscimento canonico nella Chiesa Cattolica. Anche i
quattro
Vescovi, benché sciolti dalla scomunica, non hanno una funzione
canonica nella
Chiesa e non esercitano lecitamente un ministero in essa.
2. Tradizione, dottrina e Concilio Vaticano
II.
Per un futuro riconoscimento della
Fraternità San Pio X è condizione indispensabile il pieno
riconoscimento del
Concilio Vaticano II e del Magistero dei Papi Giovanni XXIII, Paolo VI,
Giovanni Paolo I, Giovanni Paolo II e dello stesso Benedetto XVI.
Come è già stato affermato nel Decreto del
21 gennaio 2009, la Santa Sede non mancherà, nei modi giudicati
opportuni, di
approfondire con gli interessati le questioni ancora aperte, così da
poter
giungere ad una piena e soddisfacente soluzione dei problemi che hanno
dato
origine a questa dolorosa frattura.
3. Dichiarazioni sulla Shoah.
Le posizioni di Mons. Williamson sulla Shoah
sono assolutamente inaccettabili e fermamente rifiutate dal Santo
Padre, come
Egli stesso ha rimarcato il 28 gennaio scorso quando, riferendosi a
quell’efferato genocidio, ha ribadito la Sua piena e indiscutibile
solidarietà con i nostri Fratelli destinatari della Prima Alleanza, e
ha
affermato che la memoria di quel terribile genocidio deve indurre
"l’umanità a riflettere sulla imprevedibile potenza del male quando
conquista il cuore dell’uomo", aggiungendo che la Shoah resta
"per tutti monito contro l’oblio, contro la negazione o il
riduzionismo, perché la violenza fatta contro un solo essere umano è
violenza
contro tutti".
Il Vescovo Williamson, per una ammissione a
funzioni episcopali nella Chiesa dovrà anche prendere in modo
assolutamente
inequivocabile e pubblico le distanze dalle sue posizioni riguardanti
la Shoah,
non conosciute dal Santo Padre nel momento della remissione della
scomunica.
Il Santo Padre chiede
l’accompagnamento della preghiera di tutti i fedeli, affinché il
Signore
illumini il cammino della Chiesa. Cresca l’impegno dei Pastori e di
tutti
i fedeli a sostegno della delicata e gravosa missione del Successore
dell’Apostolo Pietro quale "custode dell’unità" nella
Chiesa.
Dal Vaticano, 4 febbraio 2009
MY
COMMENTS
To
understand what I am about to say, one must avoid
confusing the Holy See with the Roman Curia. The former, of divine
institution,
is embodied in the person of the Supreme Pontiff, whereas the Roman
Curia is at
the service of the Holy See. Thus, for example, the relationship
between the
two is similar to that which exists between a family and its household.
The footmen,
butlers and maids, nannies, etc., of whom a household is composed, do
not
constitute per se the family (although my nanny would probably have
poisoned my
pabulum, had I suggested that she was not “family”!).
Moreover,
one should
not be amazed by the SSPX posing conditions to the Roman Curia.
Conditions are
the soul of negotiations. Thus when a party agrees to negotiate, it
implicitly
agrees that it or and its interlocutor may pose conditions before or
during the
negotiations.
Finally,
a certain diffidence towards
“…the
Holy Father graciously responded to the reiterated requests by the
Superior
General of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X... His Holiness desired to
remove an
obstacle which prevented the opening of a door to dialogue. He now
expects that
an equal disposition will be expressed by the four Bishops in complete
adherence to the doctrine and the discipline of the Church.”
With
all due respect, the lifting of the excommunications
was the second of three conditions posed by the SSPX to establish the
sincerity
of Curial officials when, in 2001,
“For
a future recognition of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X, the full
recognition of
the Second Vatican Council and of the Magisterium of Popes John XXIII,
Paul VI,
John Paul I, John Paul II, and of the same Benedict XVI is an
indispensable
condition”
What
is written above
seems superfluous in light of what I quote below from the May 1988
Protocol of
Accord between the Holy See and Archbishop Lefebvre. Remember, the
Archbishop
did not “withdraw his signature” from the Protocol because of its
contents, but because,
A)
Although the
then Cardinal Ratzinger
assured the Archbishop that the Holy Father allowed him to consecrate a
bishop,
the Secretariat of State was remiss in not allowing the Cardinal to
agree on a
date for the consecration,
B)
“
C)
The Archbishop
never
overcame his unease about the future Vatican commission being composed
exclusively of
Their
doctrine will be uncertain in the Confessional and
the pulpit. They will endure and provoke inordinate problems obeying
superiors
and working with confrères. Formed in neoconservative seminaries, they
confuse orthodoxy
with orthopraxis and (good) behaviourism. Sooner or later we see these
problems
emerge in neoconservative clerics who, ill formed and untried in
neoconservative novitiates and seminaries, confuse the expressions of
Church
crisis with its causes.
Relevant
excerpts from the 1988 Protocol of Accord
I, Marcel Lefebvre,
Archbishop-Bishop emeritus of Tulle, as well as the members of the
Priestly
Fraternity of St. Pius X founded by me:
1. Promise to be always faithful to the Catholic
Church and the Roman Pontiff, her
Supreme Pastor, Vicar of Christ, Successor of Blessed Peter in his
primacy as
Head of the Body of Bishops.
2. We declare our
acceptance of the doctrine contained in number 25 of the
Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium of the Second Vatican Council on
the
ecclesial Magisterium and the adherence which is due to that magisterium.
3. With regard to certain points taught by the Second
Vatican Council or concerning later reforms of the liturgy and law, and
which
seem to us able to be reconciled with the Tradition only with
difficulty, we commit ourselves to have a positive attitude
of study and of communication with the Holy See, avoiding all polemics.
“As
it was already affirmed in the Decree of January 21, 2009, the Holy See
will
not avoid, in the forms judged appropriate, to deepen the the
interested party
the still open questions, so as to be able to reach a full and
satisfactory
resolution of the problems which originated this painful division.”
This,
above, is
Vaticanese. It means we will wait to put pressure on the SSPX bishops
to accept
what they find unacceptable today.
“The
positions of
“Bishop
Williamson, for an admission to episcopal functions in the Church, will
also
have to declare, in an absolutely unequivocal and public manner,
distance from
his positions regarding the Shoah, unknown to the Holy Father in the
moment of
the remission [sic] of the excommunication.”
In
light of the bishops who kill the spirit (soul with the
poisoned fruits of liberalism), one may find the condition above to be
silly. Since Jews
are in control of so much in this world including, it seems,
Finally,
a degree of naiveté seems to bend Roman officials
over backwards to placate Jews, Moslems, Protestants, etc., in ways
that are
not used for traditional Catholics. Now there is a word for that
tendency which
is inherent in the oldest profession in the world. However, usually, I
am told,
the fees of practitioners of that profession are higher than our
friends in
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