SSPX rejects Vatican offer for dialogue

In a letter to the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) dated February 18, the society’s superior general Fr Davide Pagliarani said he “cannot accept the perspective and objectives in the name of which the dicastery offers to resume dialogue in the present situation, nor indeed the postponement of the date of 1 July” when it plans to conduct the ordinations.

Fr Pagliarani met the DDF prefect Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández on February 12, 10 days after the SSPX announced the ordination plans. 

The dicastery subsequently published a statement saying Cardinal Fernández had offered to open a “specifically theological dialogue” to establish “the minimum required for full communion with the Church and consequently to demarcate a canonical status” for the SSPX.

In a separate statement, Fr Pagliarani said he would present the proposal to the SSPX council, but also reported that Cardinal Fernández had told him the documents of the Second Vatican Council “could not be corrected”.

“We both know in advance that we cannot agree doctrinally, particularly regarding the fundamental orientations adopted since the Second Vatican Council,” said Fr Pagliarani in his letter to Cardinal Fernández, which the SSPX published on February 19.

“I therefore do not see how a joint process of dialogue could end in determining together what would constitute ‘the minimum requirements for full communion with the Catholic Church’, since – as you yourself have recalled with frankness – the texts of the Council cannot be corrected, nor can the legitimacy of the liturgical reform be challenged.”

In a series of other explanations for the decision, Fr Pagliarani referred to documents issued since 1965 – in particular Redemptor Hominis, Ut Unum Sint, Evangelii Gaudium and Amoris Laetitia, as well as Traditionis Custodes – which he said already determine what the Holy See considers acceptable interpretation of the Council.

The DDF’s public offer of dialogue, he said, which also stated that ordinations would constitute a schism, creates “pressure that is hardly compatible with a genuine desire for fraternal exchanges and constructive dialogue”. The SSPX denies that the ordinations would be schismatic because they would not impart any jurisdiction against the Pope’s will.

FULL STORY

SSPX rejects Vatican dialogue offer (By Patrick Hudson/The Tablet)