Lefebvrists Want to Come Back

Talks between the Vatican and Lefebvrists have begun

2009-10-26 13:20:34 Printer Friendly Send to a Friend

October 26, 2009. Traditional Lefebvrists want to return to the Catholic Church and the Vatican has agreed to start to discuss the conditions for their potential come back.

In the first meeting at the Vatican, the two delegations drafted a plan and work schedule.

The Lefebvrists don’t accept certain points of the teachings of recent popes nor some principles of the Second Vatican Council, like religious freedom, the possibility of dialogue with other religions and churches and collegiality among bishops.

In January, Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication of the bishops ordained irregularly by Marcel Lefebvre.
But since their status is still unclear they’re not considered part of the Catholic hierarchy.

According to their data, Lefebvrists have more than 400 priests, several hundred religious and seminarians and about 100,000 followers worldwide.

PVB/MC - JM

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Santiago, Chile, Oct 22, 2009 / 01:03 pm (CNA).- In an interview with the Chilean daily, “El Mercurio,” the Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X, Bernard Fellay, acknowledged that the Vatican is considering the possibility of converting the Lefebvrist group into a personal prelature as part of the discussions aimed at bringing about reconciliation.

Fellay, who visited members of the SSPX movement in Chile, is one of four bishops whose excommunication was lifted by Pope Benedict XVI last January. Asked about the speculation that the Society of Pius X could be made into a personal prelature similar to Opus Dei, Fellay responded, “There is a lot of truth to that. I think the Vatican is moving towards that kind of canonical solution.”

He also noted that the controversy unleashed by Bishop Richard Williamson’s statements on the Nazi holocaust “was a well-planned attack, not against the Society, but directly against the person of Pope Benedict XVI, in order to tarnish his gesture.”