03-31-2012, 03:26 PM
A quote from the Vatican communique, as it appears on DICI:
The whole article is at the link below:
http://www.dici.org/en/news/press-review...urnalists/
Looks like there may have been a misunderstanding, fueled by the Press no doubt. Or perhaps it is backpedaling on Rome's part. What say you?
Quote:“During the meeting of September 14, 2011 between Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and president of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, and Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the Society of St. Pius X, the latter was presented with a Doctrinal Preamble, accompanied by a Preliminary Note, as a fundamental basis for achieving full reconciliation with the Apostolic See. This defined certain doctrinal principles and criteria for the interpretation Catholic doctrine, which are necessary to ensure faithfulness to the Church Magisterium and sentire cum Ecclesia.
The response of the Society of St. Pius X to the aforesaid Doctrinal Preamble, which arrived in January 2012, was examined by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before being submitted to the Holy Father for his judgment. Pursuant to the decision made by Pope Benedict XVI, Bishop Fellay was, in a letter delivered today, informed of the evaluation of his response. The letter states that the position he expressed is not sufficient to overcome the doctrinal problems which lie at the foundation of the rift between the Holy See and the Society of St. Pius X.
At the end of today’s meeting, moved by concern to avoid an ecclesial rupture of painful and incalculable consequences, the superior general of the Society of St. Pius X was invited to clarify his position in order to be able to heal the existing rift, as is the desire of Pope Benedict XVI.”
Press commentaries
This communiqué has been the subject of various commentaries which are rather revealing of the professional qualifications of their authors. We will overlook the fact that La Croix’s Roman correspondent, Frederic Mounier, transformed Fr. Nély into Fr. Benelli. The urgency of the story does not always allow the time to verify facts.
More seriously, when he handed this communiqué to the press, Fr. Federico Lombardi, spokesman for the Holy See reported : “Bishop Fellay’s response is expected to be here in about a month.” It does not take long for the headlines in La Vie (formerly Catholic) to immediately read: “Vatican issues an ultimatum to the fundamentalists who want to rejoin Rome.” The “due date” of Fr. Lombardi became an “ultimatum,” which is not quite the same thing, as Jean-Marie Guénois of Le Figaro noted on his Religioblog:
“Bizarre is the only way to describe this distortion of information … While Rome revealed today that another meeting was held this morning between Bishop Fellay, leader of Lefebvrists, and Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in view of coming to an agreement—very difficult indeed—many of our colleagues are speaking of an ‘ultimatum’ issued by the Vatican to find a solution before ‘one month.’ I have read and reread the official communiqué and I find neither the word ‘ultimatum’ nor any trace of a spirit of ultimatum. That is to say, [no trace] of pressure being exerted on the timeframe in reaching a result by forcing a power struggle.”
“Worse, is the assertion that deeply distorted information was released today by the Vatican. Especially since the theme of the ultimatum came from the interpretation of comments by Father Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, who answered a journalist’s question about the ‘timeframe.’ He estimated that the Vatican would anticipate a response in ‘about a month.’ To my knowledge, he did not speak of an ultimatum. Besides, that would be ridiculous for a crisis open for … fifty years, since the opening of the Second Vatican Council!”
The whole article is at the link below:
http://www.dici.org/en/news/press-review...urnalists/
Looks like there may have been a misunderstanding, fueled by the Press no doubt. Or perhaps it is backpedaling on Rome's part. What say you?