It's Official: Pope Repeals Excommunications of SSPX Bishops!

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Freshman88 said:
Such a small price to pay.
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It is always better to reconcile but
(a) many people are decently outraged at Willianson’s comments
(b) the secular medias version, in the absence of at least a Papal condemnation, is going to cause *immense *secular and spiritual harm, in the case of Catholics, would-be Catholics and non-Catholics who know nothing about the SSPX (and they are numerous) and will swallow up this version in the absence of any other. Can you see anyone wanting to belong to a Church which seems to espouse such a view?

Kyrie eleison!
 
thistle said:
Okay I’ve found it.

Its not clear, though, if its saying the excommunications were not valid and so never happened, or if they were valid and are now lifted.
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The document is quite clear on that point - the censure is declared ineffective as of today’s date (the date it was signed, 21 Jan 09). If it was invalid, there would not be an effective date.
 
This is good news. Now the SSPX must respond to regularize relations with the Church.

I pray they do so quickly.
 
AJV said:
It is always better to reconcile but
(a) many people are decently outraged at Willianson’s comments
(b) the secular medias version, in the absence of at least a Papal condemnation, is going to cause *immense *secular and spiritual harm, in the case of Catholics and non-Catholics who know nothing about the SSPX (and they are numerous) and will swallow up this version in the absence of any other.

Kyrie eleison!
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A) So am I and I speak as someone who had much family in concentraion/work camps of the Reich.
B) The salvation of souls is still more important. This is a cross that we can gladly bare:).
 
AJV said:
It is always better to reconcile but
(a) many people are decently outraged at Willianson’s comments
(b) the secular medias version, in the absence of at least a Papal condemnation, is going to cause *immense *secular and spiritual harm, in the case of Catholics, would-be Catholics and non-Catholics who know nothing about the SSPX (and they are numerous) and will swallow up this version in the absence of any other. Can you see anyone wanting to belong to a Church which seems to espouse such a view?

Kyrie eleison!
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I hope the pope will reprimand Williamson, but remember it’s easier for that to happen when RW is subjected to his authority.

How merciful and magnanimous our Holy Father is.
 
AJV said:
The headlines are already out:

Pope rehabilitates Holocaust denier

This PR is not going to turn out well…I hope the Pope at least issues a statement on something against Williamson’s silly comments
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Well if that bishop had made those comments in Austria he would be prosecuted…it’s illegal in Austria to deny the holocaust. Other than that-are sedevacanists and members of SSPX one in the same?
 
Lainey63 said:
Well if that bishop had made those comments in Austria he would be prosecuted…it’s illegal in Austria to deny the holocaust. Other than that-are sedevacanists and members of SSPX one in the same?
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No. The SSPX recognizes the Pope. This is the statement which brought about the lifting of the excommunications:

"We are always firmly determined in our will to remain Catholic and to place all our efforts at the service of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the Roman Catholic Church. We accept its teachings with filial disposition. We believe firmly in the Primacy of Peter and in its prerogatives, and for this the current situation makes us suffer so much."
**
This is from their website:

"The Society of St. Pius X professes filial devotion and loyalty to Pope Benedict XVI, the Successor of Saint Peter and the Vicar of Christ.
The priests of the SSPX pray for the intentions of the Holy Father and the welfare of the local Ordinary at every Mass they celebrate."
 
Dauphin said:
No. The SSPX recognizes the Pope. This is the statement which brought about the lifting of the excommunications:

"We are always firmly determined in our will to remain Catholic and to place all our efforts at the service of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the Roman Catholic Church. We accept its teachings with filial disposition. We believe firmly in the Primacy of Peter and in its prerogatives, and for this the current situation makes us suffer so much."
**
This is from their website:

"The Society of St. Pius X professes filial devotion and loyalty to Pope Benedict XVI, the Successor of Saint Peter and the Vicar of Christ.
The priests of the SSPX pray for the intentions of the Holy Father and the welfare of the local Ordinary at every Mass they celebrate."
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Since November of 2007, when His Holiness released the Motu Proprio, along with the accompanying letter addressed to the Bishops, it should be clear to anyone without bias, to anyone whose expression of filial love to the Pontiff is sincere, to anyone who sincerely wants to follow His Holiness and the direction in which His Holiness is taking the Church, that he himself, Pope Benedict XVI, did not consider the SSPX to be outside of Communion with him or with the Church.

Now that we are presented with the news of this most magnaminous act of the Holy Father, it is unnecessary now, as well as ridiculous to continue to make any assertion in the Society’s defense. The excommunications have been lifted. Let the naysayers nay and let the gaspers gasp.

St. Pius X pray for us
 
I’m confused…I was reading somewhere that just because the decree has been lifted, it doesn’t mean that relations have been normalized? Forgive my teenage ignorance lol but I’m just slightly confused…

Either way, this is indeed a wonderful day!
 
The big question here is whether the abrogation of “juridical effects” associated with the excommunications removes their suspension and supplies them with faculties…
 
Dauphin said:
The big question here is whether the abrogation of “juridical effects” associated with the excommunications removes their suspension and supplies them with faculties…
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As I understand the decree, I would think not. The penultimate paragraph seems to be quite clear that there is still a way to go before full “regularization:”
It is hoped that this step is followed by the prompt accomplishment of full communion with the Church of the entire Fraternity of St. Pius X, thereby demonstrating true fidelity and true recognition of the Magisterium and the authority of the Pope by the proof of visible unity.
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Dauphin said:
The big question here is whether the abrogation of “juridical effects” associated with the excommunications removes their suspension and supplies them with faculties…
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I think we have to wait for that to be clarified.
 
Thank you, my Lord and my God
and
Thank you Pope Benedict XVI.
 
Please forgive my ignorance, and I don’t want to derail this great thread in any way, but why were they excommunicated in the first place?

God bless

Jon
 
JonW said:
Please forgive my ignorance, and I don’t want to derail this great thread in any way, but why were they excommunicated in the first place?

God bless

Jon
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Because Archbishop Lefebvre ordained some bishops against the express instructions of the Pope not to do so. The excommunications were for disobedience.
 
JonW said:
Please forgive my ignorance, and I don’t want to derail this great thread in any way, but why were they excommunicated in the first place?
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In 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated 4 bishops (those covered by today’s decree) without papal mandate. Both the consecrators and consecratees, by that act, were excommunicated latae sententiae.
 
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