Pope Benedict XVI's Reasons for lifting the Excommunication of the SSPX Bishops

[Benedict108]

TAKING THE STEPS NECESSARY FOR FULL COMMUNION

VATICAN CITY, 28 JAN 2009 (VIS) - At the end of his general audience today, the Pope mentioned his recent decision to revoke the excommunication on “the four bishops ordained without pontifical mandate by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1988”.

"I have undertaken this act of paternal benevolence because those same bishops have repeatedly expressed to me their profound suffering at the situation in which they found themselves.

“I hope that this gesture of mine will be followed by a prompt commitment on their part to take the further steps necessary to achieve full communion with the Church, thus showing true faithfulness to, and true recognition of, the Magisterium and authority of the Pope and of Vatican Council II”.
AG/FULL COMMUNION/LEFEBVRE VIS 090128 (130)

I got this emailed to me from the Vatican Information Service and thought some of you would find this of interest.

 

[mark_a]

“I hope that this gesture of mine will be followed by a prompt commitment on their part to take the further steps necessary to achieve full communion with the Church, thus showing true faithfulness to, and true recognition of, the Magisterium and authority of the Pope and of Vatican Council II”.

Some folks, like me, are just now starting to understand that a “lifted excommunication” and “full communion” are not exactly the same.

What’s the difference between the two?

 

[Lainey63]

Some folks, like me, are just now starting to understand that a “lifted excommunication” and “full communion” are not exactly the same.

What’s the difference between the two?

There are a few interesting articles on Catholic World News-you have to become a member to read entire articles but its free. The article explains what happened to begin with and that the “bishops have not been given status as regular bishops” and they" remain under suspension without canonical status" it’s pretty easy reading…(which is great for a dummy like me). I stumbled upon this through the ewtn website.