Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, held talks on Tuesday with the Superior General of the Society of St Pius X (SSPX) and both pledged to continue their dialogue aimed at achieving a full reconciliation.
Bishop Bernard Fellay rejected earlier attempts under Pope Benedict XVI to forge a formal full reconciliation and 14 months ago Müller said he was ready to declare dialogue with the group over after their continued rejection of the CDF’s stipulation that they accept the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
Tuesday’s meeting was also attended by top CDF officials. In addition to Cardinal Müller, the Vatican said that the CDF was represented by the body’s secretary and under-secretary, Archbishops Luis Ladaria and Augustine Di Noia, and Archbishop Guido Pozzo, the Secretary of the CDF-linked “Ecclesia Dei”, the Pontifical Commission with oversight for relations with SSPX. The Society was represented by Frs Nikolas Pfluger and Alain-Marc Nely.
“During the meeting, the two parties discussed several problems of a doctrinal and canonical nature and agreed to proceed in stages and within a reasonable timeframe towards the desired goal of full reconciliation,” the Vatican said in its statement.
As Bishop of Regensburg, Müller barred the group from carrying out ordinations at its German headquarters, which lay within his diocese.
The website Vatican Insider reported that last December Pope Francis met Bishop Fellay at his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae in the Vatican. Fellay went accompanied by Frs Pfluger and Nely at the invitation of Bishop Pozzo and the two archbishops, and after dinner Fellay approached the Pope and knelt for a blessing, although there was no formal meeting or one-to-one conversation.
Pope Benedict XVI caused controversy in 2009 when he lifted the excommunications of SSPX’s four bishops, including British-born Richard Williamson, whom the Pope was unaware had publicly denied the Holocaust. The four had been ordained without papal permission.
Williamson was expelled from the SSPX in 2012 for challenging the society’s leaders, and has founded a new “Priestly Union of Marcel Lefebvre” in France for priests who leave the SSPX.
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