The Deacon's Bench
The Lefebvrian General Chapter concluded a few days ago following the Holy See’s request for a response from the Fraternity regarding the doctrinal preamble. By accepting and signing the preamble, the Society of St. Pius X would have received canonical recognition and returned to a full communion with Rome. But the road still looks rough and rocky ahead. In a letter to District Superiors dated 18 July, the Fraternity’s Secretary General, Fr. Christian Thouvenot, provided a summary of the current situation in relations between the Society and the Vatican. The letter contained the absolute (“sine qua non”) conditions presented by the Fraternity to leaders of the Catholic Church in Rome before they can accept the preamble and receive canonical recognition.
Here are the conditions:
1. “The freedom to preserve, share and teach the sound doctrine of the constant Magisterium of the Church and the unchanging truth of the divine tradition and the freedom to accuse and even to correct the promoters of the errors or the innovations of modernism, liberalism, and Vatican II and its aftermath.”
2. The exclusive use of the Liturgy of 1962. The retention of the sacramental practice that we currently maintain (including: orders, confirmation, and marriage).
The letter also includes other conditions which are considered desirable but not essential: the possibility of having a separate ecclesiastical court of the first instance; the exemption of the houses of the Society of St. Pius X from the diocesan bishops and a Pontifical Commission for the tradition of Rome, which depends directly from the Pope, with the majority of the members and the president in favour of tradition.
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