SSPX Wants “Round 2” of Doctrinal Discussions!The CrisisNov 22
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Nov 22
2h ago
Seraphim1
3hhttps://www.riposte-catholique.fr/ 5Deepl.com translation (improved):
The superior of the FSSPX received at Ecclesia Dei
November 22, 2018
Davide Pagliarani had asked Archbishop Guido Pozzo, Secretary of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, to meet him at the time of his election as Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X. It is possible that he was received informally for the first time.
On 9 November, to the deans of the District of France meeting in Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet, he announced that he would be received in Rome in a fortnight’s time. It has been done: today, November 22, 2018, at 10 a.m., accompanied by Father Emmanuel du Chalard, he was received in Archbishop Pozzo’s office on the ground floor of the Holy Office Palace.
In a frank and cordial discussion, in the usual terms of the communiqués, Father Pagliarani asked Archbishop Pozzo to resume the doctrinal discussions between the SSPX and the Holy See, which had been held in Rome from 2009 to 2011, the SSPX being represented by Bishop de Galarreta and the Fathers Gleize, La Rocque and de Jorna.
In doing so, Father Pagliarani applies the “Galarreta line”, which states that any agreement with the Holy See must be subject to doctrinal clarification, with questions of faith being the basis for the disagreement between Rome and the lefebvrist group. But knowing that previous discussions had examined these disagreements in depth and allowed both sides to clearly identify points of convergence and divergence, how should this request to “iron the dishes” be interpreted?
At first sight, we think of a move to postpone the legal recognition of the FSSPX, which is now repugnant to a significant fringe of priests of the Fraternity, especially French. According to the classic principle that in politics, when you want to bury a problem, you appoint a commission to study it, here you would appoint a new commission for doctrinal studies, not to mention canonical negotiations.
However, another interpretation is possible: knowing that the new leadership of the FSSPX is not of itself hostile to canonical arrangements, such as those recently granted to it (powers to confess, to give extreme unction, to receive marriages), but that it wants to supervise them and avoid that they be interpreted as a beginning of “rallying”, it would put forward this doctrinal request in a symbolic way, to show that the fundamental question remains of this order, even if it means negotiating under the best possible conditions a “renewal of canonical approval”, previously withdrawn from the FSSPX by the Bishop of Fribourg.
The extracts from the acts of the Chapter of Election, which were communicated by Fr. de Jorna to the priests of France, could support this interpretation: "It is up to him[the Superior General], in prudence and when the hour of Providence comes, to take into consideration a change in the canonical status, saving the convocation of a previous Chapter.
Even better, the Chapter specified: “In the hypothesis of a legal structure proposed by Rome, a personal prelature would best adapt to the current reality of the FSSPX”. But the Chapter immediately added: “It would be finalized once the doctrinal question had been resolved in a way that was satisfactory for Tradition”.
“Satisfactorily resolved”? It is understandable: once the FSSPX would be granted a right to non-receipt of the Second Vatican Council. In reality, from the beginning, this is where the knot is: is it possible to have a kind of de facto recognition that one can legitimately hold the doctrine prior to the Council? The paradox is that this may prove easier under Francis than under Benedict XVI."