The Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa, was in Louvain-la-Neuve (Wallonia, Belgium, home of the post-1968 Francophone Université Catholique de Louvain) this past Monday, and spoke to Belgian daily La Libre, mostly about the abuse scandal. He also had the following to say on former Anglicans and on relations with the Society of Saint Pius X (FSSPX / SSPX):
"In the first case, it is above all a question of confirmation of the faith and, from there, of catechesis. Regarding the problem of the reintegration of the Lefebvrists, I think we were able to clarify the doctrinal problems, even if it is not easy to put all that onto paper. The true problem, the only one for me, is the separation, the human distance dating from 1988."
[Tip: Summorum Pontificum observatus]
Rorate reminder: Fr. Niklaus Pfluger said the following days earlier regarding the doctrinal views of the SSPX and of the Vatican (as distinct from the issue of the proximity of a practical, canonical solution):
“No practical solution without doctrinal agreement” – such was the principle upon which the Society had started the talks with the Holy See. But the negotiations of the past years have revealed that the different positions regarding central questions of doctrine cannot be bridged.
Recent weeks have revealed that the Pope is so much interested in a canonical solution for the Society that he is ready to seal a deal, even if the Society does not recognize the disputed texts of Vatican II and the New Mass.
