DICI, the news website of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX/SSPX) presents this fortnight, after months of not very relevant issues, a collection of three very important (or at least interesting) interviews on "the Traditionalist Question". We present below the main excerpts:
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In an interview to the Swiss religious news agency APIC (on May 22), Martin Klöckener, professor of Liturgical Sciences at the University of Fribourg, criticizes the dialogue with the "integrists" (as French and French-minded liberals call Traditional Catholics). The summary of the concerns of "progressives" is clear in his answer to the last question:
It is not simple to envisage how things will develop. The Catholic Church should not forget its engagement in favour of ecumenism, its steps towards the Churches of the Reformation. It is not acceptable that a small, very special group, on the right side of the Catholic Church, block the dialogue of the Church as a whole. One cannot make the sacrifice of these dialogues with the other Churches under the pretext of reaching unity with the integrists. It would be too large a sacrifice.
In an article on the Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Sinhalese Archbishop M. Ranjith, the German newspaper Tagespiegel (May 22 edition) indirectly mentions the Secretary's opinion on the matter of the "Indult" (unfortunately, Tagespiegel did not provide a direct quote of the exact words of the prelate):
For the Indian [sic] bishop, it is not a question of obtaining an indult and an exceptional authorization given to such or such group of faithful eager to celebrate the old Mass once again, but to cause the Church to return to the faith in the presence of God, particularly through the celebration of Eucharistie.
A very relevant interview of Cardinal Ricard, Archbishop of Bordeaux, chairman of the French Episcopal Conference, and member of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, to the Italian news agency Apcom reveals that Rome will take the first step in the months ahead, after the General Chapter of the FSSPX and the election of its new Superior-General. Then [and, we would add, only then, in a coherent sequence of negotiations], it will be up to the Fraternity to respond to the gesture (of an unknown nature) made by the Holy See.
"I believe that the pope wishes to make a gesture to show that the door is not closed, a gesture of benevolence. In the next months, we will see what will be the concrete expression [of this gesture]. Then it will have to be seen whether the Fraternity will take an additional step ".
In the contacts with the movement founded by French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre as of his accession to the See of Peter, Benedict XVI has shown signs of attention which prove his intention to repair the division achieved in 1988 between Abp. Lefebvre and John Paul II.
DICI will probably provide the whole translation of these texts in its next English edition to be published next Saturday.
