Father Christian Bouchacourt -- Superior of the District of South America for the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX/SSPX) -- was interviewed by Fabián Vázquez, of Radio Cristiandad (link on our sidebar), regarding rumors that some priests of the District would join the newly-founded Institute of the Good Shepherd.He reiterated his declaration (see here) that such news was unfounded.
However, that was not the most important part of the interview. Asked about the words of Father Laguérie, Superior of the new Institute that a document which would "restore" the "rights of the Traditional Mass" in "all their dignity" truly existed, and that such document would be released, "certainly in November", here is what Bouchacourt said:
"It may be that there will be a text, that is almost certain, that a text will be released, a document on the authorisation of the Mass but Father [Laguérie] is completely imprudent. It is a thing -- I know it for certain -- uh, all this is conducted in the Vatican in a secret manner. Nobody knows anything. Only the Pope and his collaborators, nothing else, nobody else. [Donc?], to say this is not prudent, because it is, it will, it will create a mess, all of this... one must wait, one must wait, it is said that this authorization shall be for private celebration. I do not know. To speak thus to all sides, urbi et orbi, is completely imprudent. It should not to be done."*
We would stress the following:
-(1) Fr. Bouchacourt's comments are a confirmation of Fr. Laguérie's declaration;
-(2) In all likeliness, Fr. Bouchacourt's source is NOT the same as Laguérie's, which is clear from the fact that there are a few important differences in the degree of "liberalization" mentioned by both.
We certainly respect the prudence of Father Bouchacourt, and these are times which demand utmost prudence -- but, as it usually happens, we felt compelled to publish this news as soon as possible, if only to prevent this very quotable affirmation from becoming a simple "rumor". Declarations from identifiable sources are not "rumors". Please, do note: these are qualified sources, not "Vatican sources", or "undisclosed, secret sources", unless one wishes to call two very serious priests, Frs. Laguérie and Bouchacort, mere rumormongers.
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*Transcript of the original answer: "Puede ser que habrá un texto, eso es casi seguro, que va a salir un texto, un documento sobre la autorización de la Misa, pero el Padre [Laguérie] es totalmente imprudente. Es una cosa -- yo lo sé de manera segura -- eh, todo esto se trata en el Vaticano de manera secreta. Nadie sabe nada. Es unicamente el Papa y sus colaboradores, nada más, nadie más. [Donc?], hablar eso es, no es prudente, porque es, va, va crear un lío todo eso, hay que esperar, hay que esperar, se dice que la autorizacion estará para una celebración privada. Yo no sé. Pero hablar así, en todos lados, urbi et orbi, es totalmente imprudente. No se hace eso."
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Update (Tuesday): A reader sent us a more detailed transcript of the words (available here), which we added, partly, to the original translation (in red). The audio of the interview is available here (the actual answer to the question begins at approximately 11 minutes).
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Update (Tuesday): A reader sent us a more detailed transcript of the words (available here), which we added, partly, to the original translation (in red). The audio of the interview is available here (the actual answer to the question begins at approximately 11 minutes).
