Rorate Caeli

Card. Koch: SSPX decision on consecrating new bishops coming "soon"

From the Austrian newspaper, Nachrichten:

The first part of the interview, in which the following passage is situated, deals with ecumenism. First there are some questions about the dialogue with the Protestants, as well as a question about progressive and conservative tendencies within the church, and if inner-church ecumenism is required. Then the interviewer asks the Cardinal:

But doesn't this [inner-church dialogue and reconciliation] take place in a very unequal way? Rome does talk with the extremely conservative and difficult Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X. There is no such thing with the progressives.

Card. Koch: "There is a fundamental difference here: On the one hand there are movements and initiatives, on the other hand, there is the Fraternity, which has clear ecclesiastical structures. The Fraternity is faced with the difficult decision of soon consecrating new Bishops [without a mandate from Rome, note from the original author of the article]. If that happens, the end of any form of dialogue has come. This is why it was a concern to Pope Benedict XVI to prevent a schism. In his opinion the church had not, in the past, done everything it could have done to prevent schisms. That is a completely different situation from the one with the reform movements. Needless to say that there must be talks with them, too."

[h/t: reader]

Rorate note. We believe the eminent Cardinal is, with all due respect, mistaken: any such decision by the Society of Saint Pius X is not at all forthcoming, or soon, or any similar term that is preferred.