Rorate Caeli

Press Release of the Bishop of Regensburg concerning the Ordinations of the Society of Saint Pius X

Bistum Regensburg
June 22, 2016

The Bishop of Regensburg welcomes any initiative to overcome a schism, the rapprochement of groups separated from the Catholic Church and therefore to recover the visible unity of the Church.


The Ordinations announced for Zaitzkofen [Bavaria, Germany] on July 2, 2016, do not represent any danger presently, as the secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, Archbishop Pozzo explains. It does not follow that they are canonically licit, nor an implicit recognition of the licitness of the consecration of the officiating bishop of the Society. The ordinations are only tolerated and accepted, without sanctions. This reflects a favor freely granted by the Holy See in view of a hoped-for convergence of the Society, after a period of intense reflection and examination. The criterion for the recognition of the Society is and remains the full affirmation of the authority of the Second Vatican Council and all its documents (religious freedom, ecumenism etc.). 
[Source, in German]