(LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, reportedly told Father Davide Pagliarani, Superior General of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), that documents from the Second Vatican Council cannot “be corrected.”
A communiqué from the SSPX General House published Thursday revealed that, while Fernández has proposed dialogue with the SSPX to clarify the “minimum necessary” for the SSPX’s canonical status, the cardinal has already made clear that the Second Vatican Council documents must be accepted in full by the SSPX to reach such “regular” status.
“The Cardinal stated orally that, while it would be possible to engage in dialogue about the Council, its texts could not be corrected,” the communiqué explained.
During Thursday’s meeting between Fernández and Pagliarani, the cardinal proposed exchanges with the SSPX that would seek agreement on “the different degrees of adherence required by the various texts of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and their interpretation.”
Fernández’s immovability on Vatican II documents chills the likelihood of mutual agreement between the Vatican and the SSPX, given that the Society and its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, have repeatedly and firmly insisted that certain parts of Vatican II texts contradict perennial magisterial Church teaching.
The SSPX’s suspension of its decision to consecrate bishops this summer was named as a precondition for dialogue by Fernández.
Moreover, a communique released after Thursday’s meeting revealed that Fernández threatened Pagliarani and the SSPX with the crime of “schism” if the episcopal consecrations announced by the Society go ahead.
Fernández has asked Pagliarani to present his proposal to the members of his Council and take the time needed to consider it. The superior general will “respond within the next few days,” and “will write directly to Cardinal Fernández and will also make his response known to the faithful,” according to the SSPX.
On Thursday, Pagliarani reportedly “renewed his desire” that the SSPX may continue to operate in its current “exceptional and temporary” situation for the good of souls.
It is notable that Fernández’s demand of SSPX’s full acceptance of Vatican II texts is at odds with Archbishop Guido Pozzo’s clarification in 2016 that “some texts of the Council that are not doctrinal and are thus not binding on the Catholic conscience,” as journalist Maike Hickson put it. Pozzo specifically named texts with which the SSPX takes issue, including Nostra Aetate about interreligious dialogue; the decree Unitatis Redintegratio on ecumenism; and the Declaration Dignitatis Humanae on religious liberty, and explained:
They are not about doctrines or definitive statements, but, rather, about instructions and orienting guides for pastoral practice. On can [thus legitimately] continue to discuss these pastoral aspects after the [proposed] canonical approval [of the SSPX], in order to lead us to further [and acceptable] clarifications.
Thursday’s meeting, proposed by Fernández, followed the Society’s February 2 announcement that they would consecrate new bishops on July 1. Archbishop Lefebvre famously ordained four bishops without the permission of Pope John Paul II on June 30, 1988. He took this step to ensure that Catholic Tradition, as he and the SSPX understood it, would survive in the post Vatican II-era Church.
Lefebvre, together with the new bishops Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson, and Alfonso de Galarreta, were subsequently declared excommunicated latae sententiae by the pope. The excommunications of the four bishops were lifted by Pope Benedict on January 21, 2009; Lefebvre had died on March 25, 1991. As of today, only two of the prelates are still living: Fellay and De Galaretta.