The SSPX Responds

The SSPX has released a media brochure in response to the recent lifting of excommunications as reported last week.

Find it here in .pdf format.

An excerpt with emphasis mine:

The excommunication of the bishops consecrated by His Grace Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, on June 30, 1988, which had been declared by the Congregation for Bishops in a decree dated July 1, 1988, and which we had always contested, has been withdrawn by another decree mandated by Benedict XVI and issued by the same Congregation on January 21, 2009.

We express our filial gratitude to the Holy Father for this gesture which, beyond the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, will benefit the whole Church. Our Society wishes to be always more able to help the pope to remedy the unprecedented crisis which presently shakes the Catholic world, and which Pope John Paul II had designated as a state of “silent apostasy.”

Pope Benedict XVI and the Lifting of SSPX Excommunications

Rumors have been circulating for the last several days in regard to a possible pending statement about to be released by the Vatican in regard to a lifting of Excommunications of at least a portion of the SSPX community. It appears that for once, the rumor mill was passing around accurate information and the pronouncement has been made. Many other blogs are covering the developing news and it is just beginning to hit the secular media.

National Catholic Register has just reported the story today and the brief article by Tom McFeeley can be found here.

If you have never heard of the SSPX or are unsure as to what exactly the story is behind the traditionalist group, see articles linked to below:

Is the Society of St. Piux X Schismatic? - Commentary

Vatican Has Replaced Faith, SSPX Bishop Charges

SSPX Website

For decades now, Catholics who attended Mass at SSPX churches exclusively were participating in an invalid celebration and therefore not in full communion with the Catholic Church. With the new proclamation, we are probably left with more questions than answers. Let us each pray that the Lord's will be done in this, and every matter involving the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

________________

The announcement on Vatican website (in Italian)

The announcement translated into English on the Rorate Caeli Blog

Fr. Z's take on the story

For the latest news, check in at Catholic Culture: News