by Alberto Carosa.
(An edited version of article published in “Inside the Vatican”, May 2000)
A number of signs suggest that Rome is more willing than
ever to offer support for the “old Mass” and to seek a reconciliation with
traditional Catholics Ä
including with the schismatic Lefebvrists...
The Vatican’s approach to Catholic traditionalists in
general, but also to the Priestly Society of St. Pius X – the group founded by
Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, which went into schism in 1988 – appears to have
taken a sharply new direction, away from intransigence and “no compromise”
and toward an openness and a warm, paternal welcome.
About-face
In November last year, the Vatican response to an
international meeting of the traditionalist Latin Mass society Una Voce
in Rome suggested there was almost no room for negotiation or dialogue.
But in April this year, at a major traditionalist meeting dealing with
Latin liturgies, the Holy See sounded quite different.
It called for ecumenism on the “right” side of the religious
spectrum, pleading with those who have broken with Rome to come back to the
fold. And also in April, Pope John
Paul appointed a vigorous and powerful cardinal to head the Ecclesia Dei
commission – the Vatican office which handles relations with traditional
Catholics [see “An unexpected appointment”]
This suggests that the Vatican has abruptly shifted its policy with
regard to “traditional” Catholics, and with regard to the schismatic
Lefebvrists.
For years the Church has made extensive efforts to open a
process of dialogues and reconciliation with the Orthodox, Protestants, Jews and
Muslims. At the same time, dialogue
with followers of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre was regarded as hopeless.
But on April 4 and 5 in Rome, traditionalists were publicly addressed by
a Vatican official who suggested the same understanding and respect reserved for
non-Catholic communities should be extended to the schismatic followers of
Lefebvre.
Archbishop Camille Perl, secretary of the Pontifical
Commission Ecclesia Dei, made it clear that the Vatican longs to resolve,
and to resolve quickly, its differences with the Lefebvrists.
He began his talk by striking the ecumenical often sounded
by John Paul II, saying his Pontifical Commission is in service to “the unity
of the Church.” Later, the
Archbishop pleaded that bishops allow the traditional Latin Mass (1962 Roman
rite) alongside the new (1972) Mass whenever possible.
Perl referred to traditionalists as wanting to preserve a
Church “without flaws.” In the
past, this type of remark might have been the prologue to a condemnation of
traditionalists for their “rigidity” or “narrowness.” But now the mood seems to have changed. “All who are faithful to Christ, whether bishops, priests
or lay people must understand that time is running out. Now is the time to re-unite all the living forces of the
Church,” Perl said. He said Rome
wants to embrace with paternal affection “all who have preserved and all who
want to preserve their Catholic faith without flaws.”
Why is such unity so urgent now? Perl’s answer: “In order that we may be able to respond
together against religious indifferentism which is increasingly spreading among
Catholics. Now is the time to
overcome liturgical quarrels by giving everybody the chance to live their faith
and liturgy in whatever forms the Church has endorsed.”
New measures?
And Perl went further.
“It is about time to work out the necessary juridical provisions” to
allow greater access to the traditional liturgy, he said.
These norms were “already called for in the Motu Propio (1988)
that provided the traditionalist faithful the guarantee of a normal life within
the Church, where they can and must participate in the new, hoped-for
Evangelization,” he noted.
“The year of the Great Jubilee may be the right moment,
the acceptable time, to end the exclusion of these faithful, who have themselves
heard the Pope’s pledge that there must never again be exclusions,” Perl
added.
Making the link between the ecumenical thrust of the last
40 years and his call for dialogue to end the exclusion of the traditional
Catholics from the mainstream of the Church, he pointedly asked: “If we cannot
end the exclusion of our traditionalist brothers, how credible will our claims
be with regard to our desire to heal much more profound and long-standing
wounds, and to overcome ancient divisions among Christians, such as those
between the Catholic West and the Orthodox East?”
Perl, in his address to the Centre Internationale
d’Etudes Liturgiques (International Centre for Liturgical Studies, CIEL),
lamented the shattering of unity that occurred on June 30, 1988, when Archbishop
Lefebvre, ordained four bishops without a papal mandate and against the
expressed will of the Holy Father. Perl
recounted how John Paul II’s Motu Proprio (July 2, 1988) defined the
Episcopal ordinations as a “schismatic act,” and established the Ecclesia
Dei Commission in an immediate effort to restore unity.
The Holy Father was keenly aware that Lefebvre was not an
isolated figure, but had a large following, he said.
Perl traced the source of this tragic situation to tensions
at the Second Vatican Council, where two interest groups confronted one another:
progressives, in favour of radical “reforms”, and conservatives, not against
true reforms but against radical, untraditional reforms.
In between was the larger middle group of undecided Bishops.
The archbishop noted that the end of the Council, especially its
immediate aftermath, marked the victory of the progressives, and confirmed the
fears of conservatives. The
Council’s intention of “opening the Church to the world,” especially to
“separated Christians,” according to Perl, “was good in itself and a sign
of the will to restore the lost unity. But
this caused also a new breakaway, which can only be described as a tragedy.”
Perl gave a brief account of Lefebvre’s motivations.
He said Lefebvre was convinced that the sweeping secularization of modern
times was corrupting the Catholic priesthood.
After “negative experiences” with French seminaries, “he resolved
to create a seminary for some seminarians who had approached him.”
In an attempt to safeguard the future of the traditional liturgy, in 1970
Lefebvre established the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X. In the mid-1970s, after confrontations with the French
bishops, who opposed his ordination of numerous seminarians, he was suspended a
divinis. Despite his
suspension, he continued with his plans, further expanding his activities and
thus worsening his relations with the Holy See.
But the Vatican nevertheless, in 1987 resumed dialogue with him in hopes
of a possible solution.
In May 1988, the Vatican thought it had an agreement with
him, but at the last minute Lefebvre withdrew his signature and, despite a
formal prohibition y the Holy Father, ordained four new bishops.
As a consequence, the archbishop and his four bishops were excommunicated
and the faithful cautioned to no longer have relations with the Fraternity of
St. Pius X.
The 1988 Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei favoured the
re-introduction of the Latin Mass in the Church by extending the important 1984
indult. At the same time, it
explained “the root cause of this regrettable fracture” as “an incomplete
and contradictory notion of Tradition,” that is, not recognising the living
character of tradition, which came through the Apostles and “develops in the
Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”
Some of Lefebvre’s followers and other traditionalists
accepted this definition, Perl explained, and the pontifical commission was able
to welcome them back into the Church as religious groups, by canonically
erecting them.
Thus, the Fraternity of St. Peter was formed as a Society
of Apostolic Life, which was later on followed by other congregations, such as
the Fraternity of St. Vincent Ferrer, the monastery of Le Barroux and Gap, the
Dominican nuns of the Holy Spirit in Pontcalec, the Mothers of the Cross in
Tanzania, and the Servants of Jesus and Mary in Austria and Germany.
The real problem today, according to Perl, is that, after
the 1988 Motu Proprio many Lefebvrist priests continued to follow the
four excommunicated bishops, claiming the excommunication was invalid.
“The Church of God was afflicted and remains afflicted,” he said.
The Fraternity of St. Pius X now has some 350 priests and
250 seminarians, and scores of churches, schools, youth movements and seminars
supported by thousands of faithful around the world.
Regrettably, Perle remarked, the Ecclesia Dei
Commission was seriously hampered by lack of authority to overcome the
resistance among bishops to the celebration of the pre-Vatican II Mass.
As a result “not a few of the faithful attend the Masses of the St.
Pius X Faternity.”
Test for Ecumenism
Perl returned to his ecumenical comparison toward the end
of his talk, remarking that the Orthodox have a natural sympathy for the
Lefebvrists because of their own attachment to the unchanged Byzantine liturgy,
and are closely watching how he Church of Rome finally deals with its own
traditionalists.
It is impossible to gauge the effect of this latest Vatican
overture. Perl himself recognised
that great obstacles remain, but he also said that though Jubilee miracles could
not be counted on, nevertheless, neither should they be ruled out.
What the appointment of Cardinal Castrillon as the new president of Ecclesia Dei will mean to the call for a renewed dialogue, is unclear. But one thing is certain. Archbishop Perl’s speech suggests that, in 2000, Catholic traditionalists can look toward Rome for more support than at any time in the past generation.
