SSPX in Argentina recognized as a Catholic institution
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    Interesting news on Rorate this morning about the SSPX being recognized as a "public juridical person within the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church." Their status as a Catholic entity was apparently approved through the intervention of Pope Francis as a personal favor. While Cardinal in Argentina he was approached by the District Superior of South America, Fr. Christian Bouchacourt, for help in the matter.

    What this kind gesture on the part of the Holy Father will portend in the way of their ecclesiastical status is not known, though it certainly improves their civil standing.

    Fr. Christian Bouchacourt was, by the way, the celebrant of the famous 7-part YouTube video series of the Latin Mass at St. Nicolas du Chardonnet in Paris. He is currently the District Superior of France and has been spotted on several occasions giving public speeches defending Catholic tradition on the streets of Paris.

    In other SSPX news, Fr. Hunwicke recently offered, because of his experience in the Anglican ordinariate, to be an intermediary between the SSPX and the Vatican if talks are ever resumed, and I don't think he was joking. Today he jokingly suggested that Bishop Williamson avail himself of the opportunity to go to confession to the papal confessarii at Westminster Cathedral who will be given special faculties to absolve matters usually reserved to the Holy See in the hopes that the excommunication he incurred for the illicit consecration of a bishop may be lifted.
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,933
    What this kind gesture on the part of the Holy Father will portend in the way of their ecclesiastical status is not known


    To quote Mr. Spock, "Only Nixon can go to China."
    Thanked by 2Adam Wood JulieColl
  • stulte
    Posts: 355
    I pray that the situation with the SSPX is brought to a holy and happy conclusion soon!
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    Amen, stulte.
    Thanked by 2Paul_Dang stulte
  • Paul_Dang
    Posts: 15
    BTW, here's the SSPX response to the situation:

    On April 12, 2015, the Argentinian newspaper Clarin announced the decision of the Secretary of Religion, Guillermo R. Oliveri, published in the official bulletin of the Argentine Republic on April 9, 2015; according to this decision the Society of St. Pius X is recognized in Argentina as a juridical person and has been added to the Register of the Institutes of Consecrated Life in which are listed the Catholic orders and religious congregations present in Argentina.

    This decision was made possible, among other formalities, by a letter from the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Mario Aurelio Poli, addressed to the Secretary of Religion as a part of the procedures undertaken by the Society’s authorities in 2011. This letter, in which the archbishop of Buenos Aires “asked that ‘the Society of the Apostles of Jesus and Mary’ (Society of St. Pius X) be considered as an association with diocesan rights, until a definitive juridical framework is granted to it in the universal Church,” is a necessary condition for all religious congregations in Argentina.

    Cardinal Poli’s document has no canonical authority, for he cannot substitute himself for the Roman authority that alone can settle the Society’s canonical status. It is simply a procedure that allows the State of Argentina to make an administrative decision until “a definitive juridical framework is granted (to the Society) in the universal Church.”

    It is important to know that in Argentina, Catholic religious congregations can only exercise their apostolate within an administrative and juridical framework conditioned by their inscription in the register of the Institutes of Consecrated Life, on the ecclesiastical authority’s recommendation.

    The fact that Cardinal Poli is Cardinal Bergoglio’s successor to the archiepiscopal see of Buenos Aires is a legitimate reason to believe that this decision was not taken without consulting Pope Francis. Nonetheless, it is nothing more than a strictly administrative procedure in the restricted context of the Republic of Argentina.

    (Sources: FSSPX-MG/Clarin/BO Rep. Arg. DICI, 4-13-2015)
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    I've deleted a bunch of comments.

    I understand that there are readers who are concerned about the long-term disobedience of the SSPX, and who are right to regard schism with horror. However, it's best for us to avoid making criticisms harsher than what the Holy See itself makes.

    In the past 2-3 years, since the departure of Bp. Williamson and his faction from the SSPX, the Holy See has seen relations improve with the Society. There has been a very substantial change in the mainstream SSPX's attitude toward the Church as Bishop Fellay and Fr. Pfluger have consolidated support.
  • vansensei
    Posts: 219
    Maybe this is because the mainstream Catholic Church is treated with more favor there with status as the state religion, so they want those benefits. I don't know.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    The discussion of this case on Rorate and on Fr. Z's blog clarifies things. SSPX had not registered with the Argentine government in the past as a religious body because it would imply that they are a separate church, which is contrary to their position. But without official registration, they had been subjected to various government-imposed hassles: for example, in obtaining visas for priests. Cardinal Poli has done the group a favor by asking the government to treat them as a Catholic religious order. Pope Francis did the same a few years ago as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, but politicians opposed to the conservative SSPX thwarted his attempt at the time.
    Thanked by 1eft94530
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