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[b]Pius Believers are Unfortunately Not Anglicans[/b] [b]The Superior General of the Society of Pius X made the point: If Saint Bonifatius had followed the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, there wouldn't be any Catholics in Germany.[/b] [kreuz.net, Fulda] On the past Sunday 1500 Traditionalists made a Pilgrimage to the grave of St. Bonifatius (+754) in Fulda. It is the seventh national pilgrimage of the German District of the Society has undertaken to the tomb of the Saint. The Pontifical Office was celebrated on Sunday by the General Superior of the Society of Pius X, Bishop Bernard Fellay.

Editor: the meeting is interesting, as we've said before, in light of the talks currently taking place each month with the Society of Pius X. It is hard to see, given the previous statements about statements which appear to capitulate the Church's previous positions to the modern world, will square with the resistance shown to the Society's representatives. The fact is, we don't know what is being said about Vatican II, but there is almost no doubt that the concerns that were realized by the Society of Pius X will be dealt with in this meeting and that whatever the...

Sitting over an overpriced gin and tonic at the Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel, I probed the excommunicated bishop about his secret sedevacantism. I didn't toss the issue naked on the table, since he would simply have denied everything. But I knew from several sources that, while the man publicly claimed to accept the legitimacy of then-Pope John Paul II, privately he sowed doubts among his friendlier seminarians. He whispered that the "formal and material heresies" taught by that pope had quite possibly deprived Karol Wotyjla of the throne. That would have left the seat (sede) of...

In response to my own frustration, I prepared a statement for my grown children who were raised in the post-Vatican II church, having been born in the mid-1960's. After floundering in the Novus Ordo churches for many years, my husband and I discovered, by the grace of God, the Catholic Faith was alive and well in a neighborhood SSPX Chapel. By this time, our adult children were suffering from poor catechetics, diluted doctrines, pabulum sermons and undemanding Catholicism. Totally ignorant of the pre-Vatican II church, our return to "Tradition" was confusing and bewildering for them. Where do you begin to...

Editor: The Traditionalists never left the Catholic Church, and it's Bishop Williamson who hasn't denied the Holocaust in Germany where it's a crime to speak one's mind. In any event, these figures for the Church are promising and show that the German people can, as many of them always have, think for themselves. This should also put a bit of a stopper on those Austrian Statistics indicating 100,000 departures. You look at this, after lifting of excommunications, the German Church was still growing. The numbers in departures are climbing only lightly despite the conflict concerning the SSPX: According to the...

Three years after 'Summuorum Pontificum' the German traditionalists are still outdistanced by the Society of Saint Pius X which is by far the best. [kreuz.net] In Germany there are 133 locations, at which the Old Mass is celebrated. The website 'paixliturgique.at' reported on the numbers, which have been published by the organization 'Pro Missa Tridentina'. 58 locations are only celebrated during the week -- without Sundays. That is 43 percent of all the official listed possibilities for participating in the Old Liturgy.

He desired that a Priest of the Society of Pius X would say a Requiem in his parish church. Had he been protestant, he would have had no problem. [Kreuz.net] In the middle of July François died in the village of Troistorrents in the southwest of Switzerland. Troistorrents is a 4000-soul community in the extreme west of the southwest Swiss Canton of Wallis. The deceased had lived his entire life in the village. He was an adherent of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X. Troistorrents is located 44k west of Ecône, where the french speaking Pius seminary is located.

BERLIN — The controversial Society of St. Pius X plans to consecrate three priests June 26 in Germany, a move the local bishop called a "provocation" that could upend a tentative peace with the Vatican. The conservative society, which rejects many of the Catholic Church's modernizing reforms, has long had a difficult relationship with the Vatican. A decision to consecrate four bishops against the orders of Pope John Paul II in 1988 led to excommunications that were lifted in 2009. The Vatican was deeply embarrassed after one of the rehabilitated bishops, Richard Williamson, turned out to be a vocal denier...

—EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW— Bishop Bernard Fellay on the Rosary Crusade and Doctrinal Talks Nearly 20,000,000 Rosaries offered to Holy Father from Traditional Catholics Worldwide! By Brian Mershon REMNANT COLUMNIST, South Carolina (Posted 05/11/10 www.RemnantNewspaper.com) Bishop Bernard Fellay, SSPX, greets the Holy Father Houston, Texas—Superior General Bishop Bernard Fellay of the Society of St. Pius X recently spoke to The Remnant in an exclusive interview following the completion of their third Rosary crusade for the Holy Father on March 25, 2010. Despite Cardinal Kasper’s most recent obvious attempt to “poison the well” and upend the ongoing discussions with the Society’s theologians and...

If you’re a Catholic who’s faithful to the Church’s teaching Magisterium, you’ve probably met up with followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre’s 1988 schism, known as the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). They’re filled with devotion to the Blessed Mother, extremely conservative with regard to most moral issues afflicting the Western world today, and quite reverent before the Blessed Sacrament during their old Latin liturgies. In short, on the surface, adherents to Archbishop Lefebvre’s schism appear to be devout Catholics. It’s easy to sympathize with these folks since most of them have joined the SSPX after being scandalized by contemporary...

Fr. Z has posted an amusing interview wherein our favorite ecumenist, Walter Cardinal Kasper, shares his thoughts about the ongoing dialogue between the Holy See and the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X. Had I the time or the inclination, I would, no doubt, have a field day with most everything that His Eminence had to say about the Holy Father’s pastoral, charitable, and indeed courageous outreach to the estranged SSPX, but the last little bit of the interview especially struck me. “They’ve attacked me as a heretic,” he said with a smile. Asked why the ultra-traditionalists opposed ecumenical dialogue...

The news is just coming in about a ridiculous though widely anticipated judgment from the German court against an outspoken leader in the SSPX movement. I know that denying the Holocaust is illegal in that country, but it shouldn't be. Of course I believe the Holocaust happened, but for the state to outlaw personal opinions, however odd we might think they are, is simply stupid. True, Bishop Williamson has caused plenty of headaches for his fellow members of the SSPX, not to mention for the Holy Father, but even though he may have been highly impolitic in some of his...

The secretary general of the Saint Pius X Society has ordered Bishop Richard Williamson to shut up for real this time. A year or so ago when Bishop Williamson made embarrasing worldwide headlines questioning the holocaust, the SSPX prohibited him from speaking on the subject anymore. Now in advance of his trial in Germany for holocaust denial, the SSPX is telling to stop talking and writing, period. BERLIN - A breakaway ultra-conservative Catholic group ordered British bishop Richard Williamson not to speak in public or testify at his trial for denying the Holocaust, German media reported Thursday.The secretary general of...

New York City, N.Y., Feb 16, 2010 / 06:56 am (CNA).- Fr. Gerald Murray, a canon lawyer and pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church in New York City explained to CNA this week that the current discussions between the Holy See and the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) “hold great promise for progress.”In the latest submission to CNA’s video commentary project, Fr. Murray addressed the origins of the traditionalist society, which was founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in opposition to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.  Then, in 1988, the archbishop ordained four bishops without...

Bishop Richard Williamson, the ultra-traditionalist prelate whose denial of the extent of the Holocaust created an uproar in the Catholic Church and with Jews early last year, has said the discussions at the Vatican to rehabilitate his Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) are a “dialogue of the deaf.” Williamson, one of the four SSPX bishops whose bans of excommunication were lifted by Pope Benedict only days after his controversial views were aired on Swedish television, said the two sides had “absolutely irreconcilable” positions. In a 15-minute interview posted on the French video-sharing website Dailymotion, Williamson discussed a number of...

Pope Benedict XVI Vatican City, Jan 15, 2010 / 11:41 am (CNA).- In an address to members Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at noon on Friday Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the unity he wishes to see in the Catholic Church.  He  expressed his hope for "full communion" with the Society of St. Pius X and the adherence of Anglicans "to the truth received from Christ.""Unity is first and foremost the unity of faith, upheld by the sacred tradition of which Peter's Successor is the primary custodian and defender," said the Pope to...

The year now ending has been a momentous one for Pope Benedict XVI and probably his busiest to date. It began with his highly controversial decision to lift the excommunications on four break-away bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, and more or less ended with his historic decision to facilitate the reception of large groups of Anglicans into the Catholic Church. But in between were many other significant events. The Pope made an eagerly anticipated pilgrimage to the Holy Land, published his first social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), held a Synod of Bishops on Africa,...

It was truly a black Friday in Calgary, as Bishop Frederick Bernard Henry suspended the Extraordinary Form of the Mass in at least two of the locations staffed by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP). The Bishop, as published on the diocesan website, made drastic and forceful measures in the face of the Swine Flu outbreak. Mandatory as of November 9th, the bishop suspended communion on the tongue and from the chalice, stopped shaking hands at the sign of peace, removed the holy water from the fonts, as well as some minor non liturgical changes. When FSSP told the...

Prior to the opening of formal conversations between officials of the Holy See and leaders of the Lefebvrist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), which began on Oct. 26, the mainstream media frequently misrepresented these discussions as a negotiation aimed at achieving a compromise that both sides can live with. That was to be expected from reporters and commentators for whom everything is politics and everything is thus negotiable. Alas, similar misrepresentations came from “Vatican insiders” who suggested that the teaching of the Second Vatican Council was under joint review by the Holy See and the SSPX, which only made...

A Vatican/SSPX Discussion Can Vatican II's Teaching on Religious Liberty Be Reconciled with Tradition? John Salza, J.D. REMNANT GUEST COLUMNIST   Pope Benedict, Cardinal Hoyos, Bishop Fellay (Aug. 2005)(POSTED 11/17/09 www.RemnantNewspaper.com) As the long-awaited dialogue between the Vatican and the Society of Saint Pius X gets underway, one of the more contentious issues that will be on the table is the Second Vatican Council's teaching on religious liberty found in Dignatius Humane (DH).  Following is a brief critique of DH in light of the traditional teachings of the Church. The fact that volumes have been written evaluating whether DH is compatible with tradition demonstrates that...