I thought that statement was a masterpiece of non-communication, myself. The only thing they left out was, "Bless your heart!"
Special report that has not been posted:
The Forum: Vatican-traditionalist talks have checkered history
special to CWNews.com
Rome, Aug. 29 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) meets today, August 29, with Bishop Bernard Fellay, the superior general of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). The meeting is the latest step in a long, contentious relationship between the Holy See and the traditionalist group, which broke with Rome in 1988.
The disagreements between the Vatican and the SSPX can be traced back to the Second Vatican Council (1962- 1965). Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the founder of the Society, was sharply critical of Vatican II statements on ecumenism and religious liberty, and of the liturgical reforms that followed the Council.
In 1970, the French-born prelate founded the Society of St. Pius X, a priestly fraternity dedicated to the exclusive use of the Tridentine rite, which had been the universal form of the Latin Mass from the Council of Trent in the 16th centurty through Vatican II. The archbishop had ecclesiastical approval for establishing the SSPX. But then he took a further step without Vatican approval, founding his own seminary at Econe, Switzerland, to train priests for the Society. After a series of warnings from Rome, in 1976 he was suspended a divinis-- that is, stripped of his permission to minister the sacraments. Archbishop Lefebvre continued to lead the SSPX in defiance of that suspension.
In 1984, in an effort to reach out to traditionalists, Pope John Paul II (bio - news) authorized bishops to allow the celebration of Mass according to the Tridentine rite, and encouraged diocesan bishops to make a "wide and generous" use of this permission. Relations between Rome and Econe were set back by Archbishop Lefebvre's searing criticism of the inter-religious encounter that the John Paul II organized at Assisi in 1986. But hopes for a reconciliation soard in 1988 when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, negotiated a statement in which Archbishop Lefebvre promised fidelity to the Holy See and accepted the teachings of Vatican II and the validity of the Novus Ordo Mass.
When he agreed to that statement in May 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre appeared close to ending his dispute with Rome. But the traditionalist leader then announced that he was committed to ordaining a bishop to succeed him, from the ranks of the SSPX. Pope John Paul II personally wrote to Lefebvre, forbidding the step and warning that the unauthorized ordination of bishops would be a schismatic act. Nevertheless Archbishop Lefebvre remained defiant, consecrating 4 SSPX members (including Bishop Fellay) as bishops on June 30, 1988.
On July 2, 1988, Pope John Paul issue the motu proprio Ecclesia Dei, declaring the SSPX leader guilty of schism and thus excommunicated, along with the bishops he had ordained. At the same time, Ecclesia Dei also established a commission to seek ways of satisfying the legitimate desires of Catholics who seek to preserve the Latin Mass. For the next 12 years there were sporadic exchanges between the Ecclesia Dei commission and the SSPX, but no concrete steps toward reconciliation. The next major movement came with the Jubilee Year 2000. In December 1999, Bishop Fellay met briefly with Pope John Paul. Later in the year, some 5,000 pilgrims of the SSPX visited Rome, and obtained permission to celebration the Tridentine Mass in the basilica of St. John Lateran. In a memorable display, the SSPX pilgrims walked in procession down the Via de la Conciliazione toward St. Peter's basilica, with Bishop Fellay declaring: "If the Pope calls me, I will go-- or rather I will run-- in filial obedience to the head of the Church."
Also in the year 2000, Pope John Paul designated Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos (bio - news), the prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy to head the Ecclesia Dei commission, and asked the Colombian prelate to make every possible effort to achieve a reconciliation with the SSPX.
Bishop Fellay, in negotiations with Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, set two conditions. To allay the fears of traditionalists, he said, the Vatican should retract the decrees of excommunication on the SSPX leaders, and announce that all priests, throughout the world, have the right to use the traditional ritual for the Mass. That second demand was regarded as excessive by some Vatican officials, and negotiations stalled.
In January 2002 there were fresh rays of hope, as the Vatican successfully achieved a reconciliation with another traditionalist group, the Society of St. Jean Vianney in Campos, Brazil. For a brief time, rumors flew around Rome that a separate agreement with the SSPX would soon be reached. The same rumors arose again in May 2003, when Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos himself celebrated the Tridentine Mass in the basilica of St. Mary Major. Bishop Fellay acknowledged that the event was "an important gesture on Rome's part." But no agreement was forthcoming.
The positions of the two sides were hardened again in February 2004, when SSPX members held a press conference outside St. Peter's Square, condemning ecumenism and urging the world's cardinals to join in that condemnation. But in 2004, when the Congregation for Divine Worship issued its instruction Redepemtionis Sacramentum, calling for an end to various liturgical abuses, traditionalists were somewhat reassured. The election of Pope Benedict XVI was also seen by traditionalists as a promising event; Bishop Fellay referred to it as "a gleam of hope."
The SSPX, meanwhile, has had its own internal conflicts. Some hard-line members, including the English-born Bishop Richard Williamson, are deeply suspicious of efforts to reconcile with Rome, while Bishop Fellay is regarded as more favorably inclined toward the Vatican. Plans for today's meeting between Bishop Fellay and Pope Benedict-- which the Vatican did not formally announce-- were disclosed by Bishop Williamson, quite possibly in an effort to complicate the negotiations.
The SSPX today includes 441 priests, active in 59 countries. The traditionalist group claims 200,000 faithful, including 100,000 in France.