SSPX bishop rips Pope Benedict
May. 01 (CWNews.com) - A bishop of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has harshly criticized Pope Benedict XVI and the teachings of Vatican II, raising new questions about the prospects for reconciliation between the Vatican and the schismatic traditionalist group.
Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais said that the Pontiff "has professed heresies in the past." While stopping short of calling the Pope a heretic, he added that "he has never retracted the errors."
The blistering charges by the SSPX bishop are likely to cool expectations of any immediate move to retore ties between the traditionalist group and the Holy See. Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the SSPX, has voiced his disagreements with the Vatican in distinctly more diplomatic terms-- although Bishop Fellay, too, has indicated that he does not expect any quick reconciliation.
In an interview with the traditionalist publication The Remnant, the SSPX prelate charged that Introduction to Christianity, a book published by the future Pope in 1968 is "full of heresies." He said that the errors in the book included "the negation of the dogma of the Redemption."
Bishop Tissier de Mallerais said that he was disappointed with the leadership of Pope Benedict. "It has been year now, and he has done nothing!" he told The Remnant.
The bishop indicated his impatience with efforts to persuade traditionalist Catholics that the teachings of the Second Vatican Council should be interpreted in the light of Church tradition. "You cannot read Vatican II as a Catholic work," he insisted.
He also dismissed criticism that the SSPX is guilty of breaking communion within the Church hierarchy. "'Communion' is nothing; it is an invention of the Second Vatican Council," the bishop said. "'Communion' does not mean anything to me-- it is a slogan of the new Church."
Dear NYer,
There are folks here who said that the SSPX should have dealt with Pope John Paul II, as they likely wouldn't get a better deal after him. Perhaps their crystal balls were especially lucid on that day.
sitetest
Now, when one wishes to copy a non-profit monitoring service (that is our main job here), mentioning it is not completely necessary, but there must be at least a correct interpretation of the facts. It is true that Bishop Fellay, in the Le Figaro article, used the expression "l'élan de réconciliation"-- but, in this case, this cannot be translated as "enthusiasm", as if Rome had "lost the interest" (as some have WRONGLY interpreted). We chose the translation "movement" because Fellay expressly used, after "l'élan de réconciliation" the word "freiné" (that is, "halted", as in "frein", the "brake" of a machine or of a car).This is how Rorate Cæli translated the passage in question yesterday:
How on Earth could this mean that "Rome has lost the interest" if Fellay himself says that the process has been halted, DESPITE the fact that it is willed by Pope Benedict, by forces in the Vatican or elsewhere??? Rome IS the Pope; Fellay says that the Pope wills the process; therefore, Rome has lost no "enthusiasm"... but non-papal forces IN Rome or "elsewhere" have succeded in "braking" it for now.
"My impression," he [Bishop Fellay] explains, "is that the movement to reconciliation willed by the Pope has been halted, at the Vatican or elsewhere".He also recognizes, however, that, in any event, "nothing shall come, undoubtedly, before [their] General Chapter".