It is also fact that the SSPX is certainly NOT heretical and arguably not schismatic.I would agree that as a body it is not heretical, but I would not agree that as a body it is arguably not schismatic. The Pope excommunicated the Bishops - the Bishops are therefore not in communion - and, as the Cardinal mentioned, those excommunications are still in force, and they are currently undergoing negotiations to restore them to communion. Why would they negotiate if they weren’t schismatic? That would be nonsense. As the Cardinal said his opinion early in these negotiations was that “your Fraternity . . . did not maintain schismatic attitudes.” This does not mean that, in his opinion, they didn’t once maintain those attitudes, or that they are no longer in schism, nor does it even imply such. If they weren’t in schism, his later references to that subject would be silly, and I suggest to you that you should not think this man makes such references, even as diplomatically as he does here, lightly.
Regardless, you keep quoting an opinion of his from early in the discussions, as if that is still his opinion. You need to look at what he has to say after he has spent more time with them:
even if today I am convinced that there are those in your ranks who no longer have the true faith in the authentic Tradition of the Church; those who, without a conversion caused by the Holy Spirit, will return with difficulty to unity, it seems to me.I don’t see how you can think they are anything but schismatic given those words, nor how you can deny that in his view there are those in the Society who clearly have a schismatic mentality.
What has urged me on from the beginning, and causes me to write to you today, is the charity of Christ which compels me not to neglect a single attempt to make unity, a true mark of charity, triumph. Today, more than yesterday, I suffer and carry the weight of knowing you are in a situation of excommunication, whereas all the faithful of Campos have henceforth happily passed from this situation, under the leadership of their pastor.
You can repeat his early words all you like, and ignore his later ones, but they are rather clear and forceful for a Roman diplomat.
Dominus Vobiscum
patent +AMDG