Free Republic

POPE Benedict is considering lifting the excommunication of the heads of an ultra-traditionalist group that broke with the Vatican 18 years ago, according to reports yesterday. The Pope is said to be planning to meet top advisers later this month to discuss more ways of bringing the traditionalists, known as the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), back into the mainstream Catholic fold. The SSPX, founded by the late French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, rejects many of the liberal reforms of the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council. It sticks to the old Latin Mass and opposes recognising the validity of other religions....

ADDRESS TO THE HOLY FATHER ADDRESS TO THE HOLY FATHER Holy Father, More than thirty years ago, under your predecessor, Pope Paul VI, a major reform modified the Latin rite of the Catholic Liturgy, especially the "Order of the Mass." This reform immediately raised troubles and controversies across the entire world. Some studies which were made, notably the "Brief Critical Examination of the Novus Ordo Missae" given to Pope Paul VI by Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci, pointed out the troubling deficiencies and ambiguities affecting this reform. The Liturgy has certainly evolved over the course of history, as is shown by...