SSPX spokesman explains remaining difficulties in talks with Vatican
CWN - September 21, 2012
A spokesman for the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has said that the group declined a Vatican offer of reconciliation because of a requirement that the traditionalists must acknowledge both the validity of the Novus Ordo Mass and the continuity between Vatican II and previous Catholic doctrinal statements.
Father Franz Schmidberger, the German superior of the SSPX, said that these two requirements had been added after the SSPX had nearly reached agreement with the Vatican on a "doctrinal preamble" that would have provided the basis for a reconciliation agreement. Father Schmidberger said that the SSPX could not accept the statement that the teachings of Vatican II are in continuity with the teachings of previous Church councils, since the group sees flat contradictions.
Father Schmidberger hinted that the two added requirements had been added to the "doctrinal preamble" by Cardinal William Levada, who at the time was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). But he gave no reason for optimism that the new CDF prefect, Archbishop Gerhard Müller, would be more inclined to favor reconciliation with the SSPX. In fact Archbishop Müller has not been forthcoming in his dealings with traditionalists, he said.
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