SSPX and Rome: Substantial new developments

Rorate Caeli recently published a translated excerpt taken from an interview of Cardinal Gerhard Müller that was originally published on the website of the German Bishops’ Conference:

Question: It has been strikingly quiet recently regarding the Society of Saint Pius X. Are the attempts to find an agreement suspended or postponed?

Mueller: Regarding this question, there is no substantial new development. The Holy Father wishes that we keep trying: “con tenacia e pazienza” – “with decisiveness and patience.” The precondition for a full reconciliation is the signing of a doctrinal preamble in order to guarantee a full agreement in the essential questions of the Faith. In the past months, there were encounters of different ways which are meant to strengthen the mutual trust.

While some may find in this exchange a reason for guarded optimism, there truly is nothing to be found here but bad news.

Let’s take a closer look…

First, let’s be very clear: The Society of St. Pius X does not deny even one, single, solitary article of the Holy Catholic Faith – not one.  That their priests and bishops are denied jurisdiction is a profound injustice for which men like Cardinal Müller and his boss-in-white will one day have to answer before the throne of the Almighty.

In truth, there are no “essential questions of the Faith.” Matters concerning the essence of the faith are rather well known by all who wish to know, and to profess, the one true faith as the SSPX most certainly does.

In the Rome of today, by contrast, many “essential questions of the Faith” exist, such as:

– Are the Jews saved by virtue of the Old Covenant in spite of their rejection of Christ?

– How can Christian unity be attained for non-Catholics apart from their conversion?

– How many heretical communities are used by Our Lord as a means of salvation?

– Does the Social Kingship of Jesus Christ still exist?

– Does man enjoy a God-given right to choose his religion, and change it, according to the dictates of his conscience?

I could go on (trust me on that), but the point is simply this:

The only people that have “essential questions” concerning the Faith (such as those mentioned above) are those who are hell bent on behaving as if the Second Vatican Council effectively trumps all that preceded it. Such persons no longer hold the Catholic faith whole and entire.

The SSPX doesn’t have this problem; “Rome” does.

That being the case, one can only marvel at the stubbornness of men like Cardinal Müller who seem to imagine that it is those who hold to every, single, solitary article of the Catholic faith as it was taught without confusion prior to the Council who stand in need of “full reconciliation.”

The question that looms is reconciliation with what?

The answer is obvious: The anthropocentric “faith” of newchurch as embodied in the malleable, imprecise, and ecumenically dialogical text of Vatican II.

When Cardinal Müller speaks of a “doctrinal preamble,” all indications are that he is referring to an agreement predicated upon the condition for so-called “full communion” that was set by Pope Benedict XVI; namely, the Society must embrace the laughably false notion that Vatican Council II is an “integral part of the Tradition of the Church.”

Upon what basis can “mutual trust” possibly be established between authentic Catholics and those who would make such a demand?

It seems to me that the only reason some traditional Catholics still harbor optimism about the Society’s future under the current pontificate is that Pope Francis has refrained from actively seeking their utter destruction as he did in the case of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate (which is far more a reflection of the Society’s irregular canonical status than it is an indication of genuine papal affection).

Look, far from signaling a ray of hope, this latest statement from Cardinal Müller indicates rather clearly that the relationship between “official” Rome and the Society is actually in far worse condition today than it was when the formal doctrinal discussions ended several years ago.

How so?

Before the advent of the Franciscan Reign of Terror under which Catholics currently suffer, even though the last several pontificates were disastrous in their own right, no one in their right mind would have ever imagined that the pope would convene both an extraordinary, and an ordinary, Synod to debate immutable doctrine and discipline as if they constitute “essential questions of the Faith” that remain open.

Even less would one imagine the pope approving of the publication of that shameful interim report attributed to the former.

Cardinal Müller, therefore, is dead wrong when he says, “there is no substantial new development.”

Pope Francis is a substantial new development, and it ain’t exactly a positive one!

This being the case, perhaps you will forgive me for taking no comfort whatsoever from the idea that the “Holy Father wishes that we keep trying: ‘con tenacia e pazienza.’”

May God in His mercy prevent him from succeeding.

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