The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei suppressed by Pope Francis

January 19, 2019

Source: fsspx.news

On January 17, 2019, Pope Francis suppressed the Pontifical Committee Ecclesia Dei, which had been created in 1988 by his predecessor Pope John Paul II.

The Apostolic Letter in the form of the Pope'due south motu proprio was published at noon on January 19 past the Holy Run into Press Office and inserted inL'Osservatore Romano. From now on, the Committee's responsibilities will be placed entirely in the hands of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which will designate a special section to take over its activities. This transfer, explains the Sovereign Pontiff, comes in response to a need expressed during a meeting of this dicastery on November 15, 2017, canonical by him on Nov 24, and validated in a plenary session in January 2018.

The pope recalls how, over thirty years agone, the day later the episcopal consecrations in 1988, John Paul II wished to facilitate the "total ecclesial communion of priests, seminarians, religious communities or individuals until now linked in various ways to the Fraternity founded by Archbishop Lefebvre". The goal was to assist them "remain united to the Successor of Peter in the Catholic Church while preserving their own spiritual and liturgical traditions". This preservation of the spiritual and liturgical traditions was ensured in 2007 past Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprioSummorum Pontificum.

This historical reminder of Pope Francis has the merit of showing how this Pontifical Commission was originally founded on the condemnation of Archbishop Lefebvre and his work. In its thirty years of existence, it generally express itself to liturgical questions, with the intention of responding to the "sensitivity" of conservative priests and faithful, and of countering the Club of St. Pius X's growth throughout the world…

But after the supposed excommunications of the bishops of Tradition were lifted in 2009, Benedict XVI believed that the ongoing doctrinal issues were a adept reason to adhere the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The goal was to begin doctrinal discussions with the Society of St. Pius X.

The Primacy of the Doctrine of the Organized religion

Today, Pope Francis writes that the religious communities that vest to the Pontifical Commission accept acquired stability both in their numbers and their activities; they ensure the celebration of the Mass in its "boggling form". But, he points out, "the questions dealt with past the same Pontifical Commission were of a primarily doctrinal nature." These objections and questions are clearly irrelevant to these communities. It is indeed with the Society of St. Pius X that they go along to be an consequence.

This is what the cardinals pointed out on November 15, 2017, when they "formulated the request that dialogue between state of the vatican city and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X be conducted directly by the same Congregation [for the Doctrine of the Religion], as the questions being dealt with are of a doctrinal nature."

One determination is axiomatic: as the so-called Ecclesia Dei communities take preserved "their spiritual and liturgical traditions", they clearly do not count in this give-and-take. If they remain attached to a section of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, information technology is incidental. They tin accept the Mass, the "spiritual and liturgical traditions", but non the whole doctrine that goes forth with them.

That has always been the Social club of St. Pius Ten'due south great reproach against Dom Gérard [founder of the Benedictine monastery at Le Barroux who worked with Archbishop Lefebvre until 1988] and all those who idea they should suspension the unity of Tradition in order to negotiate a purely practical agreement. The crisis of the Church building cannot be reduced to a spiritual or liturgical question alone. It is deeper, for it touches the very heart of the Faith and the doctrine of Revelation, Christ the King'south right to reign here below over men and over societies.

FSSPX/MG / FSSPX.News – 1/xix/2019