Fellay’s message to the Lefebvrians

  

FELLAY

The Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X writes to his priests: “We are waiting, an agreement will happen if concessions which touch upon the faith are not asked from us and if we are assured true freedom“

ANDREA TORNIELLIVATICAN CITY

The Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X , Bishop Bernad Fellay, in the evening of the 14th of April took hold of paper and pen to send a message reserved to the other three bishops and to all priests belonging to the Lefebvrist group, confirming the state of relations with the Holy See.

Fellay, in reference to the media rumours on a possible positive outcome of the dialogue with Rome, would have explained that, for the time being, nothing of a definitive nature has yet taken place, neither in the direction of a canonical recognition, not in the direction of a rupture, and it is therefore time to wait and see.
 

The bishop, according to the rumours gathered by Vatican Insider, wished to confirm to the priests of the Society that which he had already written a few days ago, recalling the two principles that guide the Lefebvrians in the relations with Rome: the first is that no concessions be asked from the Society that touch upon the faith and that which derives from it (liturgy, sacraments, morals, and discipline); the second, that true freedom and autonomy of action be granted to the Society of Saint Pius X, which would allow it to grow and develop.

 How to interpret this message of the General Superior? Above all, it is interesting to note that the possibility of a positive outcome - which many sources, both those close to the Society of Saint Pius X and those within Vatican, consider at this moment probable and imminent - is not denied at all. Fellay, who is aware that there is a group within the Society that is outspokenly opposed to the agreement (approximately  25% of the Society, including the other three bishops, Williamson, Tissier de Mallerais and Galarreta, though with different positions among themselves), probably wanted to reassure his partners that the canonical setting and the re-entry into full communion will take place according to those two conditions already made public by him in the past few weeks.