Traditionalist Catholic

This article or section is currently being developed or reviewed. Some statements may be disputed, incorrect, unverified, biased or otherwise objectionable. Please read the discussion on the before making substantial changes.

To comply with Wikipedia's quality standards, this article may need to be rewritten. Please help improve this article. The may contain suggestions.

A traditionalist Catholic is a Roman Catholic who believes that there should be a restoration of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions, and presentation of Catholic teachings that prevailed in the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).^[1]

Terminology

Traditionalist Catholics generally prefer to be referred to either simply as Catholics or, if a distinction must be made, as "traditional Catholics" (with a lower-case T). However, since Roman Catholics in general consider themselves to be "traditional" in the sense of being faithful to historical Catholic teaching,^[2] the terms "traditionalist Catholics" and "Traditional Catholics" (with an upper-case T) are used in this article. It is not intended thereby to imply either that adherents of the traditionalist position are not true members of the Catholic Church or that "Traditional Catholic" is a formal title.

Different types of traditionalists

Traditionalist Catholics may be divided into four broad groups.

• Traditionalists enjoying the favour of the Holy See: traditionalist priests and laypeople in good standing with the Holy See and with the "official" hierarchy of the Church. Several officially approved societies of traditionalist priests exist, most notably the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICRSS) and the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney (PAASJV). Traditionalists of this sort tend to regard the changes in the Church that followed the Second Vatican Council as being at least tolerable, though they may disapprove of them and wish them to be reversed.
• Traditionalists not enjoying the favour of the Holy See: traditionalist priests and laypeople who practise their faith outside the official structures of the Church, though they vehemently affirm their loyalty to the Church and to the papacy. The largest priestly society of this tendency is the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), which was established in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a founding figure of Catholic traditionalism. Priests of the SSPX and similar organisations exercise their ministry in a state of dispute with or separation from Rome, though claiming that their canonical position is entirely legitimate. They view the post-Conciliar changes as being unacceptable and doctrinally unsound, and they reject the notion that their dispute with the Vatican relates merely to legal or administrative matters. This is clear from recent public statements of the SSPX Superior General, Bishop Bernard Fellay.^[3] The fact that traditionalists of this group recognise the official Church hierarchy while rejecting its decisions draws accusations of disloyalty and disobedience from the preceding group - whom this group in turn accuse of blind, un-Catholic obedience.
• Sedevacantists: priests and laypeople who regard the Pope and the bishops of the "official" Church as having fallen into heresy and having therefore forfeited their authority. Such people neither possess nor seek the approval of the present Church hierarchy. The terms sedevacantist and sedevacantism derive from the Latin phrase sede vacante: "while the chair [of Peter] is vacant". Sedevacantists usually date the vacancy of the papacy from the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, though some regard Pope John XXIII (1958-1963) as a true pope. Sedevacantist groups include the Society of St. Pius V (SSPV) and the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (CMRI). Many sedevacantists are not affiliated with any recognized group.
• Conclavists: priests and laypeople stemming from the sedevacantist movement who have given recognition to a nominee of their own as the true Pope of the Catholic Church. Since they hold that the see of Rome is no longer vacant, they are not, strictly speaking, sedevacantists; but they are often classified as such, since they reject the official papal succession (and do so for the same reasons as sedevacantists). Conclavist groups include the true Catholic Church, the Palmarian Catholic Church, and the followers of David Bawden ("Pope Michael I").

There is some tension between the different groups at the official level - the SSPX, for example, condemns the FSSP and attendance at its Masses^[4] - but the divisions are sometimes less pronounced at the lay level, with some happily attending Masses celebrated by priests of any group. Divisions between sedevacantists and other traditionalists are generally more pronounced, even if not absolute. Many traditionalist Catholics associate themselves with a particular priestly society. Other small local groups of traditionalists sometimes form around an individual "independent" priest who has no ties with any particular organisation. Other Catholics again, known as "Home Aloners" do not associate themselves with any priests, even traditionalist priests, and attempt to practice their faith individually in the privacy of their own homes (hence the name). Some leaders of Independent Catholic Churches also claim to be traditionalist Catholics and to be preserving the Tridentine Mass and ancient traditions.

Validity of holy orders of traditionalist clergy

Catholic doctrine holds that any validly ordained bishop can validly ordain any other baptised male to the priesthood (and, indeed, to the episcopacy), even if the ordination is performed without official permission or approval, and even if the individuals involved are non-Catholics or heretics. Clergy belonging to the first category of traditionalists mentioned above are naturally ordained with official approval and in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Canon Law (see especially Canons 1012-1023). However, some members of the second and especially of the third and fourth groups consider that ordinations conferred using the revised rite of ordination promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1968^[5] are invalid or of doubtful validity.^[6] Some therefore take the view that there are now very few validly ordained bishops and priests left in the world: indeed, on this view, Pope Benedict XVI himself is a simple priest, since his episcopal consecration in 1977 was performed using the revised rite (his priestly ordination in 1951 had used the traditional liturgy). On the other hand, the validity of the orders of some sedevacantist and conclavist priests, many of whom have been ordained by episcopi vagantes, is questioned by others. The Holy See rarely comments on the validity of the orders of traditionalist clergy (other than those in good standing with it). However, it has recognized the validity of the controversial episcopal consecrations that Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre conferred in 1988, while declaring Lefebvre and the other five bishops involved in the ceremony to have incurred automatic excommunication. It views the priests of the SSPX whom the SSPX's bishops ordain as validly ordained but subject to suspension a divinis, i.e. legally forbidden to celebrate Mass and the other sacraments. On the other hand, in the case of the ceremony carried out by Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục at Palmar de Troya, Spain on 31 December 1975, the Holy See declared: "As for those who have already thus unlawfully received ordination or any who may yet accept ordination from these, whatever about the validity of their orders, the Church does not and will not recognize their ordination, and will consider them, for all legal effects, as still in the state in which they were before, except that the ... penalties remain until they repent."^[7]

Traditionalist positions

Traditionalist Catholics believe that they are preserving Catholic orthodoxy by not accepting certain changes officially introduced since the Second Vatican Council, changes which some of them have described as amounting to a veritable revolution. They claim that the positions now taken by mainstream Catholics - even conservative mainstream Catholics - would have been considered "modernist" or "liberal" at the time of the Council, and that they themselves hold positions that were then considered "conservative" or "traditional". Pope Benedict XVI has contrasted the "interpretation of discontinuity and rupture", which some traditionalists apply to the Council, with the interpretation of "reform and continuity" put forward by the Church authorities. After quoting John XXIII's statement that the Council was intended to "transmit [Catholic] doctrine, pure and integral, without any attenuation or distortion", he continued:

"Our duty is not only to guard this precious treasure, as if we were concerned only with antiquity, but to dedicate ourselves with an earnest will and without fear to that work which our era demands of us...". It is necessary, Pope John XXIII said, that "adherence to all the teaching of the Church in its entirety and preciseness..." be presented in "faithful and perfect conformity to the authentic doctrine, which, however, should be studied and expounded through the methods of research and through the literary forms of modern thought. The substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the way in which it is presented is another...", retaining the same meaning and message. [2]

Traditionalists, however, believe that errors have crept into the presentation and understanding of Catholic teaching since John XXIII spoke those words. They attribute the blame for this to liberal interpretations of the Conciliar documents, to harmful post-Conciliar pastoral decisions, to the text of the Conciliar documents themselves, or to some combination of these. Most traditionalist Catholics view the Second Vatican Council as a valid, albeit problematic, Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church, though most sedevacantists regard it as wholly invalid. It is common for traditionalists in dispute with Rome to affirm that the Council was "pastoral", and hence that its decrees were not absolutely binding on Catholics in the same way as the dogmatic decrees of other Ecumenical Councils. Support for this view is sought in Pope John XXIII's Opening Address to the Council, Pope Paul VI's closing address, and the lack of formal dogmatic definitions in the Conciliar documents. On the other hand, Paul VI subsequently emphasised the authoritative nature of the Council's teachings.^[8]

Traditionalists' claims of "discontinuity and rupture"

Traditionalists' claims that substantive changes have taken place in Catholic teaching and practice since the Council often crystallise around the following specific alleged examples:

• A new ecclesiology which they claim fails to recognise the Catholic Church as the one true church established by Jesus Christ, and instead holds that the true church "subsists in" the Catholic Church in an unclear way. They claim that this phrase, as often understood, contradicts Pope Pius XII's Mystici Corporis Christi and other papal documents.
• A new ecumenism which they see as aiming at a false pan-Christian religious unity which does not require non-Catholics to convert to the Catholic faith. They see this as contradicting the teachings of the Bible, Pope Pius XI's Mortalium Animos, Pope Pius XII's Humani Generis and other documents.
• An acceptance, in the Second Vatican Council's decree Dignitatis Humanae, of the principle of religious liberty, which they claim was condemned by Pope Pius IX in Quanta Cura and the Syllabus of Errors.
• A new rite of Mass, which they refer to as the "Novus Ordo" (see Mass of Paul VI). They regard this as de-emphasizing central Catholic doctrines on the Eucharist according to which the Mass is a true sacrifice and that the bread and wine employed in the rite truly become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. They further contend that the revised liturgy is man-centered rather than God-centered; that it is less beautiful, poetic and spiritually edifying than the earlier liturgy; and that it omits certain biblical readings that mention hell, miracles or sin, or that might offend Jews. Traditionalists hold differing opinions on the validity and acceptability of the revised rite of Mass:
  • Some see it as valid, and as acceptable when necessary, though the Tridentine Mass should be attended when at all possible.
  • Some, including adherents of the Society of St. Pius X, hold that it is in principle valid as a sacramental rite - so that the bread and wine used in it truly become the body and blood of Christ - but maintain that the revisions in the liturgy are displeasing to God, and that Masses celebrated using the revised rite are often celebrated improperly to the extent of being sacramentally invalid. They therefore generally refuse to attend it.
  • Some, including most sedevacantists, see it as invalid and entirely unacceptable.
• An inappropriate emphasis on the "dignity of man", which they claim ignores original sin and the need for supernatural grace, and which they also claim has led to a sort of Utopianism that sees world peace as possible without recognizing the Kingship of Christ. They see this attitude, and teachings rooted in it, as contradicting Pope Pius XI's Quas Primas, Pope Leo XIII's Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae and Rerum Novarum, Pope Pius X's Notre charge apostolique, and other papal and conciliar documents on social matters.

Mainstream Catholics' criticism of traditionalists' claims

Mainstream Catholics responding to claims of "discontinuity and rupture" have made the following points:

• Such claims are stated to be false, exaggerated, or lacking appreciation of the organic character of Tradition. They argue, for example, that Dignitatis Humanae does not in fact contradict the Church's earlier teaching on religious liberty, [3] and that the revised rite of Mass represents a legitimate development of the earlier liturgy rather than a dangerous break from it.
• Some traditionalists are said not to distinguish properly between changeable pastoral practices (such as the liturgy of the Mass) and the unchangeable principles of the Catholic faith (such as the dogmas surrounding the Mass). Traditionalists deny this claim, stating that it is through pastoral practices that the Catholic faith is taught and understood.
• Traditionalists who declare the decisions of Church authorities to be incompatible with the Church's unchanging Tradition are said to be acting against the teaching of Pope Pius XII that to "the Teaching Authority of the Church ... has been entrusted by Christ Our Lord the whole deposit of faith - Sacred Scripture and divine Tradition - to be preserved, guarded and interpreted" (emphases added).^[9] Traditionalists reply with the words of the First Vatican Council: "The Holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine" (emphases added).

Sedevacantists' claims

Sedevacantists claim that they avoid much of the mainstream Catholic critique of other varieties of traditionalism because they believe that there is at present no Pope or body of bishops whose teaching must be accepted. They also criticise non-sedevacantist traditionalists for recognising the recent Popes, on grounds such as the following:^[10]

• By declaring that the revised liturgy of the Mass promulgated and defended by these Popes is evil, they teach that the Church can and has decreed evil. Moreover, they contravene canon 7 of session XII of the Council of Trent: "If anyone says that the ceremonies, vestments, and outward signs which the Catholic Church uses in the celebration of masses, are incentives to impiety rather than stimulants to piety, let him be anathema."
• By declaring that the teaching of the Pope and the bishops at the Second Vatican Council contradicts the Church's Tradition, they either repudiate the teaching of the First Vatican Council on the infallibility of even the ordinary and universal magisterium of the Pope and the bishops (according to Fr. Philippe Laguérie, a founding member of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, this was in fact taught in the Ecône seminary of the Society of St. Pius X^[11]) or they implicitly deny that the Pope and bishops at the Second Vatican Council were truly the Pope and truly Catholic bishops.
• By refusing subjection to a supposedly legitimate Pope, they contravene the famous Bull Unam sanctam in which Pope Boniface VIII stated: "... we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff."

Practices of traditionalist Catholics

The rite of Mass

The best-known and most visible sign of Catholic traditionalism is an attachment to the form that the Roman Rite liturgy of the Mass had before the liturgical reform of 1969-1970. This form is generally known as the Tridentine Mass, though traditionalists usually prefer to call it the Traditional Mass. Its most distinctive feature is that in almost all countries it was celebrated only in Latin. Different traditionalist priests use different editions of the Roman Missal to celebrate the Tridentine Mass. Most use that of 1962, the last before the post-Conciliar reform and the only one for which the Holy See gives authorisation. Since this edition was promulgated by Pope John XXIII, sedevacantists naturally reject it and generally use the 1920 Missal, with some modifications (some even reject the revised rites for Holy Week promulgated by Pius XII in 1955, though they regard Pius XII as a true pope). Originally LeFebvre applied the the rubrical and other modifications introduced, with effect from 7 March 1965, by the 26 September 1964 Instruction Inter Oecumenici on implementing the Constitution on Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council, but eventually decreed that the Missal of 1962 should be used unchanged. The 1965 modifications, which are applied by some traditionalists in good standing with Rome when celebrating Mass according to the 1962 Missal, explain the references that are sometimes encountered to "the 1965 Missal", though no new edition of the Roman Missal was published in that year, except in the form of vernacular translations incorporating the modifications. Linked with the celebration of the Tridentine Mass is the observance of the liturgical calendar of saints' days as it existed before the simplification of 1960 (see Traditional Catholic Calendar). The calendar in general use today incorporates a further revision made in 1979 and some additional celebrations (see Roman Catholic calendar of saints).

Individual and private devotions

In keeping with their preference for the customs prevailing in the Church before the Second Vatican Council, traditionalist Catholics are often associated with practices such as the following (as, to some extent, are conservative mainsteam Catholics):

• Abstaining from meat on Fridays.^[12] Present discipline maintains Fridays and Lent as days and times of penance, declares that abstinence from meat or some other food as determined by the local episcopal conference is to be observed on all Fridays (unless a solemnity falls on the Friday) and on Ash Wednesday, and allows episcopal conferences to permit other practices of personal penance to take the place of abstinence from meat (canon 1249-1253 of the 1983 Code).^[13]
• Fasting from midnight before receiving Holy Communion. This discipline was modified as early as 1953, several years before the Second Vatican Council, by Pope Pius XII, who reduced the obligatory fast before Holy Communion to three hours.^[14]
• Kneeling to receive Communion directly in the mouth in the form of consecrated bread alone,^[15] and from the hand of a cleric rather than a layperson.^[16]
• Women wearing a headcovering in church. Only with the 1917 Code of Canon Law did this rule (which corresponded to what the Apostle Paul prescribed in 1 Corinthians 11:1-16) become a universal law for the Latin Rite of the Church.^[17] Canon 1262 of that Code^[18] mandated that, in church, women should cover their heads and men should uncover theirs "unless this is in contrast with approved customs of peoples", but this practice was not universal prior to the Council.
• Frequent confession;
• Traditional prayers such as the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary. Many traditionalist Catholics in America do not accept Pope John Paul II's 2002 recommendation to add the Luminous Mysteries to the Rosary and have made this a shibboleth for traditional Catholics.^[19] However, the situation is different in Europe, with no particular antipathy towards these new mysteries, and most traditionalists actually using them. However, some traditionalists in England have adopted the more extreme American position. Most other countries in the UK tend towards the European position.

Traditionalism and the Eastern Catholic Churches

The Second Vatican Council's decree Orientalium Ecclesiarum encouraged the 22 Eastern Catholic Churches to return to their own past traditions and practices, which in some cases had been overlaid with elements taken from the Latin Church. Subsequent Vatican documents reinforced this tendency. Some of the Latinizing modifications to be undone date back decades or even centuries, and the process of reviving older traditions is ongoing. This process is has been opposed by some, perhaps most notably by the Priestly Society of Saint Josaphat which claims to be part of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and which has close links with the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).

Number of traditionalist Catholics

According to the Statistical Yearbook of the Church, the Catholic Church's worldwide recorded membership at the end of 2005 was 1,114,966,000.^[20] Estimates of how many of these Catholics are traditionalists vary widely. All traditionalists

"Millions" worldwide - Pro-SSPX article in The Remnant, 2006 [4]

6-7 million worldwide (figure based on supposed 1 million SSPX adherents) - Internet site on traditionalism, 2004 [5]

Close to 1 million worldwide - estimate attributed to the Vatican in Catholic World News article, 2005 [6] Cf. the alleged Vatican estimate of 1 million (the same figure) SSPX adherents given below.

Under 200,000 in France (an important centre of traditionalism) - Estimate posted on traditionalist forum, 2006 [7]

5% of French Catholics - Statistics reportedly used by French bishops, according to blog item, 2006 [8]

Traditionalists in dispute with Rome

2 million+ worldwide - Pro-SSPX article, 2006 [9]

2 million in the US - "Usual" estimate, according to pro-SSPX source, 2005 [10]

Over 100,000 in the US - Southern Poverty Law Centre, 2007 [11]

100,000 in the US - New York Times Magazine, cited in academic article, 2003 [12]

50,000-100,000 in the US - Upper and lower limits of attempted estimates, according to article in The Scotsman, 2004 [13]

?50,000 in the US - Academic article, 2004 [14]

Traditionalists in good standing with Rome

2 million+ worldwide - Pro-SSPX article, 2006 [15]

Hundreds of thousands supporting organisations linked with the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei - Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, 2007 [16]

Adherents of the SSPX

1 million worldwide - Pro-SSPX article in The Remnant, 2006 [17]

1 million worldwide - Estimate attributed to SSPX itself in secular news article, 2006 [18] and in The Wanderer, 2006 [19]

1 million worldwide - Alleged Vatican estimate, 2004 [20] Cf. the alleged Vatican estimate of 1 million (the same figure) traditionalist Catholics of all kinds given above.

600,000 - Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, 2007 [21]

20,000 in the US - Estimate attributed to SSPX itself in The Scotsman, 2004 [22]

Sedevacantists

?1.3 million worldwide - Internet site on traditionalism, 2004 [23]

500,000+ worldwide - Pro-SSPX article, 2006 [24]

One way of assessing the size of the traditionalist community is to examine the number of priests who belong to traditionalist organisations. The two most prominent such organisations are the SSPX and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP); the SSPX has around 500 priests, and the FSSP has roughly 200 priests. There are roughly 500,000 Catholic priests in the world, which, when combined with the total number of Catholics stated above, gives an average ratio of priests to laypeople of 1:2200. Such a ratio is broadly consistent with the above estimate of 1 million SSPX supporters. For purposes of comparison with mainstream Catholic organisations, the Knights of Columbus are stated to have 1.7 million members, the Neocatechumenal Way is reported to have around 1 million members,^[21] and Opus Dei is claimed to have 87,000 members.

Places of worship

A pre-Vatican II Latin-rite altar with reredos

Some traditionalist Catholics attend Mass celebrated in the Tridentine (traditional) rite by priests in good standing with the Church authorities. Some such priests are members of officially-approved traditionalist priestly societies (see Communities Using the Tridentine Mass), but others are not. Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, the President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, occasionally celebrates the Tridentine Mass in public, and other cardinals (including Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI) have also done so in recent years.

Altar of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, as arranged in 1700 and still used, without modification, today. It faces east and versus populum (towards the people)

Many other groups and individual priests, including the Society of St. Pius X, celebrate the Tridentine Mass in a situation of schism or separation^[22] from the Church. Traditionalists who worship outside the Church's official structures justify their position on the grounds that they must do so in order to ensure they are able to administer or receive all of the Sacraments - including, but not limited to, the Eucharist - in the traditional way, and to be able, without fear of reprisal, to give or hear sermons on controversial matters (e.g. ecumenism, evangelism, liberalism, sin, hell, political issues) that contradict the teaching of the diocesan bishops. Priests in good standing with the Church offer the Tridentine Mass according to the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal, as do many other priests, most notably those of the SSPX. Others offer Mass according to earlier editions, especially sedevacantist organisations who do not recognize Pope John XXIII (who issued the 1962 Missal) as a true pope.

List of Tridentine Masses in North America

The Official Traditional Catholic Directory: Listing All Traditional Latin Masses and Traditional Resources for North America (United States, Canada, and Mexico) and giving contacts for similar information on Asia (India, Malaysia) and Europe (England, Germany, Italy, Switzerland), distinguishes between what it calls the "Traditional Latin Mass and Divine Office, as before the 'modernizing' revisions of 1960, and 1962" and "the Modernized Mass and Divine Office of 1962" (the form used by the SSPX and the only form authorized by the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum). It warns against "Mass under the auspices of a diocese adhering to the New Order, including Masses under the auspices of 'motu' organizations, such as the Fraternity of St. Peter and the Institute of Christ the King, High Priest", stating: "Most diocesan services are not even the Vatican II 'Mass of 1962', but a pseudo-traditional service mixed with the invalid Novus Ordo (New Order) service of 1969, which should be scrupulously avoided by the faithful." It advises to choose in the following order: "Independent", "Society of St. Pius V, Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen" (sedevacantist), "Society of St. Pius X", "Diocese".

Relations with the Holy See

The Holy See recognizes as fully legitimate the preference for the traditional forms of worship shown by those traditionalist Catholics who do not dispute the authority of the Holy See. This was apparent most recently in Benedict XVI's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum (2007), and also in Pope John Paul II's apostolic letter Ecclesia Dei (1988). The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney are examples of traditionalist associations that operate as normal Catholic organisations. Summorum Pontificum was issued in July 2007, following months of rumour and speculation. In this document, Pope Benedict XVI provided that priests of the Latin Rite can freely choose between the 1962 Roman Missal and the modern rite of Mass when celebrating their private Masses (to which laypeople may ask to be admitted provided that the ordinary norms of canon law are observed). Priests in charge of particular churches can permit stable groups of laypeople attached to the Tridentine Mass to have Mass celebrated for them in that form, provided that the celebrating priest is "qualified to [celebrate] and not juridically impeded" (this would exclude traditionalist priests not in good standing with Rome). The Pope directed the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei to examine questions such as whether it would be appropriate to add some additional feasts and prefaces to the 1962 Missal. Various traditionalist groups welcomed Summorum Pontificum. The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales applauded the Pope's decision,^[23] and the Latin Mass Society of Ireland also expressed its gratitude.^[24] The Catholic Publishing House Baronius Press issued a similar response, and prepared to publish a special print-run of their edition of the 1962 Missal around 14 September 2007, the date of the coming into effect of the provisions of Summorum Pontificum. The Society of St. Pius X, which was consulted by Pope Benedict prior to the publication of the motu proprio, also thanked the Pope,^[25] though it also referred to "difficulties that still remain", included "disputed doctrinal issues" and the decree of excommunication which still affects its bishops.

A fiercely debated question is whether traditionalists who operate outside the ordinary structures of the Church and in dispute with the Church authorities are schismatic and excommunicated. The clearest cases of schism are provided by the sedevacantists and conclavists, who openly refuse communion with Pope Benedict XVI and his bishops. Many other traditionalists are also regarded by the Holy See as schismatic, though their schismatic status derives, on a case-by-case basis, from their attitudes and conduct as individuals rather than from their association with any particular group such as the SSPX. In fact, the situation of the SSPX has been described as a "situation of separation ... even if it was not a formal schism".[25] With regard to the 1988 episcopal consecrations that Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer performed for the SSPX against the orders of Pope John Paul II, the Holy See recognizes their validity, but sees the bishops involved as automatically excommunicated. It views the priests of the SSPX whom these bishops ordain as validly ordained, but, in accordance with canon 1383 of the Code of Canon Law, prohibited from exercising their priestly functions. The Ecclesia Dei Commission has stated that attendance at Masses offered by such priests is "morally illicit" for Catholics in normal circumstances, though attendance is not, of itself, an act subject to ecclesiastical penalties such as excommunication. [26] [27] [28]

The Ecclesia Dei Commission

The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei was founded in July 1988 in the wake of Pope John Paul II's apostolic letter Ecclesia Dei. Pope Benedict XVI was a member of the Commission during his tenure as Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Speaking on 16 May 2007 to the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, Cardinal Castrillón, the current head of the Commission, stated that his department had been founded for the care of those "traditionalist Catholics" who, while discontented with the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council, had broken with Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, "because they disagreed with his schismatic action in ordaining Bishops without the required papal mandate". He added that at present the Commission's activity is not limited to the service of those Catholics, nor to "the efforts undertaken to end the regrettable schismatic situation and secure the return of those brethren belonging to the Fraternity of Saint Pius X to full communion." It extends also, he said, to "satisfying the just aspirations of people, unrelated to the two aforementioned groups, who, because of their specific sensitiveness, wish to keep alive the earlier Latin liturgy in the celebration of the Eucharist and the other sacraments."^[26] While Cardinal Castrillón has indicated that it is intended to make the Commission an organ of the Holy See for the purpose of preserving and maintaining the traditional liturgy, he has stated that this is not with the purpose of "going backward, of returning to the times before the 1970 reform.... What is in question is instead a generous offer of the Vicar of Christ wishing... to place at the Church's disposal all the treasures of the Latin liturgy that for centuries nourished the spiritual life of so many generations of Catholic faithful. The Holy Father wishes to preserve the immense spiritual, cultural and esthetic treasure linked with the old liturgy. Recovery of these riches goes together with the no less precious riches of the Church's present liturgy."

References

See also

Doctrinal and liturgical issues

• Second Vatican Council
• Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus
• Sedevacantism
• Tridentine Mass
• Mass of Paul VI
• Roman Missal
• Summorum Pontificum

Important figures

• Marcel Lefebvre
• Antônio de Castro Mayer
• Bernard Fellay
• Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục
• Francis Schuckardt
• Malachi Martin

Canonically recognized traditionalist groups

• List of Traditionalist groups in communion with Rome
• Canons Regular of Saint John Cantius
• Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter
• Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney
• Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest
• Latin Mass Society of England and Wales
• Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce

Traditionalist organizations that the Catholic Church considers irregular

• Society of St. Pius X
• Priestly Society of Saint Josaphat
• Society of St. Pius V
• Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen

External links

• International Federation Una Voce The main international organization of Traditionalists considered regular by the Holy See
• The Society of St. Pius X The largest traditionalist body considered irregular by the Holy See
• The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei The Vatican department which deals with relations with traditionalists

Media

• Video of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's 1988 consecration of Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson, Bernard Fellay, and Alfonso de Galarreta as bishops of the Society of St. Pius X