"No Response" + Reservations = Not a "Yes"

Desirable though it might've been, lest anyone thought the emergence of five conditions for reconciliation -- response due by Monday -- would've seen everyone's favorite group of separated traditionalist brethren suddenly going docile, be wise to remember the Econian theme song...


...and, according to Reuters, it looks like they're sticking to it:

A breakaway traditionalist group has told the Vatican it cannot comply with a papal ultimatum on returning to the Roman Catholic Church because it skirts key issues of their dispute, a spokesman said on Friday.

Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the Society of Saint Pius X (SPPX) opposed to Church reforms introduced in the 1960s, said there must be an agreement on doctrinal differences before any accord could be possible, Rev. Alain Lorans said.

Fellay said last week the ultimatum, which demanded the SSPX accept Pope Benedict's authority and refrain from faulting him publicly, was unacceptable and aimed at silencing critics.

"He rejects the procedure he is being subject to," Lorans said by telephone from the SSPX seminary in Econe, Switzerland. "If we want a canonical accord that doesn't collapse in a few weeks, we must deal with the fundamental questions of doctrine."...

The ultimatum issued this month avoided mentioning the Council reforms [which the SSPX reject], but its requirement to respect the pope and the Church's doctrinal authority implied acceptance of them.

"In an ultimatum, which is an emergency procedure, these things should be explicit," Lorans said, adding that Fellay's letter to the Vatican on Thursday was confidential.

The letter was sent before the end of the month, as requested by the Vatican, but the spokesman added: "You can say he's not responding (to the ultimatum), despite answering it."

The SSPX also had reservations about a requirement to fully accept the magisterium, or doctrinal authority of the Church.

Fellay "accepts to respect the pope and not take the place of the magisterium of the Church, except if there is something in the post-Council magisterium that is opposed to the magisterium of 2,000 years," Lorans said....

In a sermon last week, Fellay said the ultimatum aimed at silencing the SSPX. "Rome is telling us, okay, we are ready to lift the excommunications, but you cannot continue this way," Fellay said at an SSPX seminary in Winona, Minnesota.

"So we have no choice... we are continuing what we've done," he said. "They just say 'shut up' ... we are not going ... to shut up."

And so, twenty years into schism, the games go on....

Take it away, John:



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