Pope Lifts SSPX Excommunications: The Decree and Response

Trusting it serves the purpose, I submit an English translation [below] of the decree in which was remitted from the SSPX bishops the censure of excommunication latae sententia. The following translation varies only slightly from that found on dici.org (site of SSPX) , which I believe is more accurate (as well as properly formal) than translations found elsewhere. All bolds and emphasis below are mine, unless otherwise stated. - MCB

Prot. N 126/2009

Decree of the Congregation for Bishops

(also translated as Congregration for Bishops Decree)

In a letter dated December 15, 2008, addressed to His Eminence Cardinal Dario Castrillón Hoyos, President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, Bishop Bernard Fellay, also in the name of the other three Bishops consecrated on June 30, 1988, requested anew the removal of the latae sententiae excommunication formally pronounced by a Decree of the Prefect of this same Congregation on July 1, 1988. In the aforementioned letter, Bishop Fellay affirms, among other things: "We are still as steadfast in our determination to remain Catholic and to place all our strength [or "efforts"] at the service of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the Roman Catholic Church. We filially accept her teaching. We firmly believe in the Primacy of Peter and in its prerogatives, and this is the reason why the present situations makes us suffer so much."

His Holiness Benedict XVI, touched with fatherly compassion over the spiritual difficulty manifested by those concerned by the sanction of excommunication and confident that the commitment they expressed in the above quoted letter of sparing no effort to go further in the necessary discussions with the Authorities of the Holy See concerning the issues still pending, and thus of being able to reach quickly a full and satisfactory solution of the problem raised at the origin [also translated as "posed in the origin" which in English could be read as "posed at the outset or beginning"] decided to reconsider the canonical standing of the Bishops Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson, and Alfonso de Galarreta, with respect to their episcopal consecrations.

This act expresses the desire to consolidate reciprocal confidence in our dealings, to intensify and give stability to the relations of the Society of St. Pius X [or Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X ]with the Apostolic See. This gift of peace, at the end of the Christmas celebrations, is also intended to be a sign for the promotion of unity in the charity of the universal Church, and to thereby remove the scandal of division.

Desiring that this step be followed without delay by the full communion with the Church of all the Society of Saint Pius X [also translated as "the entire Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X"], in testimony of a true fidelity and genuine recognition of the Magiserium and of the authority of the Pope by the proof of visible unity.

According to the faculties expressly granted [or "conceded"] to me by the Holy Father Benedict XVI, in virtue of the present Decree, I remit the censure of excommunication latae sententiae, pronounced [or "declared"] by this Congregation on July 1, 1988, upon Bishops Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Lallerais, Richard Williamson, and Alfonso de Galaretta as I likewise declare void of juridical effects the Decree published at the time [or "I remit from Bishops Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson, and Alfonso de Galarreta the censure of latae sententiae excommunication declared by this Congregation on July 1, 1988, while I declare deprived of any juridical effect, from the present date, the Decree emanated at that time."].

Rome, from the Congregation for Bishops, January 21, 2009.
Card. Giovanni Battista Re

Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops

Response from the Superior General of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X

The excommunication of the bishops consecrated by His Grace Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, on June 30, 1988, which had been declared by the Congregation for Bishops in a decree dated July 1, 1988, and which we had always contested, has been withdrawn by another decree mandated by Benedict XVI and issued by the same Congregation on January 21, 2009.

We express our filial gratitude to the Holy Father for this gesture which, beyond the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, will benefit the whole Church. Our Society wishes to be always more able to help the pope to remedy the unprecedented crisis which presently shakes the Catholic world, and which Pope John Paul II had designated as a state of “silent apostasy.” [Emphasis added]

Besides our gratitude towards the Holy Father and towards all those who helped him to make this courageous act, we are pleased that the decree of January 21 considers as necessary “talks” with the Holy See, talks which will enable the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X to explain the fundamental doctrinal reasons which it believes to be at the origin of the present difficulties of the Church.

In this new atmosphere, we have the firm hope to obtain soon the recognition of the rights of Catholic Tradition.

Menzingen, January 24, 2009
+Bernard Fellay
Source: http://www.dici.org/accueil.php?loc=US

Letter to the Faithful from the Superior General of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X

Dear Faithful,

As I announce in the attached press release, "the excommunication of the bishops consecrated by His Grace Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, on June 20, 1988, which had been declared by the Congregration for Bishops in a decree dated July 1 1988, and which we had always contested, has been withdrawn by another decree mandated by Benedict XVI and issued by the same Congregration on January 21, 2009." It was the prayer intention I had entrusted to you in Lourdes, on the Feast of Christ the King, 2008. Your response exceeded our expectations, since one million seven hundred and three thousand Rosaries were said to obtain through the intercession of Our Lady that an end be put to the opprobrium which, beyond the persons of the bishops of the Society, rested upon those who were more or less attached to Tradition. Let us not forget to thank the Most Blessed Virgin who has inspired the Holy Father with this unilateral, benevolent, and courageous act. Let us assure him of our fervent prayers. [All emphasis added]

Thanks to this gesture, Catholics attached to Tradition throughout the world will no longer be unjustly stigmatized and condemned for having kept the Faith of their fathers. Tradition is no longer excommunicated. Though it never was in itself, it was often excommunicated and cruelly so in day-to-day events. It is just as the Tridentine Mass had never been abrogated in itself, as the Holy Father has happily recalled in the Motu Propio Summorum Pontificum of July 7, 2007. [Emphasis in the original]

The decree of January 21 quotes the letter dated December 15, 2008 to Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos in which I expressed our attachment "to the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the Catholic Church," reaffirming there our acceptation [sic] of its two thousand year old teaching and our faith in the Primacy of Peter. I reminded him that we were suffering much from the present situation of the Chrch in which this teaching and this primacy were being held to scorn. And I added: "We are ready to write the Creed with our own blood, to sign the anti-modernist oath, the profession of faith of Pius IV, we accept and make our own all the councils up to the Second Vatican Council, about which we express some reservations." In all this, we are convinced that we remain faithful to the line of conduct indicated by our founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, whose reputation we hope to soon see restored. [All emphasis added]

Consequently, we wish to begin these "talks" - which the decree acknowledges to be "necessary" - about the doctrinal issues which are opposed to the Magisterium of all time. We cannot help noticing the unprecedented crisis which is shaking the Church today: crisis of vocations, crisis of religious practice, of catechism, of the reception of the sacraments...Before us, Paul VI went so far as to say that "from some fissure, the smoke of Satan had entered the Church," and he spoke of the "self-destruction of the Church." John Paul II did not hesitate to say that Catholicism in Europe was, as it were, in a state of "silent apostasy." Shortly before his election to the Throne of Peter, Benedict XVI compared the Church to a "boat taking in water on every side." Thus, during these discussions with the Roman authorities, we want to examine the deep causes of the present situation and, by bringing about the appropriate remedy, achieve a lasting restoration of the Church. [All emphasis added]

Dear faithful, the Church is in the hands of her Mother, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.[Emphasis added] In Her, we place our confidence. We have asked from her the freedom of the Mass of all time, everywhere and for all. We have asked from her the withdrawal of the decree of excommunication. In our prayers, we now ask from her the necessary doctrinal clarifications which confused souls so much need.

Menzingen, January 24, 2009

+Bernard Fellay

Additional Responses to the Decree

Available only in Italian or German! If you wish to see them, please check the informative Rorate Caeli blogspot!