Decree Lifting Traditionalist Bishops'
Excommunication
"A Sign for the Promotion of Unity in Charity"
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 25, 2009 - Here is a translation of the decree released
Saturday by the Congregation for Bishops, advising of the lifting of
excommunication of the four bishops ordained without papal permission by Marcel
Lefebvre in 1988.
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With a letter of Dec. 15, 2008, sent to His Eminence Cardinal Darío Castrillón
Hoyos, president of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, Monsignor Bernard
Fellay, in his name and in that of the other bishops consecrated June 30, 1988,
again requested the lifting of the excommunication latae sententiae formally
declared by decree of the prefect of this Congregation for Bishops on July 1,
1988.
In the mentioned letter, Monsignor Fellay affirms, among other things:
"We are always fervently determined in the will to be and to remain Catholics
and to place all of our strength at the service of the Church of Our Lord Jesus
Christ, which is the Roman Catholic Church. We accept all of her teachings with
a filial spirit. We firmly believe in the primacy of Peter and in his
prerogatives and because of this, the present situation makes us suffer so
much."
His Holiness Benedict XVI, paternally sensitive to the spiritual unrest
manifested by the interested parties because of the sanction of excommunication,
and trusting in the commitment expressed by them in the cited letter to spare no
effort in going deeper in the necessary conversations with the authorities of
the Holy See in matters still unresolved, and to be able to thus arrive quickly
to a full and satisfactory solution of the problem existing from the beginning,
has decided to reconsider the canonical situation of the bishops Bernard Fellay,
Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson and Alfonso de Galarreta, which
arose with their episcopal consecration.
With this act it is desired to consolidate the mutual relations of trust, [and]
to intensify and make more stable the relationship of the Fraternity of St. Pius
X with the Apostolic See. This gift of peace, at the end of the celebrations of
Christmas, also aims to be a sign for the promotion of unity in charity of the
universal Church, and with this means, come to remove the scandal of division.
It is desired that this step be followed by the solicitous fulfillment of full
communion with the Church of the Society of St. Pius X, thereby witnessing to
authentic fidelity and a true recognition of the magisterium and the authority
of the Pope, with the proof of visible unity.
In virtue of the faculties that have been expressly conceded to me by the Holy
Father, Benedict XVI, in virtue of the present decree, I lift from Bishops
Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson and Alfonso de
Galarreta the censure of excommunication latae sententiae declared by this
congregation on July 1, 1988, and declare void of juridical effects beginning
today the decree published then.
Rome, Congregation for the Bishops,
Jan. 21, 2009
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re
Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops
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Bishop's Response to Lifting of His Excommunication
"We Express Our Filial Gratitude to the Holy Father"
ROME, JAN. 25, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a statement from Bishop Bernard Fellay,
secretary-general of the Society of St. Pius X, in response to a decree
published Saturday by the Congregation for Bishops, advising of the lifting of
his excommunication and that of the three other bishops ordained without papal
permission by Marcel Lefebvre in 1988.
* * *
Response From Leader of Society of St. 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."
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
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