A long way to go

“After a process of dialogue between the Apostolic See and the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X” Benedict XVI accepted the request of lifting excommunication to the four bishops ordained in 1988 by Msgr. Marcel Lefebvre, states a Note by the Holy See to which is annexed the Decree of the Congregation for Bishops, signed January 21 by Cardinal Prefect Giovanni Battista Re. The Decree explains that His Holiness Benedict XVI “trusts” that the priestly Society of Saint Pius X “will not spare any effort to deepen the necessary discussions with the Authority of the Holy See in the still open matters, so as to achieve shortly a full and satisfactory solution of the problem posed in the origin“. “With this act -the Decree continues – we wish to consolidate the mutual relations of trust and intensify and provide stability to the relation of the Society of St. Pius X with this Apostolic See.” This gift of peace, “wishes to also be a sign for promoting the unity in charity of the Universal church and to achieve the elimination of the scandal of division,” the decree concludes. The decree received major echo on the press and triggered strongly negative reactions on the part of the Jewish Communities that stigmatized the decision of lifting excommunication on bishop Richard Williamson who is known for his revisionist theories regarding the Extermination of the Jews. A long way to go. “The revocation of the excommunication is never an end but the beginning of a dialogue”, declared Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, archbishop of Bordeaux and member of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei”. “Pope Benedict XVI wished to go as far as he could by extending his hand as a gesture of reconciliation. The Pope, theologian and historian of theology, knows that a schism in the Church represents a tragedy.” “He himself believes he was charged with the mission of recovering the Ecclesial unity”, wrote the Cardinal who recalled that this Pope “has a very well knowledge of the dossier” on Mgr Lefebvre as he was asked by Pope John Paul II to examine it when he was still Cardinal. On that occasion, he ended up by admitting the “failure of his mission”. “The revocation of the excommunication – continues Ricard – paves the way we can walk together”. This way will surely be long. And it will require a better mutual understanding and consideration”. In fact, the archbishop remarked there are “two crucial questions” that need to be addressed: “the legal structure of the Society of Saint Pius X in the Church and an agreement on the dogmatic and ecclesiological issues”. Mostly “the question regarding Second Vatican Council as a cornerstone Magisterium document will need to be addressed sooner or later. This is the fundamental issue”. But it’s not all: “difficulties won’t necessarily be only doctrinal”, the bishop pointed out. “Other cultural and political difficulties could come to the fore. The latest unacceptable statements by Msgr. Williamson denying the Jewish Holocaust are just an example”.More steps are needed. “By lifting the excommunication His Holiness is extending his hand for reconciliation”, declared the President of the Swiss Bishops Conference Msgr. Kurt Koch. The Decree of the Congregation for Bishops “underlines that more steps are needed to recover full unity of the Society of Saint Pius X with the Catholic Church. Pope Benedict XVI was led to his decision by the conviction that after the recognition of the Magisterium and the authority of the Pope, there were good prospects that the forthcoming discussions would reach agreement on the outstanding issues regarding the mandatory adoption of the Second Vatican Council . In this way, the complete reconciliation in full communion on the basis of their common faith would find its visible expression. I hope and pray that this reconciliation will happen”. Shoah: symbol of homicidal madness. Father Eric de Beukelaer, spokesperson for the Belgian Bishops’ Conference, guarded against the risk of “confusing this issue with any statements made by a traditionalist bishop who denies the reality of the Shoah”, and adds: “this cannot but be deplored. The Shoah remains the symbol of the homicidal madness of an inhuman regime that was obsessed with the idea of annihilating the Jewish people. Anyone who plays down its extent acts as an ideologist more than as a historian thus violating the duty of memory. It is clearly unacceptable and …not very clever”. The issue was addressed also by the President of Italian bishops Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, who said that the statements of one of the four Bishops on the Shoah and “ungrounded and unmotivated”. “These statements”, His Eminence added, “were delivered a few months ago and have been reiterated today with instrumental purposes since they had already been repudiated by the priestly Society.”Antisemitism: incompatible with the Church. Anti-Semitism is a plague we all have to fight” and is “unacceptable and incompatible with the Catholic view of humanity.” The remarks are made by Catholic Bishop of Stockholm, Mgr Arborelius Anders. According to Bishop Anders, “it is important to point out that the decision to revoke Richard Williamson’s excommunication does not imply that his personal point of view on the Holocaust has been accepted. What he said is serious and unacceptable.” Even in Sweden, there are people around the Society of St Pius X that are leaning towards far right positions.” Bishop Anders Arborelius has clearly and strongly condemned these positions. “Those who are following these trends, regardless of who they are, are going against the fundamental doctrine of the Church by which all the people have the same universal value”. Then the bishop recalled what the Pope said last year, on August 17, during the Angelus: “every Christian community must be aware that racism is totally incompatible with the mission of the Church.” “It is important, especially in our time,” added Mgr Anders “that every Christian community develop an increasing awareness, in order to help even the civil society reject every possible temptation of racism, intolerance and exclusion, so that measures are taken that are respectful of every human person’s dignity”.“Still open questions”. Mgr Heinrich Mussinghoff, Chairman of the sub-commission for religious relations with Judaism of the German Bishops’ Conference, declared that German bishops are supporting the Pope’s efforts to “achieve the unity of the Church” but observed “some questions are still open”. He admitted the measure “had raised criticism” on the “conformity between John Paul II’s and Benedict XVI’s positions” especially due to the negationist allegations made by Lefebvre’s bishop Richard Williamson. “We are firmly condemning the Holocaust denial,” declared Mussinghoff, recalling how the bishops of the Society do not recognise the ‘Nostra Aetate’ document on the relations between the Church and non-Christian religions. “We are expressing the clear hope and the urgent need that, during the talks, the four bishops and the Society of St Pius X show in a credible and clear way their fidelity to the Second Vatican Council and, in particular, to the ‘Nostra Aetate’ declaration, whose aims were upheld by Pope John Paul II during his long pontificate with perseverance and beneficial effects”. A wound and source of shame for Europe. “That there are still voices that openly deny the Shoah and challenge the right of the Jewish people to exist is shameful and distressing”: this was highlighted by Card. Christoph Schönborn, president of the Austrian Bishops Conference, in a letter to chief rabbi Paul Chaim Eisenberg, on the occasion of the Holocaust Memorial Day. Schönborn stated that “the extermination of the Jews remains a painful wound and a shame for Europe”, pointing out that “Christians too took part in this huge crime or turned their eyes away”. “There were just people in the nations”, who gave their lives to save the Jews, “but they were too few”. “Any Christian who takes his faith seriously must bow with gratitude and respect to the Jewish roots of Christianity and to the people who embody such roots”, he went on. “The statements made by the Second Vatican Council and the Popes who made Christians understand that the memory of the Jewish roots of Christianity also imply an affection for contemporary Hebraism. This is all the more important at a time in which the dramatic conflicts in the Middle East always involve the risk that old anti-Semitic prejudices may work their harmful effects in some new form”.