Accept the Second Vatican Council, SSPX told

Cathcon translation of Now Recognise the Council which appeared on the Vatican Radio website. Link long broken.

After the lifting of the excommunication of the bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X , the traditionalist community should recognise the Second Vatican Council to fully return to the bosom of the Church. The Vienna Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Helmut Krätzl suggests this in a comment on Vatican Radio. Krätzl was the person responsible for the ecumenism office of the Austrian Bishops' Conference.

To Vatican Radio Krätzl said this Monday:

"A schism in the Church is a painful wound and also harms her reputation in the world. It is therefore understandable that the Pope tried everything in order to heal this wound.

Many have wondered, however, that the lifting of the excommunication of the four bishops consecrated unlawfully taken place before they had taken back in public their vehement criticism of the council and hence the development of the Church. In particular, concerns are raised by their rejection of the Declaration on Religious Freedom. The adoption of this conciliar document has impressively shown that the Council Fathers, contrary to the statements of (Cathcon Pope!) Gregory XVI in the encyclical, Mirari vos' 1832 now all wished to establish freedom of conscience in religious issues (Cathcon- Council over Pope, either their own or another - unheard of!). Something which is now one of the most fundamental matters of human rights.

The questioning of the renewed liturgy by the Society attacks the progress of the church after the council in an even more central manner. Indeed, the renewed liturgy is not just an amendment to a rite, but it reflects a deeper vision of the Church (Cathcon- splutter) . Instead of a pure priestly liturgy priest, the active participation of God's people is now called for. (Cathcon- Pope!) John Paul II has said at the 25th anniversary of the liturgy constitution: "There is in fact a very close and organic link between the renewal of the liturgy and the renewal of the entire life of the Church." I therefore understand the fear of many that a return to the pre-Conciliar liturgy will call the post conciliar development will even be called into question.

The Pope, through the withdrawal of the excommunication has made a generous legal gesture. The Society of St Pius X should now fully and inwardly accept the Council in order to return to the bosom of the church again.”

The statement also appears on the website of the Austrian Bishops' Conference.

This is also essentially the line taken by the German Bishops' Conference.

"The Pope shows the possibility of return to full communion with the Catholic Church and also without doubt that the decisions of the Second Vatican Council are an indispensable basis for the life of the Church." Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, Chairman in a statement on their website