Fraternity of St Pius X now owns church right in the centre of Vienna

Austria: St. Pius X Priestly Fraternity takes over Church of the Minor Friars

The Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X is the new owner of the Church of the Minor Friars in the centre of Vienna, and this without the intervention of the Archdiocese of Vienna. Their spokesman, Michael Prüller, explained this in an interview with Kathpress on Saturday, pointing out that the Church of the Minor Friars  had already been owned by a private association.

"We learned from the media that this Association - the 'Italian Congregation of Our Lady of the Snows' - gave the church to the Association of Friends of the Society of St. Pius X before the summer this year. The Archdiocese of Vienna was not involved in this transaction and was not informed about it in advance," said Prüller.

Emperor Joseph II had donated the Church of the Minor Friars to the Italian Congregation (Congregazione Italiana) in 1786 so that the Catholic community of Italians in Vienna would have a spiritual home, and commissioned the Congregation to take care of it. "Now that the Church of the Minor Friars has been handed over to the Pius Brotherhood, which is in conflict with the Catholic Church, this purpose of the foundation can probably no longer be fulfilled," the Archdiocesan spokesperson continued.

Pastoral care for Italians in Vienna is not endangered

Vienna is currently home to around 13,500 people who were born in Italy - almost twice as many as at the time of Emperor Joseph II. "Their pastoral care is not endangered: The Archdiocese already transferred the regular pastoral care of the very lively Italian Catholic community to the parish church in the Alservorstadt several months ago, thus guaranteeing a quiet and prosperous continuation of their activities," Cardinal Schönborn's spokesman stated and further, "The Archdiocese has no influence or supervision over what continues to happen in the Church of the Minor Friars, since the Fraternity of St Pius X does not recognise the regular bishop as its superior."

On their website, the Pius Brotherhood describes how the takeover of the church in the centre of Vienna came about. According to the website, in November 2020, the Prefect of the Congregazione Italiana made the surprising offer to take over the church. At the General Assembly of the Italian Congregation on 20 May, it was finally decided to donate the church to the Fraternity of St Pius X and the transfer was signed by a notary on 25 May. Since the end of June, the Pius Fraternity has been listed in the land register as the owner of the church.

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