In the second half of October, the talks will take place between the Holy See and the Fraternity of Saint Pius X founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, as confirmed director of the Vatican Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi, answering questions of journalists.
Vatican spokesman has confirmed the names of three experts to the Vatican, which will participate in the talks... the Swiss Dominican Charles Morerod, the German Jesuit Karl Josef Becker and the Vicar General of Opus Dei, the Spanish priest Fernando Ocariz Brana.
Zenit
Unfortunately, the article goes on to state the ill opinion [not doctrine] of Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schönborn, who has stated "what is not negotiable" in these talks, which includes the notion of "religious freedom as a fundamental right of humanity." This support for religious liberty is not only nontraditional and heterodox but profoundly against the Church.
Blessed Pope Pius IX: "It is to be held of faith that none can be saved outside the Apostolic Roman Church . . . but nevertheless it is equally certain that those who are ignorant of the true religion, if that ignorance is invincible, will not be held guilty in the matter in the eyes of the Lord" (Solemn Allocution Singulari Quadam, December 9, 1854). "We all know that those who are invincibly ignorant of our religion and who nevertheless lead an honest and upright life, can, under the influence of divine light and divine grace, attain to eternal life; for God who knows and sees the mind, the heart, the thoughts, and the dispositions of every man, cannot in His infinite bounty and clemency permit any one to suffer eternal punishment who is not guilty through his own fault" (QUANTO CONFICIAMUR, August 10, 1863).
This blog has previously described the doctrine of Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus before but it is again worth visiting: Our Lord created one Church and sacrificed His life for it. One priest whom I have heard went so far to stated that our Blessed Lord gave up His life for the Sacraments. To say that Our Lord does not desire us to be part of His Church but instead willingly allows us to pursue a freedom of religion is heretical.
"The Vatican Council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom..." (Dignitatis Humanae, §2), yet the Church has officially condemned the following: "Liberty of conscience and of worship is the proper right of every man..." (Pius IX, Quanta Cura).
Pray for the success of these talks.
Related Posts:- SSPX Bishops are Not Excommunicated (January 2009)
- Pray for the Canonization of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (February 2009)
- Sermon by His Excellency Bishop Williamson during a Confirmation Mass (April 2008)
- Priests Ordained in Zaitzkofen near Regensburg, southern Germany for the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) by Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta (June 2009)
- Bishop de Gallereta Named Chairman of SSPX-Vatican Commission (August 2009)
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Vatican I defines in Dei Filius (Chapter 4, paragraph 9)
"we teach and define as a divinely revealed dogma that when the Roman Pontiff speaks EX CATHEDRA, that is, when, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church, he possesses, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, that infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed his Church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals. Therefore, such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the Church, irreformable."
In Quanta Cura, Pius IX is NOT defining anything. In fact, Ineffabilis Deus was the only time that Pius IX spoke infallibly (Defining the Immaculate Conception). ERGO, this encyclical falls into the category of the "Ordinary Magisterium," and is therefore technically fallible (shall I dig up a list of mistakes made by popes condemning things?).
Pius IX is writing in the century after the French revolution, 16 years after the European Revolutions of 1848, and the writing of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx. These things are starting to mess up Europe. One of the cries of these movements is freedom of religion (or the abolition thereof). Unfortunately, the secular movements of Europe and the freedom of religion become associated with each other. This is an incorrect association, as the two movements are distinct.
In fact, previous movements in the Church have protected religious freedom on some level (e.g. Innocent III's papal bull of 1201 on forced Baptism). The point of religious freedom is that one must be free to accept or reject the faith - one must choose to love Almighty God. The faith therefore cannot be forced upon them, else the Christianity which they live is not really Christianity at all, but rather the ritualism countered by Pope St. Pius X. Note that it would be Pope St. Pius X who would first use the phrase "attiva partecipazione" ("actual participation") in 1903 (a phrase which would be so abused in the years following the Second Vatican Council).
I am no expert but did not Our Lord allow religious freedom of a sort when He allowed those who found His teachings repugnant to leave? (Of course, they could still be damned!)
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