The SSPX Brouhaha: What's It All About?

 For those paying attention to the pitched battle between the SSPX and the Vatican (or a few bureaucrats therein), Bp. Schneider presents a clarifying essay.

Here's the guts of it:

 

...Among the other twenty ecumenical councils, one finds numerous pastoral or disciplinary statements and documents that are no longer applicable today ... as well as non-definitive doctrinal statements (e.g., on the matter and form of the sacrament of Holy Orders from the Council of Florence) that were later corrected by the Magisterium of the Church. One cannot absolutize every concrete historical form of Church leadership, for doing so would eliminate the necessary distinction between, on the one hand, the unchanging and enduring truths of faith (Depositum Fidei) and, on the other, the various modes by which those truths are transmitted (e.g., a pastoral statement, non-definitive doctrinal statement, or ex-cathedra definition), each of which carries a different degree of authority and binding force.

Today, however, to be in full communion with the Holy See, one must accept those affirmations and teachings of Vatican II that are pastoral and certainly non-definitive in terms of their magisterial nature. This raises an important question: Why is the unconditional acceptance of the texts of Vatican II presented as a conditio sine qua non for full communion with the Holy See, while no comparable requirement exists with respect to the pastoral, disciplinary, or non-definitive teachings of the preceding twenty Ecumenical Councils?

Among the non-definitive teachings of Vatican II there are several—particularly those concerning religious liberty, ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, and collegiality—whose formulations are ambiguous and difficult to reconcile with doctrines taught consistently by the Magisterium from the era of the Church Fathers through the period immediately preceding the Council.

There is also the question of the ritual and doctrinal deficiencies of the Novus Ordo Missae. Such concerns can no longer be dismissed out of hand...

.The good Bishop's observations and questions are not only sincere, but valid.  The ambiguities expressed in some of the VatII docs have been remarked upon since they day they were published, and by people of good will (and some not-so-good-willed.)

We are not adherents to SSPX, and we attend a New Rite parish--but are perfectly comfortable in the Old Rite and are sympathetic to those who prefer it.

It appears that Pope Leo is .........ahhh.........ambiguous about this whole thing.  He is certainly hesitant about attempting to enforce any sort of "ban" on the Old Rite.  That said, some of his lieutenants in the Vat are hell-bent for leather to crucify the SSPX along with the Old Rite.

Stay tuned.