00 08/02/2010 14:03


There's been a minor furor in the past few days over a homily delivered recently by the Superior-General of the FSSPX, Mons. Bernard Fellay, in which he said that 'humanly speaking', it would not be possible to come to an agreement in the current doctrinal talks with the Vatican, which was reported by the Italian news agency ASCA - and immediately picked up by the other Italian media - which failed to report the sentences that followed that statement.

I have not had time to translate the developing story, nor to listen to the full video of Mons. Fellay's homily, but here is a translation of the relevant part of his homily:



And now, it is asked, will a result be achieved in the discussions with Rome, will we soon have an agreement? Frankly, sincerely, speaking in human terms, we do not see such an agreement in view. What does an agreement mean? On what are we in agreement? On the fact that only through the Church we find the means of salvation? ...

This does not mean abandoning truth in order to find a middle way, absolutely not; yes, in human terms, we will not reach an agreement, the way we see things, [the talks] do not serve any purpose, in human terms. Yet, when we speak of the Church, we do not speak in human terms, we speak of a supernatural reality to which Our Lord promised that it would not fail, against which the gates of hell would not prevail.

And, therefore, even if we face a difficult and contradictory reality, we know that events are in God's hands, He who has the means to put things in order.


It would be proper to recall that to talk and to debate is necessary, but it is not enough: when one talks about saving souls, when one considers how God rescued the Church from other crises it faced through the centuries, we see that holiness is that with which He renews and heals the Church.

Without grace, and remaining solely at the level of men, all is lost from the beginning. All of us, as Catholics, must, therefore, act, advancing in grace, in the love of God, in charity
.



It was wrong of ASCA to take one statement out of context, and even more wrong of the other Italian media and Catholic commentators to go to town denouncing Mons. Fellay for bad faith and subversion without checking out what he actually said.

I appreciate the staunchly traditionalist but also very reasonable people at messainlatino.com who not only had the good sense to reproduce exactly what Mons. Fellay had said, but also interpreted him correctly - in the Christian way that he said and obviously meant his words!


[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 08/02/2010 14:03]