Fr. Z's Blog

On the French language websit Golias there is an interesting article about the upcoming Motu Proprio which will concern the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.

I don’t have time to translate it for you today.  Perhaps some of our French readers here can divvy it up and give us an English text.

Here is an interesting line:

Le nouveau Motu proprio à venir, que préparerait déjà le principal rédacteur du Motu proprio de 2007, Mgr Nicola Bux, professeur de théologie à Bari et conseiller estimé de Joseph Ratzinger, justifiera l’importance accordée à la dimension doctrinale de la controverse intégriste. Le rôle de Don Nicola ne saurait être assez souligné.

UPDATE 2122 GMT

A reader sent a translation.  It is a little choppy, but hey!  I didn’t have time to do one and this person stepped up to the plate!

According to our informations, and on the eve of the lefebvrist ordinations of next June 27th in Germany, the Pope wishes for the coming months to write a second motu proprio. Document to be spent this time not only to the liturgy in Latin, but to a more comprehensive reintegration of Lefebvre in the Church. By asking, of course conditions, but also by engaging the whole Church in this process. That’s serious!
 
In other words, the bishops will no longer be entitled to express openly their reluctance and even less to slow the return of the traditionalists. In fact one knows that the representatives of these currents regularly are complaining to the Pope about the obstacles to their reinstatement placed by the bishops and their entourage. Until then, Rome and the Ecclesia Dei commission bypassed the local bishops without, however, in general, openly disavowing them.

Thus, in 1988, the commission very quickly and very caringly get the situation of the Benedictine abbey of the Barroux Abbey sorted out, without informing or consulting the Archbishop of Avignon at the time, Archbishop Raymond BOUCHEX. More recently, Rome proceeded in the same way with respect to the Institut du Bon Pasteur, without informing the archbishop of Bordeaux, in which he sat. Recently, another signal was given by the Vatican which restored to her parish a traditionalist parish priest in dissent with his bishop in Calvados, so to remind the French bishops. Following such a new Motu proprio, a bishop considered too reluctant to welcome newly joined traditionalists will certainly be severely rebuked
The bishops no longer will be able to express their reservations

Benedict XVI and his advisers intend to enjoy the quiet summer to advance on the path of reconciliation. After the authorization to celebrate according all the old liturgical books (Motu proprio of 2007), after the lifting of the excommunication of the four schismatic bishops ordained by Archbishop Lefebvre, a new stage is opening up, more delicate however: That is concerning the divisive theological background in particular with regard to Vatican II and the Magisterium of last popes. You should know that the Pope has chosen the new secretary of the International Theological Commission, the Dominican Father Charles Morerod, precisely according to its sensitivity close to the traditionalist partners. In fact one must be aware that Morerod is the author of a doctoral thesis submitted to the faculty of theology at the University of Freiburg, Switzerland, on the master general of the Dominicans, commentator of Thomas Aquinas, Thomas said Vio Cajetan (1469-1534) in his polemic debate with Luther.

Father Morerod for the theological agreement

But Father Morerod was especially noted for his work Tradition and Unity of Christians. The dogma as a condition of possibility of ecumenism (Word and Silence, Paris, 2005), in which he takes a very drastic stance against a more liberal ecumenism (as theologians Fries, Rahner or Tillard) in emphasizing the essential nature of a true Catholic thought, theologicallly and philosophically indivisible.

Hence, it accentuates the difference between Catholicism and Protestantism in a way that does not displease the most common "tradi" streams. The same Father Morerod strived to trounce the thought of a British Liberal Protestant, John Hick, wose relativist spirit he specifically denies. Oh, this reminds us of someone else … The choice of Morerod Father is therefore not a matter of chance! In a very concrete way, the Ecclesia Dei commission will be subjected to the congregation for the doctrine of the faith (cf. Golias Hebdo n ° 85). There was actually a consideration to join it to the congregation for divine worship, but this was to forget that the problem is not solely or mainly liturgical.
The new Motu Proprio to come, that is said prepared already tby he principal drafter of the Motu proprio of 2007, Monsignor Nicola Bux, professor of theology at Bari and advisor of Joseph Ratzinger, would justify the importance accorded to the doctrine of the traditionalist controversy. The role of Don Nicola will not be stressed enough.

The Italian prelate Nicola Bux for the new Motu Proprio

Consultor to the congregation for the doctrine of the faith and looking for a strategic promotion, Bishop Bux, an Italian priest of 63 years, friendly and discreet, but frighteningly conservative and accurate in its argument, is the determined and tireless craftsman not only of moving closer to the traditionalists but of a restoration of traditional Catholicism as a whole. He drafted the 2007 Motu Proprio on the Mass in Latin. In his latest book, released last October in Italy, "The Reform of Benedict XVI," prefaced by Vittorio Messori, Msgr Bux reckons that rebuilding the essence of the « sacred and divine liturgy, which cannot be made by the hand of man » is necessary. Otherwise, it "would serve no purpose other than to represent himself and upon all it would not save the man or the world, nor would it sanctify it." He is convinced that the liturgy of Saint Pius V better honors the sense of the sacred than that of Paul VI. He criticizes also quite fiercely the reform named of the pope Montini’s name, a true "decomposition" of the liturgy, according to him, expressing and exacerbating what the theologian Louis Bouyer called the "decomposition of Catholicism."

Indeed, Msgr Bux is not confined solely to the liturgical field. He denounces the opening to the world that defiles the Christian mystery and censures the relaxed life of priests in particular with regard to privacy (célibacy. ..). He also attacks the fundamental deviance of the contemporary theology, that he claims to operate an "anthropological turn" (which he also denounces, following Cornelio Fabro, in Karl Rahner). To thise he opposes a new theocentric and Christocentric turning as it may be symbolized by the celebration to the East, his back turned to the faithful. It is easy to imagine the content and tone of the future and near Motu Proprio with such a writer.

Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, who is currently undergoing health problems, is distressed, frustrated and demoralized, no longer has the power nor the liveliness necessary to oppose such an ultra-conservative reversal .

Far from appearing as a defense of the Council, the Motu Proprio will propose a minimalist reading of it, erasing its novelties and questionning its spirit. In sum, a council "according to the tradition" like Archbishop Lefebvre reckoned he could accept it!

Is this still the Council of which Paul VI proclaimed the importance in 1976 when he was facing the integrist dissent? Nothing is less certain.