Vatican sources say that the Pope is planning to lift the excommunication of a group of renegade ultra-traditionalists by his predecessor, John Paul II, 17 years ago.

In an unprecedented move, the Pope is to receive Bishop Bernard Fellay, the Superior General of the Society of St Pius X, for conciliation talks at his summer residence at Castelgandolfo today.

The society (or brotherhood) was set up in 1969 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, of France, who gathered around him right-wing traditionalists opposed to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and established a seminary at Ecône in Switzerland.

Archbishop Lefebvre and his followers claimed that the reforms had dissolved traditional Catholicism. The reforms were designed to bring Church rituals closer to ordinary people by introducing everyday language into the liturgy in place of the traditional Tridentine or Latin Mass. The Latin Mass, established by the Council of Trent in the 16th century, is not banned but can be used only with the permission of a local bishop and with approval from Rome.

The ultra-traditionalists’ relations with the Vatican frayed to breaking point in 1976 when Archbishop Lefebvre accused Catholic modernists — including Pope Paul VI — of heresy. In response, Paul VI banned the Archbishop and his followers from saying Mass or taking the sacraments.

John Paul II, after his election as Pope in 1978, sought to mend the rift but excommunicated Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988 for ordaining four bishops at Ecône despite repeated warnings that he was no longer in communion with the Pope.

Archbishop Lefebvre died in 1991 but his breakaway group continues to operate worldwide, with 4 bishops, 460 priests, 7 seminaries and nearly 500 churches, all using the Latin Mass.

Andrea Tornielli, a papal biographer, said that Benedict XVI — formerly the guardian of Vatican tradition as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — was well placed to mend the rift since he had himself shown a preference for the Latin Mass.

Four years ago, when still John Paul II’s right-hand man, Benedict referred to the followers of Archbishop Lefebvre as “our brothers and sisters”, adding “we must do whatever is possible to attract them back. It is better to heal our wounds within the Church rather than letting them fester outside it.”

Vatican sources said that the Pope hoped to build on Ecclesia Dei — the pontifical commission that was created by John Paul II to monitor the Lefebvrists — by creating a body that would supervise the arch-traditionalists under the Pope’s direct control.

The Lefebvrists, in turn, are seeking the lifting of their excommunication and the right to hold Latin Masses without first seeking the approval of the Vatican.

Richard Williamson, one of the four bishops created by Archbishop Lefebvre and a noted hardliner, said that the hopes surrounding Bishop Fellay’s meeting with the Pope were unrealistically optimistic. Bishop Williamson, a British Catholic convert from Anglicanism, who was one Archbishop Lefebvre’s earliest recruits, said that the “web of deceit” had been “spun by the Vatican for too long. It is a case of ‘welcome to my parlour, said the spider to the fly’.”

He thought it unlikely that the Pope would give his “unconditional blessing” to the Lefebvrists, adding: “The war goes on between the friends and enemies of the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He warned Bishop Fellay to beware of Vatican duplicity.

HISTORY OF THE SCHISM

1869-70: First Vatican Council approves doctrine of papal infallibility

1962: Second Vatican Council begins under Pope John XXIII; ends under Paul VI, 1965. Reforms agreed that remain basis of Vatican policy and Roman Catholic doctrine

1969: Marcel Lefebvre, leader of opposition to Vatican II as betrayal of “traditional Catholicism”, founds seminary in Switzerland known as Society of St Pius X. Adherents refuse to accept use of vernacular in the liturgy instead of Latin Mass

1988: Archbishop Lefebvre excommunicated by John Paul II for ordaining bishops without Rome’s approval. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had tried to bring Lefebvrists into the fold

1991: Lefebvre dies in Martigny, Switzerland

2003: Cardinal Ratzinger says rift must be healed

2005: The cardinal becomes Pope Benedict XVI

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