“The Pope assures them: those who come near to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation with the priests of the Fraternity of St. Pius X will have to be certain that they were absolved from their sins,” Archbishop Fisichella told Vatican Radio.This is not to say that SSPX is back in full communion, but the Radio Vatican article also goes on to say:
In addition to allowing the faithful to licitly receive absolution from the Fraternity, Pope Francis said he has been told by several bishops of the “good faith and sacramental practice” of those attending the Fraternity’s churches, and said he trusts “that in the near future solutions may be found to recover full communion with the priests and superiors of the Fraternity.”This is encouraging news for those whose only opportunity for the traditional Latin Mass is through SSPX.
SSPX has acknowledged this news here: http://www.dici.org/en/news/communique-of-the-general-house-of-the-society-of-st-pius-x-on-the-letter-of-pope-francis-at-the-approach-of-the-holy-year-september-1-2015/
ReplyDeleteFr. Zuhlsdorf ("Fr. Z") comments on this here: http://wdtprs.com/blog/2015/09/pope-francis-for-year-of-mercy-grants-that-sspx-priests-can-validly-absolve/
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