Benedict XVI received the participants of the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) on January 27 at the Vatican. On that occasion its president, Cardinal William Joseph Levada, noted that the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, in close collaboration with his dicastery, “is accomplishing an important work and is following the development of the dialogue with the Society of St. Pius X”.
And so this four-day plenary assembly allowed the cardinals and bishops who are members of it to study, among other subjects, the response of the Society of St. Pius X to the Doctrinal Preamble proposed by Rome in September 2011.
According to I.Media, “after an initial response sent to Rome in December and judged insufficient”, the Society of St. Pius X submitted “a second response” which “according to Vatican sources” (again according to I.Media), “proves to be no more satisfactory in the eyes of those who are studying it”. And the Roman news agency concludes: “Rome’s response is now in the hands of Benedict XVI.”
According to a source close to the matter, we can announce that the letter posted by Bishop Fellay in mid-January is not a “second response”; rather it clarifies the position of the Society of St. Pius X and the import of the document sent to Cardinal Levada on December 1, 2011, in response to the Roman proposal dated September 14. (Sources: IMedia/Apic/FSSPX―DICI no. 249, 2-3-2012).
