Pope Francis said Tuesday
that marriages celebrated by the followers of the late
schismatic bishop Marcel Lefebvre could be recognised.
The pope's new dispensation, which follows another affirming
the validity of confessions taken by Lefebvrians, was contained
in a letter from the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei to the
bishops' conferences concerned.
The Vatican has been working on improving ties with the
ultra-traditionalist Lefebvrist breakaway group, whose official
name is the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX).
The Vatican forged a draft with the SSPX five years ago that
aims to formally reunite the group with the Catholic Church.
SSPX broke away from the Church over theological
differences stemming from the changes it adopted with the Second
Vatican Council of some 50 years ago.
In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication
imposed on four SSPX bishops which he said "could have
prejudiced the opening of a door for dialogue" with the leaders
of the society.
The move came just days after one of the four, British
Bishop Richard Williamson, was shown in an interview with
Swedish television claiming that the facts were "hugely against
six million Jews having been deliberately gassed" during the
Holocaust, sparking a wave of controversy and strong protests
from Jewish communities across the world.
The excommunications were imposed when the four bishops
were consecrated in 1988 in defiance of Rome by the SSPX's
late founder, French Archbishop Lefebvre.
photo: Lefebvre, who died in 1991
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA