FrancisMercy: Francis validates marriages celebrated by the priests of the Society of St. Pius X
Its to bad Francis is not the Pope. More "suckering in" by the Conciliarist heretics.
After granting and extending to the Society of St. Pius X priests the right to
“Despite the objective persistence of the canonical irregularity - as the letter reports- in which for the time being the Society of St. Pius X finds itself, the Holy Father, following a proposal by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, has decided to authorize Local Ordinaries the possibility to grant faculties for the celebration of marriages of faithful who follow the pastoral activity of the Society, according to the following provisions. Insofar as possible, the Local Ordinary is to grant the delegation to assist at the marriage to a priest of the Diocese (or in any event, to a fully regular priest), such that the priest may receive the consent of the parties during the marriage rite, followed, in keeping with the liturgy of the Vetus ordo, by the celebration of Mass, which may be celebrated by a priest of the Society.
“Where the above is not possible, or if there are no priests in the Diocese able to receive the consent of the parties, -the letter continues - the Ordinary may grant the necessary faculties to the priest of the Society who is also to celebrate the Holy Mass, reminding him of the duty to forward the relevant documents to the Diocesan Curia as soon as possible.”
“Certain that in this way any uneasiness of conscience on the part of the faithful who adhere to the Society of St. Pius X as well as any uncertainty regarding the validity of the sacrament of marriage - the letter concludes - may be alleviated, and at the same time that the process towards full institutional regularization may be facilitated, this Dicastery relies on Your cooperation.”
The “Letter of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei regarding the license to celebrate marriages of the faithful of the Society of St. Pius X”, made public on April 4, 2017, signed by Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Gerhard Ludwig Müller and Secretary of the Ecclesia Dei, Archbishop Guido Pozzo, with the approval of Francis. A document that, in the wake of the decision already taken on confessions, takes into account the needs of the faithful and rectifies an existing problem concerning weddings celebrated by the priests of the Society.
For a marriage to be valid and lawful, it is not enough the appointing of the minister attending the rite (whose celebrants are the bride and groom), there must be also jurisdiction. The minister in front of whom the bride and groom express their consensus, in order for this to be valid, must have been delegated by the bishop or more commonly by the priest of the parish where the marriage is celebrated. Not even a cardinal or an apostolic nuncio can bless the marriage of a married couple without this authorization. Of notable interest was the case of the apostolic nuncio, Federico Tedeschini (later made a cardinal by Pope Pius XI), who in the twenties blessed many weddings in Spain without having been delegated by either the bishop or the local parish priest: all those marriages were declared invalid by the Sacred Rota due to defect of canonical form.
Without a delegation of the ordinary diocesan or of the local parish priest, marriage is indeed null due to defect of canonical form, even if the invalidity must be proven in court. This obviously does not mean that all weddings celebrated until today for the faithful of the Society are nil; there has always been the possibility of asking authorization or for a “sanatio” (an amnesty ex post) after marriage. However, this complication will no longer exist thanks to the letter published today, since it bypasses any legal doubt: any diocesan bishop is expressly authorized by the will of the Pope to grant the power and thus lawfully validating the marriages celebrated by Lefebvre priests.
In the pre-conciliar rite, according to the 1962 Missal promulgated by John XXIII, the one used by the Society of St. Pius X, the sacrament of marriage is celebrated before mass. That is to say, that the wedding is not incorporated in the liturgical celebration as it is in the rite of the post-conciliar reform, though the possibility of celebrating it outside of Mass is always possible. The bishop is therefore now authorized to appoint a priest delegated to receive the consent of the spouses when the marriage is celebrated by a Lefebvre priest and may decide to delegate directly the priest of the Society. With the publication of today’s document, the bishop cannot cite as a reason to refuse authorization the fact that priests of the Society does not have a legal status in the Catholic Church.
Francis’ gesture is thus a further step in showing attention and benevolence towards the Society, with the hope stated in the text of the letter, that a full reconciliation will be soon reached. It is well known that in recent months the Holy See has proposed to the superior of St. Pius X, Bishop Bernard Fellay, to sign a new version of the doctrinal declaration, which basically focused on the “ Professio fidei”, i.e. the profession of the Catholic faith. Once the fraternity will accepted it, the process for granting the legal status to the Lefebvre bishops and priests will be completed in a short time. The formula, chosen long ago, is that of a “personal prelature” directly depending on the Holy See.
Please pray for both Francis and the NeoSSPX. They both truly dont get it
