■ Catholic Herald ■ What is Ecclesia Dei? What does this decision mean? And should traditionalists be concerned?
Pope Francis folded the responsibilities and budget of the commission responsible for traditional Catholics into the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on Saturday. With the motu proprio Da oltre (trent’anni), the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, historically also tasked with leading negotiations with the canonically irregular Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X (SSPX), is suppressed, and its duties transferred to the CDF.
Pope St John Paul II established the Ecclesia Dei Commission in 1988 to support traditional Catholics who did not follow Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre after he illicitly ordained four bishops to continue the work of the fraternity he founded for the preservation of traditional Catholic worship in the wake of the II Vatican Council and the post-Conciliar reform of the liturgy.
Pope John Paul II ruled that the illicit ordination was a schismatic act, and confirmed that the SSPX leadership had incurred an excommunication latae sententiae resulting from their participation in the illicit episcopal consecration. Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 lifted the excommunications on the four bishops illicitly ordained, though the canonically irregular situation of the SSPX persists to this day, despite significant strides toward reconciliation.
In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI restored the right of priests to use the pre-Conciliar liturgical books, promulgated by Pope St John XXIII in 1962, for public worship with his motu proprio Summorum pontificum. Pope Benedict in 2009 expanded Ecclesia Dei’s competences and made the Prefect of the CDF the ex officio head of the Commission, recognising at the time that the outstanding issues between Rome and the SSPX were prevalently doctrinal.
During the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis granted faculties to all SSPX priests to hear confessions. He later made that decision permanent, announcing it in the Apostolic Letter Misericordia et misera of 20 November 2016:
“For the Jubilee Year I had also granted that those faithful who, for various reasons, attend churches officiated by the priests of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, can validly and licitly receive the sacramental absolution of their sins. For the pastoral benefit of these faithful, and trusting in the good will of their priests to strive with God’s help for the recovery of full communion in the Catholic Church, I have personally decided to extend this faculty beyond the Jubilee Year, until further provisions are made, lest anyone ever be deprived of the sacramental sign of reconciliation through the Church’s pardon.”
With this latest move, Pope Francis is giving the responsibilities of the now-suppressed Commission to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
“The further step taken by Pope Francis with the suppression of the commission itself is part of this particular need to continue the dialogue on doctrinal issues, the competence of which is the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,” wrote Nicola Gori for L’Osservatore Romano in a piece accompanying the motu proprio.
The preamble to the motu proprio further suggests the move has been in the works for some time.
Though the move could startle traditionalist Catholics, it has a discernible and unalarming logic to it.
“We are not dealing, therefore, with suppression tout court,” wrote Gori, “but with a transfer of competences, since the main axis on which activity will be set has narrowed to the doctrinal sphere.” Gori also noted the significant advances in the ongoing dialogue thus far. “[P]rogress has been made in communion,” he wrote, “and therefore the current motu proprio offers an implicit recognition to the Pontifical Commission which has carried out its tasks with its efforts and activity.”
“Conditions and circumstances change,” Gori explained, “but the dialogue continues with the SSPX founded by Monsignor Marcel Lefebvre and with those who followed him by adhering to his spiritual and liturgical proposal.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the matter, one Vatican official close to the matter told the Catholic Herald: “The motu proprio explains the reasons for the suppression pretty well: the nature of the dialogue with the SSPX has changed; the kind of oversight and promotion needed for traditional communities is different, now that they are firmly established, in their own right, in the life of the Church.”
The source went on to say: “It makes sense to ‘fold’ Ecclesia Dei — its duties and competencies — into CDF. This also fits the logic of Pope Francis’s other curial reforms, combining different offices into single, theoretically more streamlined organisations.”
“Ultimately,” the source said, “this move seems to be more of a reorganisation than anything else. The headlines that the Ecclesia DeiCommission has been suppressed will no doubt cause a great deal of consternation among traditionalists, but the reality is decidedly more mundane.”