Pope may lift excommunication of traditionalists

Pope Benedict is considering lifting the excommunication of the heads of an ultra-traditionalist group that broke with the Vatican 18 years ago, an Italian newspaper reported yesterday.

Il Giornale of Milan said the Pope would meet top advisers later this month to discuss more ways of bringing the traditionalists, known as the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), back into the mainstream Catholic fold.

The SSPX, founded by the late French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, rejects many of the reforms of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council.

It sticks to the old Latin Mass and opposes recognising the validity of other religions, particularly non-Christians.

The late Pope John Paul sanctioned the excommunication of the traditionalist leaders in 1988 when Archbishop Lefebvre defied his warnings and ordained four bishops without papal permission.

This created the first schism in the Church in modern times. Since his election last April, Pope Benedict has been trying to hold out an olive branch to the SSPX, which sees itself as the guardian of true Catholicism.

Last August, he resumed direct dialogue with the group when he held a surprise meeting with Bishop Bernard Fellay, who took over its leadership after Archbishop Lefebvre died in 1991.

Il Giornale said the Pope wanted to hold a meeting with cardinals in mid-February "to discuss the possibility of lifting the excommunication of the bishops" Archbishop Lefebvre ordained.

The Vatican had no immediate comment on the report.

The traditionalists have demanded the lifting of the excommunication - a total cut-off from the Church - as one prerequisite for a dialogue aimed at healing the schism.

The group now has four bishops and some 480 priests around the world. It claims about one million members or supporters, according to an SSPX spokesman. There are some 1.1 billion Catholics in the world.

One of the best-known traditionalist Catholics is American actor Mel Gibson but it is not clear if he supports the SSPX, which is based at the rebel seminary Archbishop Lefebvre ran in Switzerland.

Another condition the SSPX has put on dialogue with the Vatican is a concession allowing the unconditional return of the old-style Latin mass, which was sidelined after the Second Vatican Council opted for services in local languages.

Saying the Latin mass now requires approval from local bishops, who are often reluctant to make exceptions for a tiny minority in their dioceses.

The SSPX welcomed the election of Pope Benedict, a conservative sympathetic to their support for the Latin Mass.