The Vatican said today that the Society of Saint Pius X brotherhood will become a "personal prelature" of the Catholic Church should reintegration go ahead, suggesting a deal may not be far off.

The statement came a day after SSPX superior Bernard Fellay met Vatican officials to hear the pope's decision on whether conditions can be met to enable the Church to welcome the fundamentalist society back into the fold.

Pope Benedict XVI's decree has not yet been made public as Fellay has a chance to study the response and talk to fellow society members. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Thursday "the ball is now in their court."

Fellay may take weeks to prepare the brotherhood's response.

"During (Wednesday's) meeting, a draft document was submitted proposing a Personal Prelature as the most appropriate instrument for any future canonical recognition of the Society," the statement said.

"The hope was expressed that this additional opportunity for reflection would also contribute to reaching full communion between the Society of St. Pius X and the Apostolic See," it said.

The personal prelature -- a Church jurisdiction without geographical boundaries which carries out pastoral initiatives under a superior appointed by the pope -- was conceived during the Second Vatican Council.

The only one to have been set up so far is the Opus Dei group.

The brotherhood, which claims about 150,000 followers across the world, mainly in France and Brazil, was founded by controversial French bishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970 to counter changes brought about by the Second Council.

Relations with the Vatican have been strained since Lefebrve defied orders from Pope John Paul II in 1988 and consecrated four bishops against his will.

Benedict has striven to heal the rift with the brotherhood -- which wants the traditional Latin mass restored -- by issuing instructions to widen availability of the ancient rite.

The Vatican has appeared open to concessions aimed at appeasing the society, which also rejects the Church's approach to religious freedom and ecumenism (unity among Christian churches) as the work of the antichrist.