FSSPX Responds to Cardinal Arborelius: Francis Allowed Confessions and Marriages
In an open letter dated 22 August, the Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X (FSSPX) responded to an attack by Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Sweden. He had stated on August 15 that the sacraments of the FSSPX are "not licit".
The reply is signed by Father Karl Stehlin, FSSPX, the Superior for Poland and Scandinavia, and Father Håkan Lindström, FSSPX, the priest responsible for the Scandinavian apostolate.
Sacraments of Confession and Marriage "Allowed" by Holy See
The two priests argue that, in September 2015, Pope Francis granted the faculties for hearing confessions validly and licitly to all the priests of the Fraternity for one year, and that he extended these faculties indefinitely in November 2016: "These faculties have not been revoked by the Holy See to date."
They also state: As confessions are usually heard immediately before Holy Mass, it stands to reason that most of the faithful who come to our priests for confession intend to attend Holy Mass celebrated by one of our priests …More
The concept of necessity is the entire reason for the existence of the SSPX after VII. Thank you for so clearly pointing out a concept that explains why SSPX is valid and licit in every way...except in the view of the heretical who just happen to occupy traditionally Catholic offices and architecture for the time being. Valid and licit? I haven't been to a NO Mass is years where I didn't have concerns about one or the other. Case in point: scroll up to the photo of the priest with non-Catholic, female "concelebrant."
Pope Francis did give SSPX the faculty to hear confessions legally and validly, because it does not contradict Canon Law. There have always been exceptional circumstances or instances of necessity in which the Church recognizes as valid and licit the reception of sacraments from priests who may be immoral, schismatic, irreligious, laicized, or even non-Catholic, provided their denominations have sacramental confessions.
Canon 844 §2. Whenever necessity requires it or true spiritual advantage suggests it, and provided that danger of error or of indifferentism is avoided, the Christian faithful for whom it is physically or morally impossible to approach a Catholic minister are permitted to receive the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing of the sick from non-Catholic ministers in whose Churches these sacraments are valid.
Canon 976 Even though a priest lacks the faculty to hear confessions, he absolves validly and licitly any penitents whatsoever in danger of death from any censures and sins, even if an approved priest is present.
While Pope Francis' gesture of mercy shows an important precedent -- for the good of souls, the Church has the power to grant faculties even to priests who are not in good standing -- it is nevertheless NOT AN APPROVAL OF THEM - not an approval of SSPX, or their situation.
About the SSPX faculty to officiate in Catholic weddings (Letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith dated March 27, 2017). It states that with the diocese's permission, an SSPX priest may officiate in a Catholic wedding but only if there is no diocesan or religious priest available, and the documents must be forwarded to the diocesan curia. It should be remembered, too, that in the sacrament of matrimony, the ministers are the couple themselves. A priest is only there to witness for the Church and receive the couple's consent.
Other than those limited faculties, the sacraments of the SSPX, although valid, are not recognized by the Church because, as Pope Benedict XVI writes, the Society has no canonical status and no legitimate ministry in the Church.
Arborelius is an educated nitwit. He pontificates and excommunicates without checking with the Holy See first. He is ignorant of the fact that Francis gave limited faculties to the FSSPX to hear confessions, to witness marriages validly under certain conditions, and to adjudicate Annulment Cases, and Priestly Disciplinary Cases on behalf of the Holy See. Therefore, the FSSPX cannot be in schism. The FSSPX is simply in a state of canonical irregularity due to the impossibility of having recourse to truly Catholic authorities during the crisis in the Church which is temporary. Spiritual necessity grants extraordinary faculties, case by case, given directly by Our Lord Jesus Christ to the priest without ordinary faculties, and exceptionally, not through the institutional Church--for the validity and liceity of the Sacraments.
The law of souls is the highest law in the Church. Canon Law is not an end in and of itself. It is there to help us save our souls and for no other reason. When Church Law, in and of itself, obstructs the salvation of souls, God and the Church itself dispenses from it. It is spiritual necessity that gives an non-Catholic, validly ordained priest, or a priest in an irregular canonical situation, the extraordinary faculties to hear a dying Catholic penitent's Confession 'in danger of death' only. A couple can validly and licitly marry themselves in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony if after two months of searching they are not able to find a Catholic priest with faculties to marry them. How is this possible? The Church dispenses from Canon Law in the case, and, as in the Middle Ages, there is no restriction on a couple marrying themselves even without witnesses in the case of spiritual necessity. The FSSPX priest can witness such an emergency wedding even without faculties as a witness weds themselves. The priest is there to bless the nuptials and make sure that the words that are exchanged were the correct ones. It is the baptized couple that has the spiritual power to unite themselves in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.
FYI-It would be impossible for the Church, in this case the pope, to give Catholic faculties (spiritual jurisdiction, or authority to rule, govern, and to judge a particular body, or the whole body of the Catholic faithful) to schismatic clergy as they are formally separated from the Church, in principle, and, therefore, from the bonds of Catholic Charity.
In the case of the Orthodox, they also reject the Catholic Faith as they deny the very notion of the Catholic papacy in Rome, instituted by Christ Himself and conferred upon St. Peter, reject the Catholic doctrine of Christian Marriage as they permit divorce, reject the moral doctrine of the Church as they deny the Catholic teaching on contraception being intrinsically evil, and they reject the dogma of the "Filioque" that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and from the Son as from One Principle. Heretics and schismatics cannot receive Catholic faculties as they are not governed by the Church being 'outside the visible institutional life of the Catholic Church.
Dear God, we are in our passion; it is an on-going battle for your beloved Church. Have mercy on us.