Vatican gives conservative group an ultimatum

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Reconciliation between the pope and a schismatic
group is impossible unless the group accepts the last half-century of
modernizing reforms in the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican said on
Wednesday (Sept. 14).

The Vatican's statement followed a meeting between Bishop Bernard
Fellay, superior general of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), and
Vatican officials led by Cardinal William Levada, a former archbishop of
San Francisco who now heads the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith.

At the meeting, Fellay received a document specifying the "doctrinal
principles and criteria for the interpretation of Catholic doctrine"
that the SSPX must accept as a condition of reconciliation.
The Vatican did not publish the document, but indicated that its
contents related to "Vatican Council II and the later Magisterium," the
latter a reference to the pope's teaching authority.