Vatican, traditionalist group may mend fences

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican and a breakaway group of traditionalist Catholics appear to be nearing an agreement that could bring the group back into Rome's fold and end a quarter-century of schism.

The Vatican had rejected the Society of St. Pius X's initial response last month as "insufficient," but a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the revised position was "a step forward." No decision has been made, however.

The society was founded by the late ultraconservative Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1969 and split from Rome over his opposition to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meetings that modernized the church, revolutionized its relations with Jews and allowed for the celebration of Mass in languages other than Latin.

In 1988, the Vatican excommunicated Lefebvre and four of his bishops after he consecrated them without papal consent. The society's members contend that the reforms of Vatican II ruined the church and are responsible for a "crisis" of faith in the world today. They consider themselves the true upholders of Catholic tradition and celebrate the pre-conciliar Latin Mass, which they see as more solemn and reverent, compared with the New Mass in the vernacular.

Benedict, as cardinal and then as pope, has tried to bring the group back into full communion with Rome, eager to prevent further schism and the expansion of a parallel, pre-Vatican II church.

The society, based in Menzingen, Switzerland, has six seminaries, three universities and 70 primary and secondary schools around the globe. Aside from the four bishops, it boasts more than 550 priests and 200 seminarians.

In 2007, Benedict answered one of the society's key demands by relaxing restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass. Two years later, Benedict lifted the excommunication of the four bishops, including that of a Holocaust denier whose rehabilitation sparked outrage among Jews and Catholics alike.