The Vatican said Thursday that it had proposed granting the Society of St. Pius X a special legal status as part of a continued effort on the part of Pope Benedict XVI toward reconciliation with the breakaway traditionalist group.
The status of “personal prelature,” similar to a diocese without specific boundaries, was introduced during the Second Vatican Council and until now has been given only to the conservative Opus Dei movement.
The proposal was made during a meeting between Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the Society of St. Pius X, and Cardinal William J. Levada, the Vatican’s chief doctrinal officer, to discuss elements of the “doctrinal preamble” that the group must accept before reconciliation can be reached.
Bishop Fellay promised to respond in a “reasonable” amount of time. The group does not have canonical status in the church. In 1988 Pope John Paul II excommunicated Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the group’s founder, as well as four bishops he consecrated without the Vatican’s approval.