Vatican cardinal castigates SSPX

The Tablet (UK)
Jan. 15, 2013

A curia cardinal has questioned how the Society of St Pius X (SSPX) could claim to call itself "Catholic" given its rejection of key teachings from the Second Vatican Council.

In some of the bluntest language to date from the Roman curia on relations with the SSPX, said Cardinal Kurt Koch, head of the Vatican's ecumenical section, said: "It is only the group of Lefebvrists that doesn't accept ... ecumenical dialogue, relations with the Jews and religious liberty ... One must ask how it can present itself as Catholic."

Asked if there were any danger the Catholic Church, under pressure from the SSPX, could backtrack on its post-Vatican II position on the Jews, the cardinal said: "Absolutely not; because the Church cannot throw into discussion the Council."