After three days out of the loop, I see Pope Benedict has given the SSPX a deadline for reconciling with Rome. I don’t really see this as netting a favorable result for reconciliation, do any of you?
As with many church political things–and this schism has a political component–pride is entangled with this. Probably enough pride to prevent either side from approaching the other with any sense of vulnerability. And as sacramental confessors ought to know, vulnerability is very much a necessary part of any sort of reconciliation.
Catholic Sensibility 
Many other bloggers have reported this as “an offer they can’t refuse.” This cinematic allusion is inappropriate for two reasons. First of all, they certainly can and may very well refuse it, and second, it’s hard to imagine Bishop Fellay waking up with a bloody horse’s head next to him.
Wait . . . this just in! Msgr. Luca Brasi has just been named head of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.
I suspect Rome is privately exasperated. Unlike women priests on cruise boats, these SSPX guys were actually part of the clerical culture. “They should know better,” is likely what most of Rome is thinking.
A deadline? I don’t see that getting swallowed well. This is an offer pride cannot accept.
Todd, I don’t know.
Every time I see reporting around St. Blog’s about this, it’s Bishop Fellay basking in the schmoozing of Rome. Everyone’s lining up to kiss his ass, and I think he’s liking it.
Maybe if the adulation was going to stop, he might decided that it was time to sh*t of get off the pot.
The reconciliation was rejected…no surprise.
http://ncrcafe.org/node/1942