A LEGAL ANALYSIS OF THE RECOGNITION OF THE SSPX

[Dawn Marie]

A LEGAL ANALYSIS OF THE RECOGNITION OF THE SSPX

translated by Michael Fuller

The notes in red are the translated notes from Non Possumus




The news of the recognition, by the Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Argentine Nation, of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X as part of the Roman Catholic Church is a very important legal act because of the implications that it entails.

In no way does this analysis deal with the issues that arose since the consecrations of the four bishops by Archbishop Lefebvre, nor the subsequent rapprochement with the Holy See, and it does not refer to all the questions that have been debated in recent decades about the inclusion of the SSPX into the Roman Catholic Church.  It is a strict legal analysis of the Resolution of the Ministry of Religion depending on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Religion of the Argentine Republic. I will try to be as schematic, clear and concise as possible.

1) In the domestic law of Argentina, the Catholic Church has a very special status: it is a Legal Person of Public Law under Art. 33 of the Civil Code, a legal nature which it shares with the national state, provinces, municipalities and autonomous entities.  It is the only juridical person of non-state public law, enjoying a hierarchy greater than any association or society imaginable (banks, multinationals, soccer clubs, etc.).

2) Constitutionally, the Argentine state is obligated to support the Apostolic Roman Catholic Religion and it is the official religion of the country, which implies that the Argentine Bishops enjoy an identical compensation to that of a federal judge, in addition to tax exemptions. There are also multiple connections between Church and State, like chaplains in the army, police, prison service and provincial police who are paid by the State, re-labeling the priests into categories of agents of Public Administration (national, provincial or municipal, as appropriate).

3) The Holy See and the Argentine Nation have a Concordat approved by Law 17032 which regulates the international relations between the two states, constituting an important source of public law. From this concordat originates law 24.483, which in its article 1 ° granted civil legal personality to the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life who enjoy a public legal personality status in the Catholic Church, with its single inscription in a register which it will convey to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

4) Based on the Law 24.483, and its regulatory decree 491, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires Mario Aurelio Cardinal POLI requests that the Priestly Society of St. Pius X is classified in the terms of said law and that it is granted recognition by the Argentine government as an Institute of Consecrated Life.  The application dates from February 23, 2015 and the Resolution 25/15 that grants this is dated as of March 17 of the same year, in an extremely rapid process.

5) According to the fundamentals of the decree published in the Official Gazette of the Argentine Republic, Cardinal Poli maintains in his petition that until the SSPX finds the final framework of the Universal Church, that it shall be taken into account as an Association of Diocesan Right in the terms of art.298 of the Code of Canon Law, and also adds that in the process of formation (in fieri, in the course of execution) as a Society of Apostolic Life.

6) If you access the official website of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Argentina there is a register of recognized religions in the country (Protestants, Buddhists, Africanists, etc.) and a Register of Institutes of Consecrated Life in the terms of Law 24483.  There is a unique register for the Catholic Church and forms (with instructions) for its processing are on the web.

7) For its constitution it must be accompanied with, among other things, the decree of establishment of the association, the Constitutions, the consent of ecclesiastical authority, the Memorandum (with structure of the institute, governance, universal supreme Authority and local Authorities, date of installation in the country, main activities that it works out), the appointment of the Main Superior in Argentina, legal venue, etc. The papers must be presented, translated into the national language and the copies duly certified by the Nunciature, or by the Argentine Embassy to the Holy See, or the General Secretariat of the Argentine Episcopal Conference, or by the competent Diocesan Curia by reason of residence (Buenos Aires in this case).

8) In conclusion we can say that: a) There is no doubt that both Cardinal Poli (as Archbishop of Buenos Aires) as much as the Argentine Nation recognize the SSPX as a constituent part of the Roman Catholic Church; b) From the reading of Resolution 25/15, of the domestic legislation of Argentina and the official forms from the website of the Ministry of Religious Affairs there is also no doubt that the process has the express agreement of the SSPX, the only one who can give each and every one of the necessary bureaucratic requirements, mainly the constitutions, governance and authorities; c) The SSPX was registered under n ° 381 between the Institutes of Consecrated Life which are dependents of the Catholic Church. None of the other non-Catholic Christian religions recognized by Argentina are part of the Catholic Church and therefore they do not enjoy the benefits that the law provides to its official religion, beyond the treatment and assistance that the administrations provide for the fulfillment of their purposes.

It is possible to interpret that this legal act of the Argentine State, besides the symbolic value as the land of His Holiness Francis, has a legal effect of great proportions whose consequences extend to the Universal Church. Cardinal Poli, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, is providing, directly and indirectly (through the Argentine state) legal status under the terms of the Universal Code of Canon Law.

I reiterate that this means an advance beyond Benedict XVI. According to ACI Prensa, on June 27th, 2013 in its article "Lefebvrians reaffirm schism and end the dialogue with the Catholic Church", Father Lombardi (who referred to Pope Benedict XVI) is cited saying that "as long as the Society does not have a canonical status in the Church, its ministers do not exercise legitimate ministries in the Church". And in the same note in a statement from the Holy See from February 2009 was cited warning that: "Until the doctrinal questions are clarified, the Society has no canonical status in the Church, and its ministers...do not legitimately exercise any ministry in the Church." 

Legal Reasoning must be nourished on Logic. Something cannot "exist and not exist" simultaneously. The Res.25/15 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina has definitely changed the situation. Today the SSPX -by the initiative of the Archbishop of Buenos Aires- is an association of the faithful under the terms of art.298 of the Code of Canon Law and is on the track to being an Institute of Consecrated Life, enjoying full recognition within the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church.

H.T (Argentine lawyer)

http://brasildogmadafe.blogspot.com.br/2015/04/a-legal-analysis-of-...

[Ana De Valle]

UPDATE (14/04) At Adelante la Fe we have asked that this prominent lawyer make an assessment of the various information, from both sides, which tries to downplay this news indicating that it is something merely "administrative". This is his response:

"After the news of the recognition of the Argentine state of the SSPX communiques have been released from both parties, that obscure rather than clarify.

"I reread the relevant parts of the Code of Canon Law and am even more convinced that there is no way to consider the SSPX part of the Church in Argentina, nor in the world. It violates any legal logic.

"This [that say's it's] about a purely administrative process -in order to freely exercise the apostolic life- has no basis because for decades they have been in our country with a seminary, churches, schools and other property that may well acquire a non-profit civil association. What is the administrative improvement? ¿Evade Income Tax? To obtain wages and subsidies?

"It would be facing a serious situation where they would not be in communion with Rome but receive benefits in Argentina as "Romans".

"The procedure took about fifteen business days, unfit for any bureaucratic procedure, unless a very tedious application was made, without missing anything and managed in advance with authority. The record is slash fifteen (/ 15) which shows that it started this year and is not merely a note from Poli accompanying a process from 2011, as stated by the Agency DICI.


"It is impossible that this was reached without the agreement of Rome and Ecône."

[Dawn Marie]

This is clear to anyone who has eyes to see.  Unfortunately (those in the Society)peoples vision grows darker as the SSPX sinks deeper.

when the novus ordo changes came about people had the same reaction and no matter what occured against the Faith they stayed and eventually also lost their Faith.

The Novus Ordo's idea was to become one with and please the world,  and in so doing we find they changed themselves completely and have become anything but Catholic.

In the SSPX case, we find that they wish to change in order to please conciliar Rome and become one with them, and in so doing have changed the very heart of who they once were, (loyal to Eternal Rome) compromising the Faith and undermining the Faith at every turn and will also become anything but Catholic, just as the conciliar church ended up.  They are already heading in that direction and at a pace unprecedented.

Ana De Valle said:

UPDATE (14/04) At Adelante la Fe we have asked that this prominent lawyer make an assessment of the various information, from both sides, which tries to downplay this news indicating that it is something merely "administrative". This is his response:

"After the news of the recognition of the Argentine state of the SSPX communiques have been released from both parties, that obscure rather than clarify.

"I reread the relevant parts of the Code of Canon Law and am even more convinced that there is no way to consider the SSPX part of the Church in Argentina, nor in the world. It violates any legal logic.

"This [that say's it's] about a purely administrative process -in order to freely exercise the apostolic life- has no basis because for decades they have been in our country with a seminary, churches, schools and other property that may well acquire a non-profit civil association. What is the administrative improvement? ¿Evade Income Tax? To obtain wages and subsidies?

"It would be facing a serious situation where they would not be in communion with Rome but receive benefits in Argentina as "Romans".

"The procedure took about fifteen business days, unfit for any bureaucratic procedure, unless a very tedious application was made, without missing anything and managed in advance with authority. The record is slash fifteen (/ 15) which shows that it started this year and is not merely a note from Poli accompanying a process from 2011, as stated by the Agency DICI.


"It is impossible that this was reached without the agreement of Rome and Ecône."

[Dawn Marie]

Case and point: Tim C., the SSPX chapel coordinator for one of the society chapels in PA and a man I've known for over 20 years, had this to say on the subject:

"This is very interesting and perhaps a taste of things to come. Heaven will be happy."  He further instructs some individual to the website of Fr. Zuldsdorf  for an "accurate" explanation of things :o

This is the same man whose mind became mush after listening to certain unnamed priests of the SSPX who instructed him to become attached to or work with the Una Voce crowd and the diocese, which he did.

By the time they got done with Tim he no longer believes the consecration of Russia is of any importance and the SSPX going back to an unconverted Rome is a good thing.

It takes so little effort to lead souls astray.

Kyrie Eleison!

[Michael Fuller]

THE CONTROVERSY OF THE FSSPX IN ARGENTINA: THE ATTORNEY RESPONDS

THE CONTROVERSY OF THE FSSPX IN ARGENTINA: THE ATTORNEY RESPONDS

 translated by Michael Fuller

Source: Adelante la Fe

(Note from blog: This Argentine lawyer has made an assessment of the situation, which has been confirmed by two other attorneys before posting.  Note that the source is not a resistance source but is a friend blog of Rorate Caeli and is often cited by them.  The attorney wishes to maintain his anonymity, which does not invalidate any of his claims.  The site that this was taken from is operated by a handful of priests, some of them diocesan and some with the FSSP. In the section of authors on the site (Adelante la Fe) you will see pictures and short bios about the contributors of the blog.  I do not agree with the author's ideas, that he may or may not have, regarding religious liberty or the SSPX being outside the Church.  I only publish this translation because of the controversy that has arisen and the attempt by others to attack this attorney's claims on the mere pretext of his anonymity.  If what he has stated is completely true regarding the legal analysis and details that show that Rome and Menzingen have collaborated in leaving the SSPX in Argentina in a checkmated position, then it must be published. His anonymity is a mute point.  Initials suffice.) 

Note from Adelante la Fe: The author of the legal analysis about the legal approval of the SSPX, who remains anonymous besides belonging to the Argentine judiciary system, brings us this text in response to many of the questions and issues that his article had raised, as much as from commentators as from numerous media where it has been reproduced.

 

 

 

 

Cardinal Poli: the SSPX “... is a juridical person within the Apostolic Roman Catholic Church, in conformity with the rules of the Code of Canon Law ..."

This was written and signed by Cardinal Mario Aurelio Poli in the presentation in File 9028/2015 of the Registry of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Religion of Argentina.

At the request of the director of the page to make an analysis of the recognition -made by the Resolution 25/15 of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Argentina- of the SSPX as a part of the Catholic Church, first I made a quick, brief comment which was placed with more detail, then a detailed analysis of a technical nature (if the term is suitable) and then another analysis, also quick, regarding the impact of the media- which the editor placed as a new update.

I confirm the content of what I wrote about in the legal analysis.  And also the speculations in the extensions, but they do not have anything to do with the technical analysis, rather they are derived from the interpretation of the facts.

It is worth clarifying that, beforehand, I did not harbor any dislike for the SSPX, which I believe will be in the great history of the Catholic Church for preserving the great treasure of Tradition.  The SSPX is not established in the place where I live, but I went to the church on calle Venezuela [street] in Buenos Aires, where I also acquired several books that cannot be found elsewhere.

Given the virulence of some comments I must clarify some points, knowing that the law, generally, is controversial and even the wording of clear and explicit legal rules are debated.

Is the Catholic religion the official religion of Argentina?

 

The National Constitution in art.2 speaks of the support of the religion. After the 1994 reform, the catholicity of the President is no longer a requirement, and neither is the requirement of the native Indians to Catholicism – a completely anachronistic law-. There is no express provision to declare as such, except for a theocratic state (eg. Iran); I do not think we can find states with an official religion, if we use that requirement. The official site of the Argentine government would support whoever objects to the character of the official religion of Catholicism.

For decades, Dr. Germán Bidart Campos, the country's most prestigious constitutionalist, maintained the theory that Catholicism was the official religion and even considered it set in stone (i.e. unchangeable for a new Constitutional Convention). Today it is undoubtedly controversial. I repeat: the Catholic Church has a unique legal status in the Civil Code and remains in the new reformed code at any time to be enforced, which earned criticism from progressives.  But the laws of the civil code are not only a demonstration of this, but also the salaries of the Bishops, of the controversial tax exemptions -income tax, the existence of chaplaincies (with salaries of priests) in federal and provincial police, the Argentine Army, the Argentine Navy, the Air force, Prefecture, the Gendarmerie, the Federal Penitentiary Service, public hospitals, etc., with the construction of chapels on their land and religious images in their offices.  There are also religious images in judicial offices and other administrative entities. The President swears by a Christian formula and to the Holy Gospels.  All other religions have absolute freedom to preach, but none of them have been granted any official recognition of their activity [as has been the case with the Catholic religion].

On national holidays the official authorities of the Nation and the Provinces attend the Te Deum in the respective cathedrals, the most significant of these being the one held in the Metropolitan.

The issue is controversial, but it is official, "informal" or privileged, the Catholic religion has an absolutely different status from the rest of the thousands of religions recognized in the Nation. Simply enter the website of the Ministry of Religious Affairs to check.  Yes there is absolute freedom of religion, and this is a fact that will be of much use.

Is Resolution 25/15 a simple administrative procedure?

 

Legally it is an act of Public Administration, but not a mere formality, since it is declaratory of an existing reality and not constitutive of a new reality.  If I create a banking company and would like to start operating as a bank, I should establish the juridical person, it would be authorized by the General Inspectorate of Justice and the Central Bank, and then it would just begin to exist, at the opening of the doors of my financial institution.

Resolution 25/15 recognizes a preexisting reality, based on the Concordat between Argentina and the Holy See, approved by Law 17.032, plus the rules cited in the resolution (Law 24483 and its regulatory decree). The International Treaty between Argentina and the Vatican over its regulatory laws are clear:Argentina only allows itself to recognize an existing juridical person within the Catholic Church.

 

Consider art.3 paragraph f of Regulatory Decree 491/1995 (cited as the basis of Resolution 25/2015). They may enroll in the REGISTER OF INSTITUTE OF CONSECRATED LIFE: f) Other juridical persons recognized as such by the competent ecclesiastical authority and by its likeness and analogy with the above are admitted in the Register by reasoned decision of the authority of the application (emphasis mine).

Our country asks for input from a series of documents authenticated by official bodies of the Church itself and the endorsement of the local bishop, in this case Cardinal Mario Aurelio Poli, who flat out said in his presentation (transcribed in the fundamentals of Resolution 25/15) that said Society is accredited the character of a public, juristic person within the Apostolic Roman Catholic Church, in conformity with the rules of the Code of Canon Law.

 

I reiterate: Archbishop Poli, successor of the Apostles and member of the College of Cardinals, said in his presentation to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, that the SSPX is a public, juridical person within the Church and in conformity with the rules of the Code of Canon Law. Ergo, it has a regular canonical status as a public entity within the Church, and it is of a public character, -and not a mere association of faithful- which is consistent with the statement of the official website of the SSXP South America: “The Society of St. Pius X was founded in 1970 and its statutes were approved on November 1^st of that year by Bishop Charriere, Bishop of Fribourg (Switzerland). Like any other congregation, the Society of St. Pius X was erected as a congregation of diocesan right.Its foundation does not date from 1988 and it is not linked to any suspicion of being illegality".

Consequently, the resolution of the Argentine State is not only important because of what it says, but because it proves indirectly that for Archbishop Poli the SSPX is a juridical person and in good standing in conformity with the rules of Canon Law, whose scope is universal.

 

Again I say that the resolution has canonical consequences, despite the communiqués that state thecontrary, unless these things, against any Logic, can exist and not exist at the same time.

Was this recognition necessary for the operation of the SSPX, which it qualifies as a purely administrative procedure?

 

From the statements of the DICI agency linked to the SSPX, it is worth noting that in Argentina there is freedom of religion and that the operation of schools, hospitals, or any other work intended for the common good may well be conducted as a civil partnership.

At best in this regard, we have the example of the case of the Universidad Austral that is a civil association without a legal link with Opus Dei, nor the Catholic Church, despite several of its members expressly acknowledging that they belong to the Prelature. This civil association had no impediments to achieve important public and private grants, and sustains a premier University with a prestigious University Hospital.

A substantial difference -which the Resolution 25/15 expressly refers to- is the exemption from income tax, but ultimately a completely material and worldly type of question order which did not justify such a turnabout in the relationship between Church and SSPX. Can we assume that this administrative act had a merely material purpose? No way is this possible knowing the difficulties endured for years by the SSPX for being outside the Catholic Church. (note from translator: the SSPX was never outside the Church, remember that this article is translated from an Ecclesia Dei source)

Was it a routine administrative procedure?

 

Definitely not, but this is supposing that it was illegal. Yes it was an extremely rapid process, where in less than a month the case was initiated and approved, despite requiring extensive documentation, having to be certified and translated into the national language, besides the normal time evaluation of the administrative body to resolve accordingly.

If you enter the website of the Ministry of Religions it will be noted, by way of example, that the "Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception" began the record in 2000 (no. 22277/00) and obtained a favorable resolution in 2005 (No. 1475/00, dated 06/27/05).  On the same date, the Redemptorist Missionary Sisters were enabled, whose record dated from the previous year (no. 25213/04).  In this regard, you can consult the Official Gazette where bothresolutions were published.

If you are interested in knowing the list of all the Institutes of Consecrated Life and administrative procedures, you can enter this website.  This list is also proof of the dissimilar treatment that is given to the Catholic Church.

By way of conclusion

 

The importance of this resolution is shown in that, officially, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires recognizes the SSXP as a juridical person under public law within the Catholic Church, with a regular canonical condition.

 

Furthermore, as happened many times in questions dealing with common law (mainly in sensitive and controversial issues), it is a matter of an important precedent (leading case) of great value, that in some way may go unnoticed in the Universal Church.

I know nothing of the scenes of the case.  Whoever wants to know more can enter Panorama International Catholic, a site that I highly regard.  Sure, I can speculate on serious grounds, from the analysis of the legal act, about the documentary records that are invoked, about the formalities of other Institutes of Consecrated Life and tight deadlines, that it is a matter of something previously agreed and arranged in its presentation, impossible without the consent of Rome and Ecône.

H. T. (Argentine Attorney)

[Alley]

Our only Hope and only solution is prayer (the Rosary) and Fasting (penance) and

to leave everything else in Our Blessed Mother's hands. She is our Way.

[Dawn Marie]

yes for certain....

Alley said:

Our only Hope and only solution is prayer (the Rosary) and Fasting (penance) and

to leave everything else in Our Blessed Mother's hands. She is our Way.