Return of Brazilian Lefebvrists to Rome. (Brazil).

Rio de Janeiro--Amid the strains of the Te Deum and the reading of welcoming words from John Paul II, the St. Jean Marie Vianney Fraternity, a (traditionalist) Lefebvrist group in Brazil, recited the Catholic profession of faith and was received into full communion with the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church by senior Vatican and Brazilian prelates on January 18, the beginning of Christian Unity week.

According to the terms of reintegration, this formerly schismatic group recognizes

1) the authority of the Pope as Vicar of Christ;

2) the legitimacy of Vatican II; and,

3) the validity of the Mass approved by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

For their part, the priests of the fraternity, who will be directly under the Pope's authority, are allowed to celebrate the Latin Mass according to the rite of St. Pius V, which was the traditional Latin rite Mass until Vatican II.

The reconciliation began in the Jubilee Year during a pilgrimage to Rome, when representatives of the fraternity met with Vatican officials. This is the first of the groups which organized under the late Archbishop Lefebvre to return to Rome. It has one bishop, 26 priests and 28,000 faithful. It will now form an Apostolic Administration directly under the supervision of Rome.

Fr. Georges Cottier, the French Dominican theologian of the Papal Household, explained that this step should not be seen as a setback for Vatican Council II. "From the beginning, the Holy Father has always hoped that at least in large cities there should be a place where Mass in Latin would be celebrated, perhaps even with the Pius V rite." Moreover, today, the priests of St. Peter's Fraternity have the celebration of the Pius V Mass as their special focus. (Zenit, Jan. 21, 2001)