Aftermath of the Suppression of Ecclesia Dei

As had been stated in previous posts and by several traditional Catholic websites, Pope Francis decreed that the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei - founded by Pope St. John Paul II - is to be abolished. Its work will now continue in a “special section” of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Vatican has said that this decision has been taken because ‘conditions and circumstances change,’ but insisted that dialogue towards regularization of the SSPX ‘continues.’

 

Salient points in the PCED's history:

 

• Pope St. John Paul II set up the Pontifical Commission in 1988 in response to Archbishop Lefebvre’s decision that year to consecrate four bishops without papal permission, a schismatic decision according to the Vatican which led to Archbishop Lefebvre’s excommunication along with those of the four bishops.
• Its role was originally to care for Archbishop Lefebvre’s followers who wished to remain united with the successor of Peter, the Fraternity of Saint Peter being the first immediate result.
• It also had the task of regularizing canonical situations of religious communities of a traditionalist nature, giving them a canonical form corresponding to their charism.
• The Commission had the responsibility of working with bishops to facilitate the Tridentine Mass (according to the 1962 Missal) for those faithful who request it.
• Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum gives wider accessibility to the Tridentine Mass. 
• Benedict XVI lifted the four SSPX bishops' excommunications in 2009.
• The 2009 motu proprio Ecclesiae unitatem, “organically linked” the commission with the CDF.
• Officials request Pope Francis, in November 2017, that the CDF directly handle dialogue between the Holy See and the SSPX. He consented to their request in January 2018, recognizing that the “questions being dealt with” are “of a doctrinal nature.”