Archbishop Pozzo returns to Ecclesia Dei office

Vatican City, Aug 3, 2013 / 11:26 am

Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Guido Pozzo as secretary of Ecclesia Dei, the curial office charged with reconciling the ultra-traditionalist Society of St. Pius X.

Archbishop Pozzo has already served as secretary of the Pontifical Commission, from July 8, 2009 to Nov. 3, 2012. 

He had been removed from the commission to become head of the Office of Papal Charities, where he has served until his re-appointment as Ecclesia Dei secretary Aug. 3.

Ecclesia Dei was founded in 1988, months after the head of the Society of St. Pius X illicitly consecrated four bishops, a "schismatic act" according to the document of Blessed John Paul II establishing the Pontifical Commission.

The office is meant to facilitate "full ecclesial communion" of those associated with the Society "who may wish to remain united to the Successor of Peter in the Catholic Church." 

Since the 2007 motu proprio of Benedict XVI providing for a more liberal use of the liturgy as it was said prior to the reforms of Vatican II, the Ecclesia Dei has also served those who have a special dedication to this traditional form of the Roman liturgy.

On July 2, 2009, Benedict XVI linked the Pontifical Commission to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, noting that the problems in dialogue with the Society of St. Pius X were "doctrinal in nature."  

He then appointed Archbishop Pozzo, then a monsignor, as Ecclesia Dei's secretary. Archbishop Pozzo had worked with Benedict XVI for several years on the staff of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Archbishop Pozzo was replaced as head of the Office of Papal Charities today by titular Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, who has served as a Papal Master of Ceremonies and is a priest of the Lódz archdiocese, in Poland.