Pontiff Tells Why He's Reaching Out to Lefebvrists

Points to Unity as "Explicit Duty" of a Pastor

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 28, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is offering a personal explanation for his decision to remove the excommunication of four traditionalist bishops ordained without papal permission.

The Pope spoke today at the general audience of the decree made public Saturday, which lifted the excommunication of four prelates of the Society of St. Pius X, illicitly ordained to the episcopate by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1988. (Full story at zenit.org)