2. The Pope is now reaching out to the SSPX: one really has to ask why. The Pope and the SSPX have absolutely nothing in common, poles apart. Previous overtures to the Society have required a public acceptance by them of all the documents of Vatican II. It would seem that under Pope Francis such niceties as doctrinal agreement are no longer that important; the priority appears to be to get the Society back in at all costs. That should set alarm bells ringing among SSPX priests. Vatican intervention in orthodox Catholic institutes in order to wrest control of them from orthodox Catholics and reform them to make them more accommodating of the secular values being embraced more and more by the modern Church under this Pope.