SSPX calls excommunication ‘unjust and invalid’
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith also published protocols for priests leaving the SSPX to return to full communion with the Catholic Church, requiring that they accept the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.
The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) claimed the excommunication imposed after it consecrated four bishops without papal mandate was “unjust and invalid” and swore that it – and not the Church – was true to Roman Catholicism.
“We do not in any way claim to replace the Church, and we have no other ambition than to remain faithful to it,” said its Italian superior general Fr Davide Pagliarani in a letter to Pope Leo XIV.
“The Society of Saint Pius X promises you today that it will not receive these new sanctions – objectively unjust and invalid – with bitterness or revolt,” he continued.
The letter dated 3 July repeated arguments the SSPX previously made to Vatican officials before it defied Rome and consecrated four new bishops without papal approval on 1 July.
Quoting Luke 11:11, it said no father would give a son a stone when he asked for bread, a snake instead of a fish or a scorpion and not an egg.
“The Society of Saint Pius X [is] not a nest of serpents and scorpions, but a small army of loyal sons, ready to do anything to sustain Him in the restoration of all things in Our Lord,” Pagliarani wrote.
“If you are able, despite your recent decision, bless us as your sons. For us, nothing has changed, and nothing ever will change.”
The letter came a day after the Holy See confirmed the latae sententiae excommunication of the two consecrating SSPX bishops and four priests receiving their mitres.
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), confirmed the excommunications also applied to the over 700 SSPX priests and to laypeople who “formally adhere” to the society.
That made the punishment stricter than measures Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis had taken in unsuccessful efforts to find a compromise with the group.
The DDF also published protocols for priests leaving the SSPX to return to full communion with the Catholic Church. These said they must accept the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and the legitimacy of the novus ordo Mass, even while maintaining an attachment to the old rite.
A priest in this position must find an ordinary – a diocesan bishop or Religious major superior – willing to accept him ad experimentum and then “write by hand a letter to the Holy Father in which he presents himself and asks for the remission of the censures incurred” for his illicit ordination or for joining the SSPX after ordination.
He must submit this to the DDF with a signed Profession of Faith and a Formula of Adherence, including confirmation of his acceptance of the teaching of Lumen Gentium 25 on the Church’s Magisterium, of the validity of the post-conciliar liturgy and of the Code of Canon Law promulgated by John Paul II.
On receiving these documents, the dicastery will issue a rescript lifting the punishment for a probationary period between one and three years after which the relevant ordinary may incardinate the priest.
Laypeople who incur excommunication by formal adherence to the SSPX may return to full communion with the Church by presenting a Profession of Faith and a Formula of Adherence to a local ordinary.
The protocols said that laypeople were not “automatically” excommunicated by a connection with the SSPX but only if they took part “with full awareness and deliberate consent” to its character, such as by joining its third order or formally sharing its doctrinal positions. This does not apply to those who attend its services “only for liturgical or spiritual motives”.
The excommunication may not have much effect in France, where the SSPX has tens of thousands of lay followers. There are already many priests loyal to the Rome who celebrate Mass in the old rite, if that is all adherents want.
“However, they refuse to accept some fundamental elements of the Church, starting with several points from the Second Vatican Council,” Pope Leo said of the SSPX in mid-June. “If they make that decision, I’m sorry but we have to move on.”
The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) claimed the excommunication imposed after it consecrated four bishops without papal mandate was “unjust and invalid” and swore that it – and not the Church – was true to Roman Catholicism.
“We do not in any way claim to replace the Church, and we have no other ambition than to remain faithful to it,” said its Italian superior general Fr Davide Pagliarani in a letter to Pope Leo XIV.
“The Society of Saint Pius X promises you today that it will not receive these new sanctions – objectively unjust and invalid – with bitterness or revolt,” he continued.
The letter dated 3 July repeated arguments the SSPX previously made to Vatican officials before it defied Rome and consecrated four new bishops without papal approval on 1 July.
Quoting Luke 11:11, it said no father would give a son a stone when he asked for bread, a snake instead of a fish or a scorpion and not an egg.
“The Society of Saint Pius X [is] not a nest of serpents and scorpions, but a small army of loyal sons, ready to do anything to sustain Him in the restoration of all things in Our Lord,” Pagliarani wrote.
“If you are able, despite your recent decision, bless us as your sons. For us, nothing has changed, and nothing ever will change.”
The letter came a day after the Holy See confirmed the latae sententiae excommunication of the two consecrating SSPX bishops and four priests receiving their mitres.
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), confirmed the excommunications also applied to the over 700 SSPX priests and to laypeople who “formally adhere” to the society.
That made the punishment stricter than measures Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis had taken in unsuccessful efforts to find a compromise with the group.
The DDF also published protocols for priests leaving the SSPX to return to full communion with the Catholic Church. These said they must accept the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and the legitimacy of the novus ordo Mass, even while maintaining an attachment to the old rite.
A priest in this position must find an ordinary – a diocesan bishop or Religious major superior – willing to accept him ad experimentum and then “write by hand a letter to the Holy Father in which he presents himself and asks for the remission of the censures incurred” for his illicit ordination or for joining the SSPX after ordination.
He must submit this to the DDF with a signed Profession of Faith and a Formula of Adherence, including confirmation of his acceptance of the teaching of Lumen Gentium 25 on the Church’s Magisterium, of the validity of the post-conciliar liturgy and of the Code of Canon Law promulgated by John Paul II.
On receiving these documents, the dicastery will issue a rescript lifting the punishment for a probationary period between one and three years after which the relevant ordinary may incardinate the priest.
Laypeople who incur excommunication by formal adherence to the SSPX may return to full communion with the Church by presenting a Profession of Faith and a Formula of Adherence to a local ordinary.
The protocols said that laypeople were not “automatically” excommunicated by a connection with the SSPX but only if they took part “with full awareness and deliberate consent” to its character, such as by joining its third order or formally sharing its doctrinal positions. This does not apply to those who attend its services “only for liturgical or spiritual motives”.
The excommunication may not have much effect in France, where the SSPX has tens of thousands of lay followers. There are already many priests loyal to the Rome who celebrate Mass in the old rite, if that is all adherents want.
“However, they refuse to accept some fundamental elements of the Church, starting with several points from the Second Vatican Council,” Pope Leo said of the SSPX in mid-June. “If they make that decision, I’m sorry but we have to move on.”
31-35, F