These traditionalist Catholics are defying Pope Leo XIV, and embracing their outsider status

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A breakaway group of traditionalist Catholics, Challenges the authority of Pope Leo XIV next week by consecrating four bishops without his consent. St. Rather than avoiding confrontation, the Society of Pius X seems determined to embrace his notoriety.

The group, which celebrates the traditional Latin Mass and rejects the modernizing reforms of the Catholic Church, is planning a highly organized, four-day, live-streamed extravaganza of consecration at the Swiss seminary – complete with a souvenir wine set for those in attendance.

The July 1 incident, which took place almost forty years after the group became a scourge of the Vatican, shows this: leaning This adds to its separatist status for a new generation of Catholics who prefer to hold their services in Latin and don’t care that their bishops are out of touch with Rome.

“To me, these really look like Traditionalism 2.0,” said Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology at Villanova University, Leo’s alma mater. The group known as SSPX has embraced technology and digital branding of its religious identity despite its anti-modern and integralist agenda.

“Their game is not to go back to the community, but to go back to the monopoly of ultra-traditionalist identity,” Faggioli said.

First break with Rome

The SSPX was founded in 1970 in Écône, Switzerland, in response to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, which allowed, among other things, church meetings to celebrate Mass in the vernacular rather than Latin.

The group’s relationship with Rome first broke in 1988, when its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, consecrated four bishops without the pope’s permission. The Vatican immediately excommunicated Lefebvre and four other bishops, and the group still has no legal status in the church today.

But in the decades since this first separatist act, the group has continued to grow, with schools, seminaries, and congregations around the world, and affiliated priests, nuns, and lay Catholic branches of the church. traditional Latin Mass.

The growth poses a threat to the Vatican as the SSPX evolves into a parallel, ultra-Catholic church: today the SSPX includes two bishops, 733 priests, 264 seminarians, 145 religious brothers, 88 oblates and 250 religious sisters, representing 50 nationalities, according to SSPX statistics.

Their numbers will increase next week with the appointment of a handful of new priests and four new bishops: Pascal Schreiber of Switzerland, Michael Goldade of the United States, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry of France and Marc Hanappier, also of France.

The Vatican warned that such blessings constituted a “divisive act” and a “grave crime against God” that led to the automatic excommunication or expulsion of the four bishops and those who performed the rite from the congregation under the pope.

A planned blessing to save souls

SSPX superior Rev. Davide Pagliarani justified his consecration by arguing that SSPX’s two surviving bishops from the original consecration in 1988 were elderly and unable to serve such a global reality. He resorted to what he called a “state of necessity” to save souls.

According to the SSPX, the post-Vatican II church is full of heresies and has deviated from the basic tenets of the Catholic faith.

After Pagliarani announced the consecration ceremony, the Vatican invited him for talks. But the same theological and practical problems that have hindered rapprochement for 50 years It left both sides in a stalemate.

In announcing the names of the four new bishops last month, the SSPX emphasized that it was not seeking authority or authority from Leo or “establishing a parallel authority within the church.”

“The July 1 ceremony will have no other purpose than to ensure the continued administration of the ordinances of Holy Orders and Confirmation, together with the sacraments reserved for bishops according to the traditional rite of the Holy Roman Church and the ancient Faith,” the SSPX said in its statement.

The event’s website suggests months of preparation for thousands of people to attend: Registered attendees can book stays at more than a dozen nearby hotels and family homes; They can request carpooling options from more than 100 locations; and pre-pay for daily lunches via a festival-style wristband.

And then there’s wine. Registered attendees can “take home the memory of this historic event” by purchasing a limited-edition set of four bottles of wine. Each bottle features a bishop-themed label: a picture of a bishop’s peaked miter hat, ring, cross, or staff.

The “Cuvee des Sacres” gift box (Pinot noir, Syrah, Petit Arvine and Fendant) valued at 75 Swiss francs ($92.50) can be picked up on site.

Faggioli said this level of organization showed “they had no idea of ​​backing out” of the plans.

It seems appropriate for the Pope to move on

Since the pope’s consent to new bishops is a fundamental expression of his authority and is necessary to guarantee the apostolic succession (the lineage of bishops from the original apostles of Jesus), the consecrations pose a direct challenge to church unity and Leo’s authority.

But the American pope seems resigned that the ceremony will go ahead and everyone will have to suffer the consequences.

Leo said last week that he was considering a new call for the SSPX to back down on its threat and return to the union. Leo told reporters: “But it’s their choice. We need to understand what this means for them and for the church.”

He said division among Christians has always been painful for the church. “However, they refuse to accept some fundamental elements of the church, starting at various points in the Second Vatican Council. And while I regret that choice, we must move forward.”

Other traditionalists react with both dismay and sympathy

Leo from the beginning of his papacy tried to calm you down Relations with Catholic traditionalists have deteriorated under Pope Francis. While the Argentinian pope offered some concessions to the SSPX, demolished On the spread of the Old Latin Mass among other traditionalists in communion with Rome.

These Catholic traditionalists have opposed Francis’ crackdown and are somewhat sympathetic to the SSPX’s arguments about a “crisis” in the church today. But they did not go to the SSPX and are adamant that the blessings are an illegal sign of disobedience.

Joseph Shaw, president of the Latin Mass Association of England and Wales, said the planned SSPX celebrations were meant to be highly public, unlike other fringe groups’ unauthorized ceremonies that “took place in hotel rooms”.

“There is a general principle that Catholics have the right to know that their sacraments are valid,” he said. “And they (SSPX) have the resources to do it beautifully.”

Luigi Casalini of the Messa in Latino blog said the blessings were “seriously illegal” and that the SSPX’s claim of a “state of necessity” to justify them was unfounded.

But he also accused the Vatican of double standards: while threatening to excommunicate SSPX bishops for their ultra-orthodox deviations from Rome, it was also actively negotiating with German bishops over their overly progressive reforms that ran counter to Catholic doctrine.

Casalini said that Leo refused to meet with Pagliarani, but despite this, “the doctrinal statements that were actually on the verge of schism” circulating in the German church “were not treated so harshly.”

As if to head off such controversy, the Vatican on Tuesday formally rejected a German request to allow him to preach at services and revised church rules to say only priests and deacons could do so.

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