Archbishop Pozzo: In 2018, It Was the Society That Refused the Agreement
Polarization and Isolation:
What Can Be Expected of the Relationship Between Rome and the SSPX
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| Leo XIV in Castel Gandolfo (July 5, 2025) |
Orthodox Catholics are radically split over the Society of Saint Pius X, the consecration of its new bishops, and the excommunications that followed from Rome. Rather than adding yet another polemical perspective to an already heated debate, this analysis focuses on two key questions: how these events appear within the dynamics of Vatican politics, and what they can be expected to mean for the future of the SSPX, a future that, unfortunately, appears rather bleak at this juncture.
Whatever one's position on whether the excommunications were just or unjust, one thing has become indisputably clear: Rome is now treating the Society as a whole as engaged in schism.
There will be no new Ecclesia Dei commission -- instead, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, following the publication of the Decree of Excommunication and its Explanatory Note, has published a "Procedure for the Reconciliation of Priests of the Society of Saint Pius X", and another for the Lay Faithful, with Profession of Faith and Formula of Adherence.
This is our translation of the Italian and Latin original - first, the text relative to priests; followed by the procedure relative to some of the lay faithful; followed by the texts of the Profession of Faith and Formula of Adherence in Latin, and in our translation:
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DICASTERY FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH
PROCEDURE FOR THE RECONCILIATION
OF PRIESTS COMING FROM
THE PRIESTLY FRATERNITY OF SAINT PIUS X
The procedure followed by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, effective July 1, 2026, provides that a priest who has decided to leave the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, who is willing to accept the Second Vatican Council and the legitimacy of the Novus Ordo Missae, while remaining attached to the usus antiquior, must:
DICASTERY FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH
Prot. N. 99/2009
DECREE
Notwithstanding the warnings addressed to the Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X, Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, having committed an act of a schismatic nature by means of the episcopal consecration of four priests, without a pontifical mandate and against the will of the Supreme Pontiff, has incurred ipso facto the penalties provided for by can. 1387 and can. 1364 § 1 CIC 2021.
The Sermon of the Episcopal Consecrations
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Your Excellencies, dear confreres, dear sisters, dear faithful,
Four new bishops consecrated in Écône, Switzerland, 38 years and one day after the first consecration. (video and schedule here)
Despite papal appeal and SSPX response, thousands of people are already in the Canton of Valais, Switzerland, ready to witness the episcopal consecrations organized by the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX).
For those who wish to follow the ceremonies, the episcopal consecrations will be broadcast by the SSPX official channel on YouTube (embedded below). The broadcast will start at 8:15 am local and Rome time (Central European Summer Time or GMT+2), or 2:15 am at Eastern Daylight Time in the US and Canada. The consecrations will start at 9 am local time.
Here is the sequence of scheduled events in Écône:
In response to the appeal sent by letter by His Holiness to him, Fr. Pagliarani, Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), sent the following message:
Letter from the Superior General in Response to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV
The Superior GeneralTo His HolinessPope Leo XIVEcône, 30 June 2026Most Holy Father,
[Update: Response by the SSPX Superior General]
Letter of the Holy Father to the Reverend Father Davide Pagliarani, Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X
[Cf. Vatican statement, May 13, 2026]
Declaration of Catholic Faith addressed to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV by Fr. Davide Pagliarani Superior General of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X
May 14, 2026
Justice, for one. The then-Cardinal Ratzinger had written extensively on the mistakes of the Pauline liturgical reform. But also, and very importantly, the situation of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX).
The SSPX had long defended the full freedom of the Traditional Mass as one of its conditions for a final settlement with the Apostolic See. Then, Benedict XVI accomplished the other condition: the lifting of the excommunications of the four SSPX bishops consecrated by Abp. Marcel Lefebvre in 1988; and the German response to the lifting of one of them (that of Bp. Richard Williamson) created one of the gravest storms of the Ratzinger Pontificate. The reaction gave rise to one of the most traumatic writings ever composed by a Pontiff in the modern age:
From the SSPX news website:
“Suprema lex, salus animarum”
Communique of the General House of the
Society of Saint Pius X:
Following the announcement on February 2nd of future episcopal consecrations for the Society of Saint Pius X, His Eminence Cardinal Fernández wrote to the Superior General to propose a meeting in Rome. The Superior General accepted this proposal. The meeting will take place on Thursday, February 12th.
FIUV is the largest international association of diocesan Catholics attached to the Traditional Mass.
This is their statement on current events:
Una Voce International and the Latin Mass Society have heard with concern the announcement by the Superior General of the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), Fr Davide Pagliarani, that the SSPX will carry out Episcopal consecrations on 1st July this year.
On this February 2, 2026, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, Father Davide Pagliarani, Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, during the ceremony of the imposition of the cassocks, which he presided over at the International Seminary of Saint-Curé-d’Ars, in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, France, publicly announced his decision to entrust to the bishops of the Fraternity the task of proceeding with new episcopal consecrations, on July 1st next.