The General House of Priestly Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) announced Feb. 2 that its bishops will consecrate new bishops in July, noting that it recently received a letter from Pope Leo XIV that “does not in any way respond” to requests its superior general made about ordaining new bishops.
The decision jeopardizes current relations between the Vatican and the SSPX, and commentators warn it could result in the involved clergy’s automatic excommunication.
SSPX Superior General Father Davide Pagliarani made his decision “to entrust the bishops of the Society with the task of proceeding with new episcopal consecrations” public Feb. 2, according to a press release from the SSPX.
The release states that Fr. Pagliarani sought an audience with Pope Leo in August 2025, “making known his desire to present to the Holy Father, in a filial manner, the current situation of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X.” Rome-based Catholic journalist Diane Montagna reported Feb. 2 that this request was “seemingly unsuccessful.”
After making this request, Fr. Pagliarani sent a second letter to the Vatican in which he “explicitly expressed the particular need of the Society to ensure the continuation of the ministry of its bishops, who have been travelling the world for nearly forty years to respond to the many faithful attached to the Tradition of the Church and desirous, for the good of their souls, that the sacraments of Holy Orders and Confirmation be conferred,” the release states.
“After having long matured his reflection in prayer, and having received from the Holy See, in recent days, a letter which does not in any way respond to our requests, Father Pagliarani, in harmony with the unanimous advice of his Council, judges that the objective state of grave necessity in which souls find themselves requires such a decision,” the release continues.
Fr. Pagliarani will offer further explanation on the decision and current situation “in the coming days,” according to the release.
The release also recalls a Nov. 21, 2024, statement from Fr. Pagliarani, who said at the time that the SSPX is not mainly “seeking its own survival" but “primarily seeks the good of the Universal Church and, for this reason, the Society is, par excellence, a work of the Church, which, with unique freedom and strength, responds adequately to the specific needs of an unprecedentedly tragic era.”
As CatholicVote previously reported, the SSPX is in a state of “canonical irregularity.” Fully integrating the SSPX into the Catholic Church has included several requirements, one of which “is the acceptance of the Second Vatican Council as a legitimate Catholic council, something they have so far refused to do,” CatholicVote reported.
Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the SSPX in 1970 and illicitly consecrated four bishops. A 2017 Catholic News Agency report explains that Archbishop Lefebvre and the four bishops were automatically excommunicated because the consecrations took place without the permission of Pope John Paul II.
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Archbishop Lefebvre died in 1991. In January 2009, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications of the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre.
In a March 2009 letter, Pope Benedict wrote that “an episcopal ordination lacking a pontifical mandate raises the danger of a schism, since it jeopardizes the unity of the College of Bishops with the Pope.”
“Consequently the Church must react by employing her most severe punishment – excommunication – with the aim of calling those thus punished to repent and to return to unity,” Pope Benedict explained.
The pontiff said at the time that the goal had sadly not yet been reached.
Lifting the excommunication “has the same aim as that of the punishment: namely, to invite the four Bishops once more to return,” Pope Benedict continued. “This gesture was possible once the interested parties had expressed their recognition in principle of the Pope and his authority as Pastor, albeit with some reservations in the area of obedience to his doctrinal authority and to the authority of the Council.”
Montagna reported that the SSPX’s Feb. 2 announcement creates a complicated situation for the Vatican.
“It would be difficult to see how the Holy See would impose any canonical sanctions on the SSPX given the fact that they have not done so in a comparable manner in China,” Montagna wrote, “where the Communist government has repeatedly proceeded with episcopal ordinations without prior papal approval, in violation of the Vatican-China accord.”
Vatican analyst Edward Pentin reported in the National Catholic Register Feb. 2 that the forthcoming July 1 episcopal consecrations “would likely lead to automatic excommunication of all the bishops who take part” and worsen the divide between the SSPX and the Vatican.
Pentin later wrote that some observers have remarked that “moving ahead with new consecrations after explicitly seeking and not receiving Rome’s agreement signals a clear divergence of judgment that will likely harden positions on both sides, making any future canonical solution more difficult.”
“They also say the move implicitly challenges how the Holy See is handling liturgy, doctrine, and the traditionalist movement globally,” Pentin wrote, “at a time when debates over the older liturgy are already intense.”