SSPX superior general responds to Pope Leo’s appeal to cancel illicit ordinations: ‘Please give us your blessing’

The superior general of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) responded June 30 to Pope Leo XIV’s personal appeal urging the society to cancel the episcopal ordinations — which lack papal approval — planned for July 1 and did not indicate that the SSPX would cancel, asking instead for “a gesture of understanding” from the Pontiff. 

Pope Leo XIV sent a letter June 29 to Father Davide Pagliarani again offering a path of dialogue with the SSPX, noting, “The Church recognizes the devotion to liturgical life, commitment to priestly formation, apostolic zeal and desire for fidelity to Tradition that characterize many people and communities connected to your Fraternity.”

The Pontiff said he is praying for the SSPX “because to tear the seamless garment of Christ is a sin of extreme gravity.”

>> Pope Leo implores SSPX ahead of illicit ordinations: ‘Please turn back!’ << 

“[F]illed with Christian affection, I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back! I urge you to consider carefully the spiritual good of the faithful, because the schismatic act you are about to undertake would deprive them of the licit and, in some cases, even valid reception of the Sacraments, which they love and seek for their sanctification,” Pope Leo wrote. 

In the June 30 response published on the SSPX website, Father Pagliarani thanked Pope Leo very much for the letter kindly addressed to him. 

“I have been deeply touched by Your paternal solicitude,” Father Pagliarani wrote. 

He said that for a long time he had hoped to meet with Pope Leo in person to directly express “our sincere desire to serve the Church,” though such a meeting “has not presented itself.” 

“I ask only that You consider the sincerity of this intention, which is in no way feigned,” he continued. “Paradoxically, in the present circumstances, we believe it to be our very duty to do everything possible to mend Christ's seamless garment, torn by forces and pressures incompatible with a truly Catholic spirit.”

Father Pagliarani reiterated that he only asks that Pope Leo considers the intention’s authenticity before making a decision about the SSPX, adding, “It is not yet too late.”

Pope Leo’s letter had warned that the illicit consecrations would be a schismatic act. Father Pagliarani stated in his message that the SSPX does not want to separate itself from the Roman Church.

“We desire, on the contrary, to serve her by means that are extraordinary, as one would assist a mother in distress who requires particular help, even if such help is not understood by everyone,” he wrote. “Yet I am certain that the Holy Father could understand it.”

“The Holy See has shown itself capable of understanding very complex situations and of allowing time for discernment,” Father Pagliarani added. “May I therefore filially ask Your Holiness to take the time necessary for that discernment.”

Father Pagliarani also appealed with a historical argument and several other points he asked Pope Leo to reflect on. 

He said that the SSPX was declared schismatic in 1988 “for reasons and in circumstances entirely analogous to those of today.”

“Yet, after so many years, we are speaking together as a father and his son,” he wrote. “Your Holiness is paternally urging me to avoid a schism which, theoretically, has already taken place. Does not Your very attitude — whose paternal concern I deeply appreciate — constitute proof that the Society is neither schismatic nor hostile to the Church?”

SSPX’s previous exchanges with popes

The SSPX has for years remained in a state of canonical irregularity, a status distinct from a state of schism. SSPX founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without Pope John Paul II’s permission in 1988, and the five involved clergy incurred automatic excommunication. 

Pope John Paul II stated in a 1988 apostolic letter that the consecrations were an act of disobedience to the pope “in a very grave matter and of supreme importance for the unity of the church,” noting that apostolic succession is sacramentally continued through bishops’ ordination. 

“Hence such disobedience — which implies in practice the rejection of the Roman primacy — constitutes a schismatic act,” Pope John Paul II declared. 

>> Theologian addresses arguments of SSPX’s bishop ordinations set for July without Pope’s permission <<

Archbishop Lefebvre had died in 1991. Dialogue had been sought between the Vatican and SSPX for years, and in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications on the four bishops, saying the goal of the excommunications — to call them to repentance and unity — had sadly not been achieved. He explained that now lifting the punishment had the same goal: “to invite the four Bishops once more to return.” In the letter announcing his decision, Pope Benedict also stated that the SSPX lacks canonical status. Pope Francis granted SSPX priests the faculty to hear Confessions in 2016 and to validly officiate weddings in 2017. 

The second point Father Pagliarani raised is that some years ago the Vatican had tasked the late Bishop Vitus Huonder of Chur, Switzerland, and Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Astana, Kazakhstan, with dialoguing with the SSPX. 

Both of these bishops, “after taking the necessary time for discernment, recognised the profoundly Catholic spirit of the Society and bore public witness to it,” Father Pagliarani wrote. 

SSPX superior general appeals on behalf of SSPX-affiliated Catholics

Finally, Father Pagliarani emphasized that the society has drawn many Catholics.

“Above all, however, I venture to address Your Holiness in the name of the thousands of souls who have rediscovered the Catholic faith and the practice of religion through the apostolate of the Society,” Father Pagliarani wrote, adding that Pope Leo’s predecessors acknowledged this.

“These souls have but one desire: to attain salvation through this instrument which Divine Providence has placed at their disposal. They have suffered, and they are sincere,” he continued. “I am confident that Your paternal heart as universal Shepherd will be moved by this very particular situation.”

“One day, all the difficulties between the Holy See and the Society will be resolved,” he added.

“A gesture of understanding on Your part, far from harming unity, could only manifest before the world and before all Christians Your concern for unity and Your goodness as a father.”

He said he is praying for Pope Leo, and that he has been praying to Saint Rita since before the conclave for the current situation. 

“I saw in the election of an Augustinian Pope a sign of hope. I am certain that the Saint will intercede. It is never too late,” he concluded. “Please give us Your blessing.”