The canonical situation of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a group founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, is unresolved. The Society of Saint Pius X has been the subject of much controversy since 1988, when Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson and Alfonso de Galarreta were illicitly consecrated at Ecône, at the International Seminary of Saint Pius X as bishops in violation of canon law. Lefebvre and the four other SSPX bishops individually incurred a disciplinary latae sententiae excommunication for the schismatic act;[1]: n3 the excommunications of the four living SSPX bishops were remitted in 2009.
Talks between the society and the Holy See are at an impasse, and the Holy See considers that the society has broken away from communion with the Catholic Church.[2] The Holy See has granted to all priest members of the society the faculty to give sacramental absolution validly to those who attend its churches and has authorised local ordinaries to grant permission for celebrating marriages of followers of the society (see sections on faculties below). However, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, stated in a letter to the SSPX dated 26 June 2017 that full re-establishment of communion is conditional on its members making the 1998 profession of faith, accepting explicitly, with the degree of adhesion due to them,[a] the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and subsequent church teachings, and recognising not only the validity but also the legitimacy of the rite of Mass and the other sacraments celebrated according to the liturgical books promulgated after that council.[5]
The SSPX, on the other hand, maintains that it was canonically established and has never been canonically suppressed,[6] and that, in "the present crisis in the Church", when "heresy, and even apostasy, is widely spread amongst the clergy", "the Church mercifully supplies jurisdiction" for the good of the faithful.[7]
- ^ Pope John Paul II (2 July 1988). "Ecclesia Dei". vatican.va. Archived from the original on 29 January 2015.
- ^ "CDF prefect says SSPX in schism, suspended from sacraments". Catholic Culture.org. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
- ^ Profession of faith made obligatory by Pope John Paul II by the motu proprio Ad tuendam fidem of 18 May 1988
- ^ "Certains textes conciliaires peuvent être objet de "discussion" avec la FSSPX, selon le Vatican" [Some Council texts can be the subject of "discussion" with the SSPX, according to the Vatican]. La Croix (in French). 7 April 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
- ^ "Cardinal Müller's Letter and His Non-Renewal as Head of the CDF". FSSPX.Actualités / FSSPX.News. 7 July 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
- ^ "Legal existence of SSPX". Society of Saint Pius X, District of Great Britain. 21 November 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
- ^ "Supplied jurisdiction & traditional priests". Society of Saint Pius X, United States District. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
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