What is the status of the Society of St Pius X with respect to the Catholic church? Can Catholics attend their Masses and are their sacraments of penance and matrimony valid?
The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), founded by Archbishop Marcel LeFebvre in 1970, is not in full communion with the Holy See.
In 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre’s ordination of four bishops without a mandate from the Holy See led to him and the four bishops being excommunicated. Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication of the four bishops in 2009, but the society’s canonical status remains irregular. There have been ongoing talks with the Vatican over the years to return the society to full communion with the church, but up until now these have been unsuccessful.
Therefore, if someone wishes to attend the traditional Latin Mass, they should attend one celebrated by priests of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter or by another priest, wherever possible. Similarly, they should receive the sacraments from priests and institutions in communion with the church.
Can Catholics receive the sacrament of penance validly from priests of the SSPX? By way of background, in order to absolve sins validly, a priest needs faculties from a bishop in communion with the Holy See. Since the bishops of the SSPX are not in communion with the church, their priests for a long time have not been able to grant sacramental absolution validly.
In the Jubilee Year 2000, Pope John Paul II granted faculties to the priests of the SSPX to give absolution in the sacrament of penance for the duration of the Jubilee Year, but those faculties lapsed at the end of the Year. For the Jubilee Year of Mercy in 2015-2016, Pope Francis again granted SSPX priests faculties to hear confessions, and at the conclusion of the Jubilee Year, by the Apostolic Letter Misericordia et misera dated 20 November 2016, he made that provision permanent.
In that letter, after granting all priests the faculty to absolve the sin of procured abortion, Pope Francis went on to say: “For the Jubilee Year I had also granted that those faithful who, for various reasons, attend churches officiated by the priests of the Society of Saint Pius X, can validly and licitly receive the sacramental absolution of their sins. For the pastoral benefit of these faithful, and trusting in the good will of their priests to strive with God’s help for the recovery of full communion in the Catholic church, I have personally decided to extend this faculty beyond the Jubilee Year, until further provisions are made, lest anyone ever be deprived of the sacramental sign of reconciliation through the church’s pardon” (n. 12). As a result of this provision, absolution of sins given by priests of the SSPX is valid.
As regards marriages celebrated by priests of the Society, the Church’s Ecclesia Dei Commission, in a letter to bishops dated 27 March 2017, signed by its President Cardinal Gerhard Muller and approved by Pope Francis, made provision for them too to be validly celebrated.
Here again, as with the absolution of sins, the priest assisting at a marriage needs the delegation to do so validly. Canon 1108 §1 of the Code of Canon Law stipulates that the priest celebrating a marriage must have the delegation from a bishop or from the parish priest. According to the letter of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, for the valid celebration of a marriage conducted by a priest of the SSPX, the diocesan bishop is to grant the delegation to assist at the marriage to a priest of the diocese or to another priest, who is to receive the consent of the parties during the marriage rite, after which a priest of the SSPX continues with the rest of the marriage rite and the celebration of Mass.
If there is no such priest available to receive the consent, the bishop may grant the necessary faculties to the priest of the SSPX who is also to celebrate the Mass. This SSPX priest is to forward the relevant documents to the diocesan curia as soon as possible. In this way, any doubt as to the validity of marriages celebrated by priests of the SSPX is alleviated.
Again, although the sacraments of penance and matrimony celebrated by priests of the SSPX are valid, the faithful are encouraged to receive them from priests in communion with the church.