Tag: SSPX

If you think the church is sinking, then you have to build your own lifeboat, says Philippa Martyr

Whether it’s The Odyssey or the Scriptures, going back to the original sources has a lot to recommend it, says Philippa Martyr.

As African bishops continue to back Pope Leo XIV over the excommunication of the Society of St Pius X, known as SSPX, the traditionalist group in Kenya rejected the schismatic tag as it moved to assure followers of its Roman Catholic identity.

A former SSPX attendee reflects on fear, faith and the Mass, arguing that patience, prayer and trust in God's mercy offer the surest path to healing divisions.

French Catholics attached to the traditional Latin Mass but loyal to Rome are expressing deep sadness after the Society of St Pius X consecrated four bishops without papal approval, prompting the Vatican to declare the group in schism and excommunicate six SSPX bishops.

Following the 1 July illicit consecration of four bishops at its seminary in Écône, Switzerland, by the now-schismatic traditionalist Society of St Pius X – an action without papal approval that incurred automatic excommunication – that question isn't simply one of church politics.

The Vatican declared 2 July that the six bishops involved in the Society of St Pius X's unauthorized episcopal consecrations had incurred automatic excommunication and said its clergy "are in schism and therefore must be considered schismatics."

Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP has invited members of the Society of St Pius X to return to full communion with the Catholic Church following the Vatican's declaration that the traditionalist group is in schism.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has established a procedure for both priests and lay faithful connected to the Society of St Pius X to return to Catholic communion, following the society's schismatic act 1 July.

Conservative Catholics have urged church leaders to make better arrangements for traditionalists who remain loyal to the pope, after leaders of the breakaway Society of St Pius X were excommunicated 2 July for consecrating bishops without papal approval.

Despite a personal appeal from Pope Leo XIV, the Society of St Pius X went ahead 1 July with the unauthorised consecration of four new bishops at its seminary in Écône, Switzerland, with Mass broadcasted live and thousands of faithful attending.

Pope Leo XIV has urged the head of the traditionalist Society of St Pius X to halt the unauthorised consecration of new bishops, warning that the move would cause a formal schism and deprive followers of lawful sacraments.