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The Society of Saint Pius X has responded to Pope Leo XIV after the excommunication which followed the ordination of four bishops without the Vatican’s approval.
The superior general, Father Davide Pagliarani, as he had already done in response to the Pope’s appeal on the eve of the celebration in Ecône in Switzerland, replied in a letter in which he expressed the “sorrow of the community”.
For the cleric, the condemnation of the so-called “Lefebvrists”, the ultra-traditionalist Catholics who reject the modernisation introduced by the Second Vatican Council and therefore, among other things, continue to celebrate Mass in Latin with the priest facing away from the congregation, is “objectively unjust and invalid” and “strikes at their deep attachment to the Roman Church”.
In the text sent to Pope Leo XIV, Father Pagliarani cited the Gospel of Luke, saying that he had “asked for bread and been given a stone”, complaining of a Vatican approach that ignores traditionalist concerns in what he describes as a context of deep moral and doctrinal confusion.
The fraternity, which justifies the ordinations by pointing to the advanced age of the current bishops and the need for someone to ordain future priests, is nonetheless asking the Pope’s blessing as faithful sons and does not in fact rule out immediate scope for dialogue to heal the rift with the Vatican, as happened under Benedict XVI, who lifted the excommunication imposed on the group by John Paul II.
The Cardinal Vicar for the Diocese of Rome, Baldassare Reina, commented on the affair, stressing that the Church, in its two-thousand-year history, has weathered far more serious crises.
According to the prelate, the break with the Lefebvrists should spur parishes to do more on the ground, stepping up dialogue with families and young people so as to encourage the faithful not to be drawn into the traditionalist turn.
Across the Atlantic, tensions are also running high: the international press points out that this schism is putting pressure on conservative American Catholic voters (the MAGA camp) after past political clashes with Leo XIV.
Another possible schism by the Transalpine Redemptorists in Scotland
As the Lefebvrists’ break with Rome plays out, a new schism is taking shape within traditionalist Catholicism.
The small community of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, known as the Transalpine Redemptorists, has announced an episcopal consecration without a mandate from the Pope scheduled for 25 July on the island of Papa Stronsay, in the Scottish Orkney Islands.
The ultra-conservative group, which in fact emerged as an offshoot of Bishop Marcel Lefebvre’s movement, was readmitted to full communion with the Catholic Church in 2008 thanks to Pope Benedict XVI, but has now decided to take a fresh step in breaking with Rome.
The superior general, Monsignor Pierre Roy, has confirmed that he will consecrate Father Michael Mary in the absence of an apostolic mandate, explicitly claiming that the See of Rome is occupied by “enemies of God”.
The reaction of the local Church was immediate and extremely harsh. The Bishop of Aberdeen has issued an official warning to the faithful, stressing that this amounts to a grave act of disobedience.