ANALYSIS: What happens now that the leadership of the Society of St. Pius X has rejected the Vatican’s proposal to restart dialogue on the condition that they postpone their plan to consecrate bishops later this year?
The present impasse between the Holy See and the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has hardened into a standoff, with both sides, convinced they are defending the Church’s good, heading toward a formal break, absent a constructive intervention.
On Feb. 12, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by Cardinal Víctor Fernández, had invited the SSPX to resume doctrinal talks on the understanding that both parties would work toward what Rome calls the “minimum requirements” for full communion.
Cardinal Fernández had one condition: that the Society postpone its planned episcopal consecrations on July 1, warning that going ahead with them “would imply a decisive rupture of ecclesial communion (schism) with grave consequences for the Fraternity as a whole.”
Responding in a letter on Ash Wednesday, SSPX Superior General Father Davide Pagliarani informed the cardinal that he had decided, after consulting his general council, to decline that offer. He did so in a tone that was courteous but unyielding.
Though he
