The Vatican said on May 13 that the Society of St. Pius X’s plan to consecrate new bishops without papal mandate will be a schismatic act resulting in excommunication.
The traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) addressed Pope Leo XIV this week with a statement of faith it called “the minimum necessary to be in communion with the Church.”
In an introduction to the “Declaration of Catholic Faith” — published May 14 on the society’s website — the SSPX said that for more than 50 years it has raised the issue of what it believes are “errors that are destroying Catholic faith and morals” but that the group has never received “any truly satisfactory response” from the Holy See.
The statement, signed by SSPX superior general Father Davide Pagliarani, said it “places this simple Declaration of Faith” into the hands of Pope Leo: “It seems to us to correspond to the minimum necessary to be in communion with the Church, to call ourselves truly Catholic and, consequently, Your children.”
The Vatican’s prefect for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, issued a brief statement on May 13, warning that if the SSPX
