The excommunications issued to the six bishops involved in the Society of St. Pius X’s consecrations are easy to defend. Pope Leo told the SSPX not to consecrate more bishops. They did it. He’s the supreme authority in the Church. They are not. This isn’t a matter of papal ruminations or recommendations on political matters. It’s a matter of the nature of the Church. And no “crisis” can justify disobedience to a direct order by the supreme authority in the Church on a matter that is directly ecclesial.
Roma locuta, causa finita est, as St. Augustine said.
I don’t think I’m alone among Catholics who are striving for fidelity to the Church in seeing the SSPX leaders as unreasonable and indeed un-Catholic in their actions despite some laudable aims. That said, however, one authoritative decision for Catholics to follow doesn’t make for a new springtime in the Church.
Whether the crisis in the Church created some sort of “necessity” justifying episcopal consecrations against the will of the Holy Father is a different subject than whether there is a crisis in the Church. Whether bishops or even the pope like to speak in these terms, the fact is that a crisis
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