Numerous accounts of the illicit and gravely sinful episcopal ordinations by the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) have termed it a “crisis.” Is it?
Not for the SSPX, it would seem. Choosing to ordain four new bishops on the precise anniversary that their four previous bishops were excommunicated in 1988 suggests a rather celebratory disposition toward the canonical penalties. For the two ordaining bishops, who were first excommunicated in 1988, it is their second time around on the excommunication carousel. Perhaps they enjoy the ride.
Why would the four new SSPX bishops be fussed about excommunication? They have spent their entire priesthood, like the entirety of the SSPX — each and every priest — not exercising legitimate ministry in the Catholic Church. From the day of their priestly ordination, they have been under the equivalent of suspension from sacramental ministry. Either SSPX priests are serene about living in sin, or they do not believe that they are doing anything wrong.
Thus when Pope Leo XIV wrote to the SSPX on Monday to plead with them to “turn back” from “a sin of extreme gravity,” it did not have the impact that ordinary Catholics might expect. The SSPX clergy live
