Paix liturgique

The legitimacy of the SSPX rests on the faithful’s demand for a fully Catholic profession of faith and morals, as well as on the administration of the sacraments in full harmony with this teaching. But who would deny that the consecrations of July 1, 2026, place the SSPX in a marginal status—one that is certainly stable and protective, but which is nonetheless not without danger?

The Church is a mother. She cannot leave her children in a dead end...

“It is an immense, immense pain for us to think that we are in conflict with Rome because of our faith!” So spoke Archbishop Lefebvre on June 29, 1976, in Écône, on the occasion of the priestly ordinations he was performing against the will of the Supreme Pontiff, Pope Paul VI. Then came the consecrations of 1988, immediately followed by the excommunication of the consecrating prelates (NNSS Lefebvre and de Castro-Mayer) and the consecrated bishops, the lifting of the excommunications by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009, followed by new episcopal consecrations against the will of Pope Leo XIV on July 2, 2026, followed by excommunications that now seem intended to extend to priests and laypeople who “formally” adhere to the “schism,” as it has been declared.

First and foremost, the salvation of souls

Following in the intellectual and spiritual tradition of Archbishop Lefebvre, the current Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X, Father Davide Pagliarani, has repeatedly declared his loyalty to the Holy See and expressed his desire to meet with Pope Leo XIV—a meeting that did not take place, as the pope refused to grant this request. On June 24, a “Catholic Profession of Faith by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X to Enlighten Souls in the Face of Modern Errors” was published; to date, there has been no response. Since the declaration of schism via a decree and a note dated July 2 by Cardinal Victor-Manuel Fernandez, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, social media has been ablaze and canonists have been locked in a bitter dispute over minute details that would make the Quran seem like a work of profound spirituality. Canonists generally agree, however, that a note from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is not a document capable of revoking the delegations of authority granted to the FSSPX by Pope Francis himself for confessions—and which require diocesan bishops to grant these same delegations of authority for marriages! It is not up to the subprefect of Avesnes-sur-Helpe, the charming capital of the Avesnois region, to repeal a decree issued by the President of the Republic! Numerous appeals and requests for clarification—and even challenges—are therefore to be expected. Let us first recall, as Archbishop Lefebvre has always affirmed, that since the SSPX has no jurisdiction, it claims to be content with meeting the needs of the faithful. It is the faithful, in search of sound doctrine and sacraments whose meaning has not been diluted, who grant the Society of Saint Pius X a form of jurisdiction by exception.

These laypeople do not presume to save the Church; they ask the Society of Saint Pius X only for what they need to attain their salvation—and which they feel they can find elsewhere only in a haphazard and uncertain manner: what to believe (a fully Catholic catechism), what to do (Catholic morality), and the means to live out the demands of the Gospel: the sacraments. This recurring theme of the salvation of souls is a central focus of the beautiful three-part documentary, *Traditio*, which the Society of Saint Pius X has just posted online. Everything in the Church, as in the Society, is oriented toward the salvation of souls. Yet one must believe that this salvation is not a foregone conclusion, regardless of one’s religion or behavior. The misfortunes of our times mean that the Gospel verse “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16) no longer seems to be widely shared even by many clergy themselves. Tragically, unorthodox statements or behaviors at the highest levels of the Church—such as Pope Francis’s Abu Dhabi Declaration on religious pluralism as reflecting God’s will, Pope John Paul II’s interfaith meeting in Assisi in 1986, the Pacha Mama procession in the Vatican Gardens in 2019) or disciplinary measures that break with Church tradition (blessing of same-sex couples, access to Communion for divorced and remarried persons) sow confusion among the people of God and, by that very fact, jeopardize their salvation. Of course, this is not to cast blame on the faithful and the priests who, year in and year out, in their parishes strive to render to God the worship due to Him and adhere to the truths of the faith, endeavoring to live according to the divine will. It is, however, a fact that living peacefully according to the traditional teachings of the faith (catechism, liturgy, sacraments, preaching) has today been made precarious by the crisis in the Church and the failure of the hierarchy. “The experience of Tradition” carried out by the ex Ecclesia Dei communities and certain diocesan priests is—particularly since the promulgation of the motu proprio *Traditionis custodes* (July 16, 2021)—often a constant struggle; at best, it is a regime of tolerance that betrays a form of contempt that is hardly in keeping with the Gospel. Certain issues have been covered in the media: pressure on the ND de Chrétienté association to celebrate the new Mass during the Paris-Chartres Pentecost pilgrimage; the switch to the reformed rite by the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Holy Spirit, founded by Father Berto, Archbishop Lefebvre’s theologian at the Second Vatican Council; the impossibility for the five deacons of the Missionaries of Divine Mercy (the sixth cracked under the pressure and is now ill) to be ordained as priests, in accordance with their statutes, according to the traditional Roman rite; uncertainties regarding whether priests newly ordained within this same community will be able to celebrate the traditional Mass and administer the sacraments according to the ancient ritual… Behind these trees lies the forest of an almost universal, constant campaign of episcopal harassment, orchestrated, it seems, by the nuncio in Paris, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, who is now on his way out after leaving behind a field of ruins: the expulsion of the Fraternity of St. Peter from its apostolates in Dijon, Quimper, and Valence; a ban in certain dioceses on celebrating baptisms and confirmations according to the traditional rite; the restriction of weddings to places where the traditional Mass is usually celebrated; and a limit on the number of children admitted to catechism classes.

The consequences include depression and the relocation of priests. The “persecuted” fear that speaking out on the subject will make their situation worse, and the “persecutors” are no doubt aware that, in this age of openness, inclusion, and wide-ranging dialogue, such behavior would seem somewhat out of place. The result: a complete code of silence surrounding one of the festering wounds of the contemporary Church in France.

The Church Is a Mother

If the Church is a mother, its representatives are not always fathers but, all too often, mere ecclesiastical officials. It is this maternal nature of the Church that prevents her from leaving her children in a dead end: placing themselves on the margins of a (failing) institutional authority and distancing themselves from the visible structure of the Church in order to have access, in peace, to sound doctrine and to sacraments of unambiguous meaning—tangible and effective signs of invisible grace. In France, it is unacceptable that parents’ choice for their children should be between a school considered schismatic because it is run by the Society of Saint Pius X or by friendly communities of Dominican teachers, and a so-called Catholic education under a state contract where the EVARS program (Education for Emotional, Relational, and Sexual Life) will violate parental responsibility in this intimate sphere and expose their children, as early as preschool, to all forms of sexual perversion and contraception.

Because she is a mother, the Church reminds us—in a text that is certainly debatable but which stands as the rule today—that: “Whenever necessity demands it or a genuine spiritual need arises, and provided that any danger of error or indifferentism is avoided, it is permitted for the faithful who are physically or morally unable to have recourse to a Catholic minister to receive the sacraments of Penance, the Eucharist, and the Anointing of the Sick from non-Catholic ministers, in whose Church these sacraments are valid. ” (Can. 844 § 2). What applies to ministers who claim to be non-Catholic applies, a fortiori, to ministers who claim to be Catholic. It is this state of necessity that the FSSPX invokes to proceed with episcopal consecrations without a pontifical mandate. What is certain is that this state of necessity is of a prudential nature and therefore debatable. The harshness of the times compels everyone to make choices, recognizing that there is no choice without risk: to choose is always to renounce a lesser good in order to acquire or preserve a greater good, and that “God alone does not disappoint.” It is no insult to the FSSPX to note that it is an imperfect human endeavor. It is therefore not certain that the episcopal consecration of Bishop Williamson was a good idea. Nor is it any mystery that, in their zeal, some of its priests seem to believe that salvation—and, consequently, the reception of the sacraments—is possible only within its fold: a deadly deviation that could, in fact, lead to a “refusal of communion with the rest of the Church,” which would, in that case, be schismatic. Finally, the history of the Church is not a Corpus Christi altarpiece. The tragic coexists with the sublime, sometimes inextricably intertwined. It is not enough to be right at a given moment. At a certain point, it is no longer possible to be right in opposition to the Church. Lucifer, Bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia, was sublime and heroic in his resistance to Arianism. He was less so afterward and opposed Saint Athanasius and Saint Cyprian when the time for forgiveness and reconciliation had come. Bishop de Thémines of Blois was, too, sublime and heroic in his resistance to the French Revolution and then to the Concordat of 1801, which required the resignation of all bishops of the Ancien Régime and their replacement by new bishops, some of whom were members of the constitutional clergy. He died in exile in Belgium in 1829, unreconciled with the Church.

To choose is to renounce

Who would deny that the consecrations of July 1, 2026, will place the FSSPX in a marginal status—one that is certainly stable and protective, but which is nonetheless not without danger? The Church is a living reality embodied in people and institutions that, while admittedly largely failing today, nevertheless constitute the Church. The future belongs to God and the Holy Spirit. Certain communities within the Ex Ecclesia Dei movement are rightly asking the Holy See to finally correct the errors that are rampant in the Church and to reaffirm the freedom to celebrate the traditional Roman liturgy. There are no signs of a positive response to these legitimate requests. The legitimacy of the FSSPX rests on the faithful’s demand for a fully Catholic profession of faith and morals, as well as on the administration of the sacraments in full harmony with this teaching. Instead of resorting to sanctions that the Second Vatican Council was thought to have done away with, the Roman authorities would undoubtedly do well to reflect on Gamaliel’s wise counsel to the Sanhedrin: “Pay no further attention to these men, but let them go. If this undertaking or this work is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow it. Do not run the risk of having fought against God.” (Acts 5:39) A day will come when the Church will return to its liturgical and doctrinal tradition. While we wait for that day, despite the suffering, humiliations, and injustices—and without rebellion or bitterness—it is legitimate to turn to the teachings that sanctified our forebears and, therefore, to the priests who impart, without alteration or compromise with modernity, the “magnalia Dei,” the wonders of God.

Jean-Pierre Maugendre