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In March of the same year Benedict wrote a letter to the Episcopate concerning the remission of excommunication. QUESTION: Did Archbishop Lefebvre commit schism, and if he did not, then for what reason was he excommunicated? Moreover, would the crime of schism apply to the entire SSPX?įACT: In 2009 Pope Emeritus Benedict lifted the penalty of excommunication from the four bishops of the SSPX. Regrettably, Marcel Lefebvre died while under the penalty of excommunication. Lefebvre and the priests Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson and Alfonso de Galarreta, have incurred the grave penalty of excommunication envisaged by ecclesiastical law. In performing such an act, notwithstanding the formal canonical warning sent to them by the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops on 17 June last, Mons. Hence such disobedience – which implies in practice the rejection of the Roman primacy – constitutes a schismatic act. In itself, this act was one of disobedience to the Roman Pontiff in a very grave matter and of supreme importance for the unity of the church, such as is the ordination of bishops whereby the apostolic succession is sacramentally perpetuated. John Paul II was compelled to issue a decree of excommunication in the face of this disobedient act. After first reaching one, with Cardinal Ratzinger acting for the Pope, Lefebvre reversed himself, and in an act which was ipso facto schismatic consecrated four bishops without a papal mandate and incurred an automatic excommunication, confirmed a few days later by Decree of the Holy See. …In 1989, Archbishop Lefebvre, fearing that he would soon die and leave no one to ordain priests for the SSPX, sought an agreement with the Holy See for the lawful continuation of the Society. Time going on, the Lefebvre movement rejected ecumenism and the statements of the Council on religious liberty, as contrary to Tradition … Pope Paul VI suspended his priestly faculties, and those he ordained, for defiance of Church law. As a bishop who was not an Ordinary (bishop of a diocese) at the time, he was not permitted to ordain priests. He started a seminary in Ecône, Switzerland, to train priests, which he then ordained. To quote from Bishop Frederick Henry of Calgary: He did not reject in principle the Liturgical reform of Vatican II, but he rejected the Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969. My motivation is to invite the reader to a careful consideration of the facts and to invite the members of the SSPX to reconciliation.įACT: The SSPX was founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970 to perpetuate the Tridentine Liturgy. I do not intend to ignite flames of hatred toward my brothers and sisters in the SSPX or to cast aspersion on their character. I realize that this claim is controversial and can be divisive even among committed Catholics. Pius X maintains the only fully authentic Mass of the Catholic Church, the truth is that the SSPX rejects the legitimate authority of the Bishop of Rome and exists outside the Fold in a state of material schism. While many traditionally minded Catholics claim that the Society of St.
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Pius X (“SSPX”) in the world today, and all of them, whether they are aware of it or not, are in rebellion against the Supreme Pontiff. There are over a million members of the Society of St.