In 1988, the founder of the Society of Saint Pius X, Archbishop Lefebvre, was excommunicated for carrying out episcopal ordinations without prior pontifical permission. The four bishops he ordained were also excommunicated.
38 years later, the Society—known in short as SSPX—is threatening to carry out the same operation once again.
The traditionalist group released a statement on January 2 announcing they will ordain new bishops on July 1 this year without the mandate of Pope Leo XIV.
But what happens when a bishop ordains without a pontifical mandate?
PHILIP GOYRET
Professor of Ecclesiology, University of the Holy Cross
It is an offense that is explicitly defined and codified in law. It is contained in Book VI of the Code of Canon Law, specifically Canon 1387.
Canon 1387 establishes that both the bishop who illicitly performs the ordination and the one who is ordained without a pontifical mandate incur automatic excommunication.
SSPX states that it finds itself in a situation of grave necessity. It made its requests known to the Holy See last year but declares it did not receive a satisfactory response.
If these proposed ordinations are carried out, they would be sacramentally valid—but just like 1988, they would be illicit, meaning they would violate Church law and papal authority.
PHILIP GOYRET
Professor of Ecclesiology, University of the Holy Cross
Those bishops were ordained without a pontifical mandate, but the ordinations themselves are valid.
And why were these ordinations valid? Because from a sacramental point of view, only three essential elements are required: that the ordaining bishop himself be validly ordained; that a specific gesture be performed, such as the laying on of hands on the one who will become a bishop; and finally, that the ordaining bishop have the intention of ordaining as required by the Church.
The status of SSPX within the Church has not been fully regularized, which is why it is worth asking: in what ways does it differ from the Church?
PHILIPPE GOYRET
Professor of Ecclesiology, University of the Holy Cross
What Lefebvre and his followers claim is that at the Second Vatican Council, and very specifically in those documents, a break occurred with the previous magisterium. It was not an evolution, but a rupture. And so, they argue that in order to be obedient to the Church—as they themselves put it—they cannot accept the Second Vatican Council and therefore cannot be in communion with all those who follow the Council, including the popes: the current pope, the previous one, and those before him, going back to Paul VI.
In any case, even if an ordination is valid, it does not mean that it is licit. For that, a papal mandate is required—and that is what SSPX lacks.
The director of the Holy See Press Office has commented on the matter, noting that talks between the two sides are ongoing in wake of the group’s unexpected, yet perhaps unsurprising, announcement.
AT
Trans. JPO
