Posted on 07/15/2025 12:58:18 PM PDT by ebb tide
The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) has removed furniture from a dilapidated church in Vaucluse, southeastern France. The group, made up of a priest and around a dozen SSPX faithful, is said to have been given authority by the municipality. However, the diocese was not consulted.
According to local reports, members of the local branch of the SSPX took holy water fonts, the main altar, several pews, and statues from the church, which has been closed since 2018. The group sought permission from the town hall, but the Diocese of Nîmes was not consulted or contacted regarding the matter.
The fallout from the incident has led the local prosecutor's office to announce, on Wednesday 9 July, that it has opened an investigation for theft, damage, and breach of trust.
The SSPX Priory of Saint Bénezet, which oversees the Society’s priests and faithful in the local area, has defended the controversial actions. The prior, Abbé Benoît Laurent, argued that the actions were carried out at the request of local authorities.
Churches in France are governed by a unique law which means that most—around 90 per cent—are the property of the state.
Churches built before 1905 (roughly 90 per cent of Catholic churches) are owned by the local municipality, which is responsible for their upkeep. The Catholic Church has the exclusive right to use them for religious purposes, but it does not own them.
Churches built after 1905 are owned privately by the diocese. This is due to the 1905 Law on the Separation of Churches and State, which entrenched the principle of la laïcité in France and ensured a strict separation between Church and State. While the law enforced secularisation in many areas—for example, by prohibiting religious education in state-run schools—it also gave a significant advantage to the Church, as the government became responsible for maintaining thousands of churches.
The Society of Saint Pius X was founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970, the year after the promulgation of the Novus Ordo Missae by Pope Paul VI, in order to form traditionalist Catholic priests and preserve the Tridentine (pre-Vatican II) Latin Mass, Catholic doctrine, and liturgy.
In 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without papal mandate, which led to the automatic excommunication of Lefebvre and the four bishops. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications of the four bishops (two of whom have since died; Lefebvre died in 1991), though the canonical situation remains irregular, with the Society’s priests and faithful not in full communion with the Catholic Church.
Related: The SSPX's bishop problem
Today, the Society has six seminaries and over 600 chapels, priories, and schools in more than 70 countries. Since its founding, the heartland of the Society has been France, with Lefebvre himself being French and belonging to a strong monarchist and anti-revolutionary strain of French thought. Across the country, the Society operates 46 priories, 185 chapels, and 63 schools serving the French SSPX faithful.
Ping
I think that's a result of the French Revolution, which was "anti-clerical" and confiscated much church property.
Correct.
I remember visiting a church in France about 15 years ago with beautiful stained glass windows that was being restored. I remembered a lower level had been used by the common folk. It seemed to me they had the wrong idea.
Rome closed 150 Churches last year. Thanks to VatII Rome is killing the Church World Wide.
The actual law that did that only went into force in 1905. I don’t know how things worked before that time.
Anything they can, to destroy the real, traditional church.
Most Bishops will allow a Church to collapse if it will prevent the SSPX from using it.
Acting on His Grace's request, we found only one Catholic Church for sale in the Galveston-Houston Diocese—the old Shrine of the True Cross. However, the last thing the diocese wanted to do was sell it to the Society of St. Pius X! Rather than have traditional Catholics in abandoned churches, they preferred to see them destroyed.
We contacted a non-Catholic attorney to buy the beautiful three-acre property for us. At the time it seemed more than we could ever need with its large mission-style church which seats 500, a large convent where many nuns could live (we only had one nun at the time!), just as large a rectory, two school buildings complete with its own library room, a large parish hall! But to go on with our story, this attorney represented a corporation by the name of Gibraltar Motor Leasing and it was arranged that this corporation would buy the property but turn it over to the Society immediately thereafter. When the diocese thought that an auto leasing company was going to be the purchaser and tear the church and grotto down, they were delighted! One man, a truly good and holy Catholic man from out of state, put up the $300,000 purchase price in cash. As negotiations proceeded, the diocese became suspicious—they wanted to be absolutely sure that an auto leasing firm was indeed going to take over. First, they called and asked to remove the confessionals. After all, what does an auto leasing firm need with confessionals? "Take them," was the response. Then, a few days later, they wanted the bell. Father was called. "Give it to them," he answered, "we'll get another." Finally, a week later, the diocese called and said, "We want to chisel the crucifix out of the front facade of the Church." This time, our answer was, "No, but when we begin to demolish the church, we'll call you." This was accepted and the closing was scheduled.
On November 18, 1976, the property formerly known as Shrine of the True Cross was purchased for the Society of St. Pius X and became known as Queen of Angels. When the diocese found out who had taken possession of the church they were furious. In late November, the former pastor of the place arrived at the convent, went into their small chapel and proceeded to smash the altar to bits with an axe. Their caretaker, who was still living on the property, tried to stop him, pleading with his boss not to destroy the altar. To those in the new Church, anything is better than the old Church.
When a similar purchase was made in Kansas City a few years later (St. Vincent de Paul was purchased through a black Protestant minister), the bishop of Kansas City called this minister in and let him have it for selling the church to the Society of St. Pius X. "Those people aren't even Catholic!" he yelled. To which the minister drawled, "I'm not Catholic, and you sold it to me!"
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