[Catholic Caucus] SSPX Superior General Responds to Pope's Appeal

Rorate Caeli ^ | June 30, 2026 | Don Davide Pagliarani, Fr. Pagliarani, Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X

[ebb tide]

[Catholic Caucus] SSPX Superior General Responds to Pope's Appeal

In response to the appeal sent by letter by His Holiness to him, Fr. Pagliarani, Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), sent the following message:

Letter from the Superior General in Response to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV

The Superior General

To His Holiness

Pope Leo XIV

Ecône, 30 June 2026

 

Most Holy Father,

Thank you very much for the letter that Your Holiness so kindly addressed to me.

I have been deeply touched by Your paternal solicitude.

For a long time, I had hoped to have the opportunity of meeting You in person, in order to express to You directly our sincere desire to serve the Church. Unfortunately, that opportunity has not presented itself.

I ask only that You consider the sincerity of this intention, which is in no way feigned. Paradoxically, in the present circumstances, we believe it to be our very duty to do everything possible to mend Christ's seamless garment, torn by forces and pressures incompatible with a truly Catholic spirit. I ask only that You consider the authenticity of this intention before making a decision concerning the Society of Saint Pius X. It is not yet too late.

Far be it from us to separate ourselves from the Roman Church. We desire, on the contrary, to serve her by means that are extraordinary, as one would assist a mother in distress who requires particular help, even if such help is not understood by everyone. Yet I am certain that the Holy Father could understand it.

The Holy See has shown itself capable of understanding very complex situations and of allowing time for discernment.

May I therefore filially ask Your Holiness to take the time necessary for that discernment.

If my own words are not sufficient, I would ask You to reflect upon two very simple facts. First, in 1988 the Society was already declared schismatic, for reasons and in circumstances entirely analogous to those of today. Yet, after so many years, we are speaking together as a father and his son. Your Holiness is paternally urging me to avoid a schism which, theoretically, has already taken place. Does not Your very attitude—whose paternal concern I deeply appreciate—constitute proof that the Society is neither schismatic nor hostile to the Church?

Secondly, some years ago, the Holy See entrusted two bishops of the Church with the task of engaging in dialogue with the Society of Saint Pius X: Bishop Vitus Huonder, then Bishop of Chur, now deceased, and Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of Astana. Both, after taking the necessary time for discernment, recognised the profoundly Catholic spirit of the Society and bore public witness to it.

Above all, however, I venture to address Your Holiness in the name of the thousands of souls who have rediscovered the Catholic faith and the practice of religion through the apostolate of the Society. This is a fact of which Your predecessors themselves took note. These souls have but one desire: to attain salvation through this instrument which Divine Providence has placed at their disposal. They have suffered, and they are sincere. I am confident that Your paternal heart as universal Shepherd will be moved by this very particular situation. One day, all the difficulties between the Holy See and the Society will be resolved. A gesture of understanding on Your part, far from harming unity, could only manifest before the world and before all Christians Your concern for unity and Your goodness as a father.

I leave all this to Your consideration. I renew my prayers for Your Holiness.

For a long time, even before Your election, I have been praying to Saint Rita for the present situation. I saw in the election of an Augustinian Pope a sign of hope. I am certain that the Saint will intercede. It is never too late.

Please give us Your blessing.

I take this opportunity to remain, with the deepest devotion in Our Lord,

Don Davide Pagliarani

[ebb tide]

Ping

[Oystir]

pags is a fool. This fake gesture is too little too late. Is pags going to pull the schismatic trigger, ebby? Are you going hand in hand with pags, ebby?

[caddie]

What did Leo XIV write to this guy? Must have blinked.

[caddie]

Leo XIV wrote:

"The Church is open to a path of dialogue and understanding that the Holy Spirit can make possible and fruitful."

Yes he blinked. As well he should have. The only group of truly zealous and strict adherents to Catholic doctrine, and Louis was going to give THEM the heave-ho !

Outrageous considering that pervs, homos, and degenerates have his ear 7/24.

Leo has it COMPLETELY backward.

If Leo were in Sodom he would have been screaming at Lot to open his door and let everybody perv out on his family.

Wouldn't he have?

[kawhill]

For a long time, even before Your election, I have been praying to Saint Rita for the present situation.

Saint Rita is the revered patroness of impossible cases and desperate situations. Millions turn to her for intercession when human efforts fail and all seems lost. You can explore or pray various traditional novenas and intercession petitions through Hozana’s St. Rita Prayer Community or by following the novena guide on the Hallow St. Rita Novena Blog.

[chud]

Interesting, thanks kawhill.

[scouter]

I don’t know why you and the Vatican are all in an uproar about today’s consecration of new bishops by the SSPX.

Either the SSPX is right that Rome has abandoned the faith, in which case the Vatican should immediately return to it…

— Or —

Using their own logic, expressed through countless actions and words, the Vatican is right that all religions are equally paths to salvation, in which case the SSPX will simply be creating a new path for souls to follow to attain salvation, kinda like the Anglicans and Lutherans.

Maybe then the pope will meet with them and give them the same honors he gave the “archbishop” of Canterbury.

[ebb tide]

Correction, oystir:

Leo's fake gesture is too little too late.

[Campion]

Using their own logic, expressed through countless actions and words, the Vatican is right that all religions are equally paths to salvation, in which case the SSPX will simply be creating a new path for souls to follow to attain salvation, kinda like the Anglicans and Lutherans.

That's the fundamental incoherence here. The Pope can't be Francis to liberal Protestants and Pius IX to conservative Catholics and expect to have credibility.

[NorthMountain]

expect to have credibility.

Those who exercise absolute, unchecked, unaccountable power don't need credibility.

Those who think they exercise such power don't care about credibility.

[Campion]

The Pope hasn't really had that kind of power in 500 years, or longer. If he did, Mass attendance in Western Europe every Sunday would be 90%, not 10%.

Leaders, of any kind, who want to be effective leaders, need credibility. That's true whether we're talking about the Pope, the President, or the manager of the corner grocery store.

[NorthMountain]

Please explain to me exactly why Mr. Prevost, or Senor Bergoglio before him, needs credibility.

Specifically, if Mr. Prevost lacks credibility will he lose his office? Will he lose the ability to select minions who believe as he does? Will he lose the ability to depose those subordinates who do not support his agenda?

[Campion]

None of those things will happen, but those are bare-minimum expectations.

Will the world, or at least Catholics, look up to him as a spiritual leader? Will he lead people to faith in Christ, or at least to consider it as a possibility?

People looked up to JP2 because he had a certain integrity and credibility. I don't mean that everyone always agreed with him, but he had a Christian worldview, tried to live up to it, and applied it consistently most of the time.

As I think you know, spiritual leaders are judged more harshly than the rest of us. (Flatly says so in the Epistle of James.) I don't think "I could select minions who believe as I do" will carry much weight with the Lord at a Pope's particular judgement.

[NorthMountain]

Will the world, or at least Catholics, look up to him as a spiritual leader? Will he lead people to faith in Christ, or at least to consider it as a possibility?

Does he care about those things?

I don't think "I could select minions who believe as I do" will carry much weight with the Lord at a Pope's particular judgement.

Does he believe that is even going to happen?

I think:

1) We may be talking past each other ...
2) We may be operating from different understanding of Mr. Prevost's motivation.

So I have a question.

What do you mean by "credibility", as you used the term in Post #10? Perhaps I have misunderstood your intent. What do you think Mr. Prevost is trying to do?

[Campion]

I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve with this discussion. I said that a pope who acts like Francis with liberal Protestants and like Pius IX with conservative Catholics damages his own credibility.

You seem to be trying to convince me that "Mr. Prevost" doesn't care about his credibility. What difference does that make?

It's like you saying "doing X damages the President's ability to do his job" and me responding that the President doesn't care about his ability to his job. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't, but that doesn't have any bearing on your original claim, does it?

Credibility is the quality of being believable and convincing based on one's outward actions and personal integrity.

In the event +Leo doesn't think his particular judgement is going to happen, I'm afraid he's in for a bad surprise.

Are you just arguing to be difficult?

[NorthMountain]

Thank you for explaining:

Credibility is the quality of being believable and convincing based on one's outward actions and personal integrity.

And I contend that the dude currently squatting on St. Peter's throne neither needs nor even cares about his "credibility". Within his sphere of influence, he has absolute, unchecked, unaccountable power. Therefore, the idea that he might lose (or even have already lost) his credibility is irrelevant to his actions.

As for convincing you ... That's not my job. I'm simply offering an opinion and interpretation of events and situations that I think validly explains them ... or at least sheds light on them.