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[Catholic Caucus] BREAKING: SSPX rejects Vatican call to halt consecrations, will proceed without papal approvalThe Society of St. Pius X rejected Cdl. Fernández's call to suspend the July 1 consecrations, insisting the state of ‘grave necessity’ demands action to preserve Catholic Tradition.The SSPX episcopal consecrations will go forward as planned.Today, February 19, Father Davide Pagliarani, the Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), published a communique, as well as a letter to Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández – and several annexes – to announce that the SSPX has decided to go ahead with the episcopal consecrations on July...

[Catholic Caucus] Clandestine Ordinations Against Church Law: Lessons from Cardinal Wojtyła and Cardinal SlipyjEditor’s note: in light of the news regarding a probably SSPX consecration of bishops this year and its own probable irregularity, we re-propose this historical question given by our contributing editor, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, several years ago. According to the evidence presented herein, the Sacrament of Holy Orders has been conferred against Church law by two highly respected churchmen of the 20th century. To my knowledge, this important article has never been answered by any of the critics of the SSPX. If you know of any such...

[Catholic Caucus] The SSPX and the Question of Apostolic ContinuityThe current situation involving the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has once again revealed a serious and unresolved reality within the Church – one that cannot be dismissed, delayed indefinitely, or answered with silence.In the years following the Council, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre acted under the conviction that essential elements of the Church’s life – the traditional priestly formation, the sacramental theology that shaped it, and the Mass that had nourished countless saints – were being abandoned or actively suppressed. The Society of St. Pius X arose from that crisis and,...

Heard in the SSPX Priories: A Consecration of New Bishops for the SSPX is coming, sooner rather than laterWe can't add much more right now, but talk is growing.The SSPX leadership will obviously request Rome's approval, as Abp. Lefebvre himself requested in 1987/1988 (with unclear, then clear, results...), but what exactly will unfold is unclear at the moment.We'll have more to add soon.

The 1988 Consecrations--Part 2 II. Solution of the Problem posed by the Pope's "No" A. The Pope's "No" We saw in the first installment of this article that a bishop who experiences a state of grave general necessity of souls and consecrates another bishop "given that he has the power of Order" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Supplement, Q.20, A.1, op. cit. in, "The 1988 Consecrations: Part 1") is not questioning the primacy of jurisdiction of the pope. We have seen that he has every right to presume support for such an act required by extraordinary circumstances "in order that adequate provision...

The 1988 Consecrations--Part One July 1999 No. 33 This issue of the Angelus English-Language edition of SISINONO begins a series of two studies - one theological and one canonical - regarding the "state of necessity" invoked by Archbishop Lefebvre to justify his consecration of four bishops on June 30, 1988. These remarks are for those who admit the existence of an extraordinary crisis in the Church but do not know how to justify the extraordinary action of Archbishop Lefebvre on June 10, 1988 when, lacking permission from Pope John Paul II, he transmitted the power of episcopal orders to members...

Schism or the Syllogism of Truth? Part Five of the Series: The Illicit Episcopal Consecrations of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre Even if we supposed, for the sake of argument, that Archbishop Lefebvre indeed excommunicated himself on June 30, 1988, by performing episcopal consecrations without papal mandate, the accusation that Lefebvre, de Castro Mayer, and the four newly-ordained bishops engaged in a schismatic act is utterly untenable. In this article, I will demonstrate why. What evidence does the neo-catholic side bring up in order to substantiate its claim that Archbishop Lefebvre, Bishop de Castro Mayer, and the four new bishops of June...

Canon Backfire Part Three of the Series: The Illicit Episcopal Consecrations of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre On June 17, 1988, Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, sent a canonical warning to Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre on account of the imminent consecrations His Grace was about to perform on June 30 without a papal mandate. The canonical warning states: "Since on 15 June 1988 you stated that you intended to ordain four priests to the episcopate without having obtained the mandate of the Supreme Pontiff as required by Canon 1013 of the Code of Canon Law, I myself convey to...

The Illicit Episcopal Consecrations of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre In the first part of this series, I laid down a few general guiding principles of the Church with regards to law, excommunication, and the salvation of souls. I then demonstrated that it is clear that at least until and including June 29, 1988, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre was a member of the Catholic Church, innocent of any charges of schism or excommunication. Now I will come to the much more disputed part, namely, that His Grace did not incur excommunication or start a schism on the day of his episcopal consecrations of...

September 1999 No. 34 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This issue of the Angelus English-Language edition of SISINONO is the second part of a series of two studies - one theological and one canonical - regarding the "state of necessity" invoked by Archbishop Lefebvre to justify his consecration of four bishops on June 30, 1988. These remarks are for those who admit the existence of an extraordinary crisis in the Catholic Church but do not know how to justify the extraordinary action of Archbishop Lefebvre on June 30, 1988 when, lacking permission from Pope John Paul II, he transmitted the power of episcopal orders...