Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] To Hand on What Has Been Received: The Mission and Challenges of the SSPX in Our TimesA guest article by Charles Bradshaw.The SSPX’s recent pilgrimage to Rome has been the cause of some media attention not least because of mounting expectations regarding future Episcopal Consecrations. The inevitable skeletons have come out of the cupboard again alongside those who claim to have insight into just about everything Archbishop Lefebvre did or didn’t do. However, whilst the future consecrations remain a vitally important and pressing issue, what has been overlooked is how the Society of St Pius X is meeting...

[Catholic Caucus] Thousands of Catholics join SSPX Jubilee Year Pilgrimage to Rome, process into St. Peter’s BasilicaOn August 19-21, the pilgrims entered the Holy Doors of first the Basilica of St. Mary Major, then St. John Latera's Basilica, and finally St. Peter's Basilica.Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) procession inside St. Peter's BasilicaLast week, nearly 8,000 Catholics from 44 countries joined the 680 clergy and religious of the traditional Priestly Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) on its pilgrimage to Rome on the occasion of the Jubilee Year 2025. On three different days, August 19-21, the pilgrims entered the Holy...

[Catholic Caucus] The SSPX Responds to Cardinal ArboreliusOpen Letter to Cardinal Arborelius in Response to the Statements of 15 August 2025Your Eminence,We have taken note of the two statements concerning our priestly fraternity that were made public by Your Eminence on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.Animated by the zeal for the salvation of souls and in the spirit of filial devotion to our Holy Mother the Church and Her institutions we would like to make our thoughts and intentions known in the form of an open letter that we hope will foster a greater understanding...

[Catholic Caucus] SSPX Episcopal Consecrations? Learning from the PastWith the current speculation about whether, and when, the SSPX will consecrate new bishops, we can all agree on one thing: that they are needed. An extraordinary feature of the history of the Society of St Pius X is that, whenever there is contact with Rome, a group of the priests and the lay people in the chapels, up sticks and leave. Like affronted chefs, they run off in a huff and then accuse those whom they leave behind of ‘betraying’ the legacy of Archbishop Lefebvre. Every major event in the Society...

[Catholic Caucus] Society of Saint Pius X Jubilee Pilgrimage ImagesThe Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) is gathering faithful from around the world in their 2025 Jubilee Rome pilgrimage this week. Here are some images and video:

[Catholic Caucus] SSPX pilgrimage for Jubilee endorsed by Vatican despite canonical disputeThe Vatican’s official Jubilee 2025 calendar is currently listing a pilgrimage by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (SSPX), with the occasion marking a rare moment of visible accord following long-running tensions between SSPX and the Vatican. According to the SSPX website for Great Britain, the pilgrimage on 21 August will include a public Rosary at Colle Oppio, a Solemn High Mass at 9.30 a.m., and a procession entering the Holy Door of the Archbasilica of St John Lateran.The SSPX, founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in November 1970...

The FBI spied extensively on a Roman Catholic priest who declined to disclose private conversations he had with a parishioner, according to a report released earlier this week from the House Judiciary Committee that has raised religious liberty concerns. “This new information demonstrates that the FBI not only used its federal law enforcement resources to surveil certain Catholic Americans, but it also used these resources to investigate a clergy member,” the committee said, according to the July 22 report that Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, shared with the Catholic News Agency. After he expressed reluctance to comply with a January 2023...

[Catholic Caucus] The SSPX: Questions and AnswersEditor’s note: this is our final weekly serialisation of Dr. Edward Schaefer’s new book A Simple Man’s Case for Tradition. This book is an excellent introduction to Traditionalism and provides an easy way for Trads to introduce the movement to fellow Catholics who are seeking deeper answers to today’s questions. Proceeds from the book sale also help promote the Collegium Sanctorum Angelorum, one of only two traditional Catholic colleges in the United States.Read the IntroductionRead chapter 1: Equally Valid and HolyRead chapter 2: the New MassRead chapter 3: LatinRead chapter 4: Practice & BeliefRead...

[Catholic Caucus] “We do not want to separate ourselves from Rome, we belong to the Church” - Interview with Fr Pfluger SSPX on new episcopal consecrations The following excerpt is translated from InfoCatolica; the original in Spanish, published on November 22, 2024, may be found hereThe FSSPX will in the future negotiate with Rome for authorization to ordain new bishopsFr. Stefan Pfluger, superior of the German district of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X (FSSPX), gave an interview to the Catholic weekly Die Tagespost on the relationship of his fraternity with the Apostolic See. After the death of Bishop...

Canon lawyer Fr. Murray: SSPX is not in schism, their Masses can fulfill Sunday obligationThe canon lawyer stressed that the Vatican has recognized the SSPX’s faculties to hear confessions and witness marriages, and that the society shows a ‘cooperative spirit’ with the Holy See.Prominent canon lawyer Father Gerald Murray has declared that the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) is not in schism, and that their Masses can fulfill Catholics’ Sunday obligation.Murray explained on the Ask a Priest Live podcast on Thursday that the traditional priestly society is “not in schism” because the purported excommunication of its leaders, which is...

[Catholic Caucus] Panama Bleeds: A Story of Tradition Persecuted and RestoredA traditional Catholic activist in Panama sent me the following report on what is happening in his country. It was first published at my Substack, Tradition & Sanity, on December 11, 2023. It’s important for those of us who live in countries where the Latin Mass is more plentifully available to learn about the hardships of our brethren who are suffering under bishops even more cruel and heterodox than our own, and to pray for them.—PAKDecember 13, 2020: First Holy Mass with the SSPX, in an apartment into which more...

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.

Multiple FBI field offices were involved in the drafting of a memo targeting Catholics as potential domestic terrorists, a newly unredacted document obtained by House Republicans reveals. The discovery contradicts testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray, who previously claimed under oath only one field office was involved.“This new information suggests that the FBI’s use of its law enforcement capabilities to intrude on American’s First Amendment rights is more widespread than initially suspected,” House Republicans wrote in a letter sent to Wray on Wednesday.Earlier this year, a leaked FBI memo dated Jan. 23 revealed the agency’s Richmond, Virginia, field office was...

[Catholic Caucus] Catholics flock to SSPX after Corpus Christi bishop cancels diocesan Latin MassCollections are down 29 percent at St. John the Baptist parish in Corpus Christi, Texas, since the cancellation of its diocesan TLM by Bishop William Michael Mulvey in April.CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (LifeSiteNews) — Eleven weeks after Bishop William Michael Mulvey of Corpus Christi, Texas, eliminated the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) at St. John the Baptist Church, the parish’s collections are down 29 percent as Catholics flock to the nearby Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) chapel.“The homeschool co-op and children’s choir are currently in limbo,” said Libby...

Bp. Strickland: SSPX ‘not in schism,’ Pope Francis is ‘undermining the deposit of faith’TYLER, Texas (LifeSiteNews) –– Tyler’s Bishop Joseph Strickland has declared his public opposition to Pope Francis’ “program of undermining the Deposit of Faith,” as part a series of tweets in which he also changed his position regarding the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).Bp. Strickland, well known among LifeSite readers for his outspoken defense of Catholic teaching, recently took a firm stance against confusion in the Church. In a Twitter post on May 13, Strickland doubled down on his prior rejection of a view held by Catholic...

In an April 10 Press Release, Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) announced that his committee has subpoenaed the FBI for documents relating the FBI’s move to infiltrate Latin Mass communities in search of any “radical extremism” that could potentially signal domestic terrorism. Vatican journalist, Diane Montagna tweeted out the latest on the FBI’s efforts to weaponize the Southern Poverty Law Center’s decades-old witch hunt against Latin Mass Catholics: House Judiciary Committee Chairman @Jim_Jordan confirms FBI planned to “engage in outreach to leadership” of SSPX chapels in Richmond area “to sensitize these congregations to warning signs of radicalization & to enlist their...

Some Examples of the Many Ways of Resisting, Resisting, Resisting ‘Traditionis Custodes’ — Scenes from Francees’ — Scenes from France (Translation of Paix Liturgique Letter 910 of 29 December 2022) Since the promulgation of the motu proprio Traditionis custodes in 2021, various French bishops—in spite of the reality of dechristianization and the shortage of the faithful, as well as of clergy and financial means—have begun to hunt down their last (rather young) faithful and parish priests. The patchwork application of the motu proprio draws a map of France consisting of official, unofficial, and implicit prohibitions, among which the faithful and...

A Compelling Defense of the SSPX by Fr. Denzil Meuli, S.T.D., U.J.D., Ph.L, LL.B., Advocate for the Roman Rota Archbishop Marcel LefebvreEditor's Note: There were so many mistakes and irregularities in the attack on the SSPX it would take an encyclopedia to list them all. Lefebvre was denied a fair hearing or even to be given the charges. Like so many cases in the Church where good priests have experienced kangaroo court proceedings, this was the case for the Archbishop. He defied the modernist takeover of the Church, so he was guilty.Take a look at the credentials of Fr....

Why it is morally licit to attend Holy Mass celebrated by the Society of Saint Pius XA priest of the Society of St. Pius X offers Mass in 2015(LifeSiteNews) — During Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s recent visit to the United States, he made repeated remarks in defense of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).In one interview, with LifeSite’s editor-in-chief John-Henry Westen, he said that “the SSPX is surely not schismatic.”In an interview with The Remnant’s editor-in-chief, Michael Matt, the Kazakh bishop, when speaking about resisting the unjust suppression of the traditional Latin Mass, stated that even priests could “go to...

[Catholic Caucus] SSPX. As I was saying….I read something familiar at LifeSite in a piece about Bp. Athanasius Schneiders remarks about the SSPX.I have often explained in these electronic pages that…There is no question that the Mass celebrated is in a Catholic Rite. The priests of the SSPX are Catholic priests and not some other kind of priests. Regardless of their unique and somewhat thorny canonical status, they are priests of the Catholic Church and not some other Church. They are even able to receive faculties from competent authority. They validly absolve sins even when there is no danger of...