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SSPX community in Charlotte acquires 26 acres for church expansion projectThe world-famous architect James McCrery will be designing a church complex for the SSPX community of Charlotte, North Carolina.SSPX community of St. Anthony's, Mount Holly, North Carolina“This milestone was achieved as the result of a 3-year search over a 3,000 square-mile search area that included analysis of more than 1,300 properties,” said Jim De Piante, project manager for the new St. Anthony’s church. “We hope this first step in our master plan to build a beautiful and spacious church complex on the property will ensure that the Catholic faithful will...

Episcopal Consecrations: What Fr. Pagliarani Told the Members of the Society of Saint Pius XPreparing Hearts for the Episcopal ConsecrationsA Message to the Faithful and Friends of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius XDear faithful and friends,As we prepare for the episcopal consecrations, scheduled for 1 July in Écône, we wish, exceptionally, to make available to you an editorial that the Superior General addressed to the members of the Society on 7 March.This text does not revisit the question of the consecrations themselves, but is devoted to recalling the spirit in which they must be prepared for and lived: a...

As any Catholic master of ceremonies will tell you, it takes only the tiniest sartorial mishap to lend a Python-esque flavour to moments of the utmost solemnity. On 1 July the rebel traditionalist Society of St Pius X (SSPX) created four new bishops in defiance of Pope Leo XIV during a five-hour open-air Latin Mass in a Swiss alpine meadow. The consecrating prelates wore dark-red velvet chasubles over scarlet-and-gold dalmatics with matching gloves. They descended from their thrones bearing sacred chrism. Afterwards the new bishops stood in a row, mitres perched on their heads for the first time. For traditionalist...

A systematic dissection of the Vatican’s legal framework reveals what independent canonists and traditionalists view as a deep-seated crisis of consistency within modern Catholic governance. When the theological and legal arguments used against the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) are laid bare alongside the treatment of the Eastern Orthodox amd protestants, the structural defense provided by Rome (that it is merely maintaining public order and guarding the sacred nature of the sacramental contract) it effectively implodes under the weight of its own internal contradictions. What remains is a system that appears to onlookers not as a defense of immutable...

Bishop who warns against going to SSPX Masses took part in interfaith Hanukkah ceremonyThe bishop of the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas, warned Catholics not to attend Masses offered by the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) after the announcement of its bishops’ excommunications even though the San Angelo prelate has himself participated in an interfaith Hanukkah ceremony, an objectively immoral act.Bishop Michael J. Sis issued a letter on Monday reiterating the Vatican’s claim regarding the SSPX: that priests of the SSPX “unlawfully administer the sacraments” and that “the sacrament of penance administered by them and marriages witnessed by them...

“Physician, Heal Thyself”: Why this Diocesan Priest Rejects the Vatican’s SSPX ExcommunicationsThe debate over the SSPX excommunications has largely centered on obedience and canon law. But one diocesan priest believes everyone is asking the wrong question. In this powerful essay, he argues that excommunication exists to heal souls—not to silence Catholics defending Tradition—and asks whether those imposing penalties should first examine themselves in light of Canon 1364. Whether readers agree or disagree, this essay offers one of the most provocative priestly responses yet to the Vatican's action against the Society of St. Pius X. What is Excommunication Actually For?Excommunication exists...

Cardinal, bishops support expanding Latin Mass access after SSPX consecrationsCardinal Kurt Koch said that ‘we have to rethink’ Pope Francis’ restrictions on the Latin Mass, and a bishop in Norway vowed to continue and possibly expand the TLM in his diocese.Since the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) consecrated four bishops without a papal mandate and the subsequent decree of excommunication by the Holy See, some Catholic bishops and a cardinal have said that the Vatican should rethink the restrictions of Traditionis Custodes, while at least one ordinary has promised to expand access to the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in...

“We know how to get through this.”Écône Diary: Thursday 2nd July, the Feast of the Visitation The momentous day of Wednesday, 1st July, the Feast of the Precious Blood, concluded with Second Pontifical Vespers of the Precious Blood of Jesus and Benediction. The American Rector of Saint Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Virginia, the newly-consecrated Bishop Michael Goldade, gave a short sermon in which he shared how touched the newly-consecrated bishops were by the fidelity, prayers and sacrifices of the faithful, clergy and religious.After invoking the life-giving abundance of the Catholic Church, he continued:Today we see such wreckage. If the Catholic...

Leo Praises Liberty While He Puts Écône in ChainsAs Leo praised freedom of worship, Rome branded the SSPX, threatened the faithful, and tolerated a conciliar world where sanctuaries become playgrounds and Christendom becomes a punchline.Liberty for Everyone Except TraditionOn July 3, Leo XIV accepted the Liberty Medal from the National Constitution Center and spoke like a man defending freedom of conscience.He praised the American founders’ appeal to nature and nature’s God. He spoke of human dignity as something that precedes the State. He described authentic freedom as the capacity to know the truth and adhere to the good, even at...

The SSPX Crisis is not an AbstractionI have tried to stay out of the tribal warfare surrounding the SSPX because I do not belong to anyone’s faction. I just want to be left alone to practice the orthodox Faith. I am a convert, but I am not an uninformed one. Before entering the Catholic Church, I studied Catholic theology, Church history, papal authority, canon law, Vatican II, Tradition, and the Magisterium. I read the Summa cover to cover. I have continued studying ever since. I understand why the consecration of bishops without a papal mandate is treated as an extraordinarily...

Canonical Analysis: The 2026 DDF Decree on the SSPXBy the Canon of Shaftesbury, a judicial vicar in a major archdiocese.The question is whether the Decree and Explanatory Note issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) on July 2, 2026 actually accomplished what many have said, namely, the excommunication of six bishops, over seven hundred priests, and an unspecified number of the faithful. The short answer, reading the documents against the Code of Canon Law, is that they did not.The Decree itself names six individuals: four newly consecrated bishops, the principal consecrator (Bishop de Galarreta), and a...

Letter to the Holy Father regarding the Decree of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the FaithThe Superior GeneralTo His HolinessPope Leo XIVEcône, 3 July 2026Among yourselves, if a father is asked by his son for bread, will he give him a stone? Or for a fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish? Or if he is asked for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? Why then, if you, evil as you are, know well enough how to give your children what is good for them, is not your Father much more ready to...

On Wednesday, the largest traditional Catholic order of priests in the world, the Society of Saint Pius X, consecrated four bishops without a papal mandate. The Vatican’s response was swift and brutal. Today, it announced that not only have the four new bishops and the two consecrators been excommunicated but, shockingly, so will all the priests and faithful who continue to adhere to the Society’s work – an edict that will likely affect more than a million Catholics worldwide. This comes across as startlingly harsh, especially as the penalty of excommunication for consecrating bishops without a mandate has only existed...

New SSPX bishop invokes Mediatrix of All Graces in first episcopal sermonBishop Pascal Schreiber delivered his first sermon since the consecrations, calling the faithful to embrace the virtues of humility and magnanimity.Newly consecrated – and now newly excommunicated, according to Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith – Bishop Pascal Schreiber of the Society of St. Pius X delivered his first episcopal sermon on Thursday. At a Pontifical High Mass taking place on the “prairie” of the Écône seminary, Schreiber’s message centerd on the Blessed Virgin Mary, the priesthood, and the Society of...

In an appeal made public June 30, Pope Leo XIV has personally urged the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) to not follow through with their planned July 1 episcopal ordinations, which lack the Pope’s approval. “I pray for you, because to tear the seamless garment of Christ is a sin of extreme gravity,” the Pope wrote in the June 29 letter to SSPX Superior General Father Davide Pagliarani. The Pontiff began the letter by stating that he is addressing Father Pagliarani and through him all of the clergy and faithful connected to the SSPX “with a paternal heart, and...

Stunning documentary ‘Traditio,’ spotlighting the SSPX priesthood, is a must-watchAlready in the first five minutes of the documentary, far more about the priesthood is expressed than most modern Catholics receive in their entire catechesis.The recently released documentary on the SSPX, Traditio, is a magnificent work of art in the fullest sense. This is not just because of the sheer visible and audible beauty of the film. It is, most profoundly, because the film leaves a mark on you. It will change the way you see the priesthood. If you are on the fence about the SSPX, it will change the...

[Catholic Caucus] SSPX Superior General Responds to Pope's AppealIn 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 XIVThe Superior GeneralTo His HolinessPope Leo XIVEcône, 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...

Shortly before the death of St. Francis of Assisi, he left us this prophecy: The “Prophecy” of Saint Francis d’Assisi (http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2013/11/prophecy-st-francis.html) 2. The power of the demons will be greater than usual, the immaculate purity of our religious community and of others, will wither to the point that very few Christians will want to obey the true Sovereign Pontiff and the Roman Church with a sincere heart and perfect charity. At the decisive moment of this crisis, a personage not canonically elected, raised to the Pontificate, will endeavor to administer shrewdly to many the mortal poison of his error. 7....

The Rabbi Gamaliel Test: Will Pope Leo XIV Fight the SSPX, or Listen to Bishop Schneider? Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s messages to Pope Leo XIV regarding the Society of St. Pius X bear a striking resemblance to Rabbi Gamaliel’s words to the Sanhedrin concerning the apostles: “I say to you, refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought; but if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest perhaps you be found even to fight against God.” Will this message be heard?An important article about...

[Catholic Caucus] Schism or Showdown? A One-Scene Play~~ Prologue ~~Ahead of its threatened excommunication, the SSPX has responded with a “Declaration of Catholic Faith,” which, it says, “correspond(s) to the minimum indispensable to be in communion with the Church.” The Declaration is not a creed, but it lists twenty-two indispensable points of Faith.Without specifically identifying them, each of the twenty-two points of the Declaration refutes one of the many affronts to the Faith committed by the post-conciliar Church, including, for example:The Post-Synodal Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, on Holy Communion for couples in adulterous relationships.The Pan-Amazon Synod and its worship of Pachamama.The...