The SSPX may have grown numerically, but it never truly rose. Since its establishment in 1970, it has been in continual decline. This year’s planned SSPX episcopal consecrations may push the Society into an even deeper downward trend, with little chance of recovery given the current progressive climate in the Vatican.
Meanwhile, many communities that took a different path, such as the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) and others, have genuinely flourished. In contrast, the SSPX remains entrenched in the belief that it must singlehandedly save the Church.
The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) is currently in its most favorable position since its canonical status was withdrawn in 1975, about five years after its founding in 1970. In 1988, the illicit episcopal consecrations led to the excommunication of the bishops involved and to declarations from Rome describing the act as schismatic. Some have also argued that priests and laity associated with the SSPX suffered, at least in practice, similar ecclesiastical consequences, although the Holy See never definitively established that mere attendance or association constituted formal adherence to schism.
In 2008, Bishop Bernard Fellay wrote directly to Pope Benedict XVI requesting the remission of the excommunications incurred after the 1988 episcopal consecrations, acknowledging the painful canonical situation of the Society and affirming its adherence to the primacy of the Roman Pontiff. In that letter, he expressed the SSPX’s desire to overcome its irregular status and explicitly appealed for the lifting of the penalties as a step toward reconciliation with Rome.
In his letter, Mons. Fellay stated, among other things, that “we continue firmly resolute in our desire to remain Catholics and to put all our strength at the service of the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is the Roman Catholic Church. We accept her teachings in a filial spirit. We firmly believe in the primacy of Peter and in his prerogatives, and for this reason the current situation causes us much suffering”. – Cardinal Giovanni Batista
Later, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the bishops’ excommunications in 2009, and Pope Francis further extended pastoral provisions—especially from the 2015 Year of Mercy onward—such as permissions related to confession and, in certain cases, marriage. No longer generally described by Rome as being formally in schism, these developments gave hope that a path toward reconciliation and fuller communion might still be possible.
That hope is now being strained by plans to consecrate new bishops despite Rome’s disapproval. On May 13, 2026, an official bulletin posted on the Vatican website reaffirmed that the planned schismatic act would incur excommunication.
“The episcopal ordinations announced by the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X do not have the corresponding pontifical mandate. This gesture will constitute “a schismatic act” and “formal adherence to the schism constitutes a grave offense against God and entails the excommunication established by Church law.”” – vatican.va
In response to the Vatican’s warning, the SSPX did not back down. On May 14, Fr. Pagliarani issued a statement in which he denied that the SSPX was abandoning Catholicism or intending schism. He argued that the Society had spent more than five decades warning Rome about what it saw as doctrinal errors, yet Rome’s response had largely been threats of canonical penalties. According to him, the planned episcopal consecrations were an act of doctrinal fidelity, not a rebellion against papal authority.
This is exactly what the SSPX often ignores: God never promised that every holder of Church authority would be personally holy or doctrinally sharp at every moment. Scripture itself shows the reality of weak, sinful, or even scandalous leaders. Their failures did not automatically erase the authority attached to their office. The existence of bad or unworthy leaders is a biblical reality, not proof that the authority established by God suddenly disappears.
The justification often given by the Society for the episcopal consecrations is the advancing age of their current bishops, but this increasingly appears to function as a smokescreen for deeper issues. The deeper issue is a mindset resembling private judgment, where ecclesial authority is effectively set aside. In contrast, many “trad-leaning” prelates and lay faithful uphold Tradition while remaining firmly loyal to the Petrine Office. To disregard the Pope, who holds the “Keys to the Kingdom,” is ultimately a wound to visible communion with Christ’s Church.
Just a couple of weeks before the planned episcopal consecrations, Pope Leo XIV has made the following statement:
“I am considering making another appeal and saying ‘don’t do this, let’s try to live the communion of the Church.’ But it is their choice.
We must realize what it means for them and for the Church. Certainly, the division among Christians is a painful point.
However, they refuse to accept some fundamental elements of the Church, starting with several points of the Second Vatican Council. If they make that choice, I am sorry. But we must move forward”
A day before the consecrations, Pope Leo XIV personally begged the Society of Saint Pius X to cancel its planned episcopal consecrations, warning that they would rupture Church unity and carry grave canonical consequences. In response, Fr. Davide Pagliarani thanked the Pope for his paternal concern but did not commit to obedience or to cancelling the consecrations. Instead, he asked the Pope to reconsider, defended the Society’s actions as a service to the Church, and appealed for further discernment.
If the episcopal consecrations proceed, the likely outcome is further canonical penalties, including excommunications and a renewed declaration of schism. Unfortunately for them, the current ecclesial context is not the same as during Benedict XVI’s pontificate, and there is no certainty that a future pope would be willing or able to lift such penalties again.
The SSPX operates under the conviction that it alone is truly preserving Catholicism, yet the Church has never given it such a mission. While its desire to preserve the Latin liturgical tradition may be sincere, its method becomes problematic when it is pursued outside submission to the Roman Pontiff.
The Novus Ordo Mass, despite its weaknesses, can spiritually nourish the faithful, and in some cases may bear greater spiritual fruit than a valid Tridentine Mass offered in deliberate disobedience to legitimate ecclesial authority.
It is important to acknowledge that the laity who attend SSPX chapels are not to be simply dismissed. Many are acting in good faith, often believing they have limited access to the traditional liturgy elsewhere. In such cases, moral theology recognizes that their culpability is not equivalent to formal separation from communion.
The society continues to grow, but this growth is not necessarily a sign of divine approval. It often reflects faithful Catholics seeking spiritual stability where they perceive few traditional options available. Young men formed within these communities are not necessarily culpable and may sincerely serve as priests within the SSPX according to their conscience.
Yet for the society to truly rise and flourish within the life of the Church, and to save more souls, it ultimately needs an official mission recognized by Rome, and this can only begin through the restoration of a regular canonical status.
Without regularization, the SSPX will never truly rise but risks repeating an opposite form of imbalance to liberal movements in parts of the post-conciliar Church. Both extremes, in different ways, tend to place their own interpretation above ecclesial authority.
True Catholic traditional spirituality holds together both Tradition and obedience. Blatantly disobeying the Magisterium without a sufficiently grave reason is not traditional at all; it is a modern attitude.
We should therefore pray that Pope Leo XIV recognizes the possibility of unity despite differences and considers granting approval for the bishop consecrations, or that the SSPX recognizes the harm continued separation risks causing to the Mystical Body of Christ and postpones or cancels the consecrations.
If the Society is ever to rise authentically, it must uphold Tradition within the visible unity of the Church. Continued defiance of ecclesial authority points not toward rising, but toward fall, isolation, and fragmentation.
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