Una Voce International and Latin Mass Society voice concern at news of SSPX ordinations

Una Voce International and the Latin Mass Society have expressed their concern the announcement by the Superior General of the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), Fr Davide Pagliarani, that the SSPX will carry out Episcopal consecrations on 1st July this year.

In a statement today, (Tuesday 3 February) they say: "Our ardent wish, shared by many Catholics of good will, is for the canonical regularisation of the SSPX, which would enable its many good works to bear the greatest possible fruit. This announcement is an indication that this outcome is a more distant prospect than it has seemed for many years.

"We share the SSPX's goal, that the Church's ancient liturgy be made available as widely as possible for the good of souls. We do not share the SSPX's analysis of the crisis of the Church in all its details. In particular we know many Catholics able to attend the Traditional Mass with all the necessary permissions from the Church's hierarchy, such that it is not necessary for them to seek it in any irregular context.

"We also know, however, that for others, attending the Traditional Mass has been made very difficult: in some places, this is despite the desire of qualified priests to celebrate it for the faithful, and even the willingness of the local bishop to allow this. This creates an environment in which the SSPX argument of a 'state of emergency' gains sympathy.

"We urge our bishops, and above all His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, to be mindful of these pastoral realities, which are at this moment precipitating a crisis whose consequences no one can foresee.

"What Catholics attached to the 'former Missal' desire is not some harmful or novel liturgical form. Pope St John Paul II called our desire for this Missal a 'rightful aspiration' (Ecclesia Dei, 1988), and later Pope Benedict XVI described it as a source of 'riches' (Letter to Bishops, 2007).

"The time to act is now."

signed

Joseph Shaw. President, Una Voce International, and Chairman, Latin Mass Society
Monika Rheinschmitt, Vice President and Treasurer, Una Voce International
Andris Amolins, Secretary, Una Voce International
David Forster, Treasurer, Latin Mass Society
Selina Fang, Secretary, Latin Mass Society

Una Voce International (Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce, FIUV) groups together more than forty lay-led associations in support of the Traditional Latin Mass around the world.

The Latin Mass Society was founded in 1965 to support the continued celebration of the Catholic liturgy in the form it took at the eve of the Second Vatican Council: the '1962 Missal', the 'antecedent Missal', the Vetus Ordo or Traditional Mass. The Latin Mass Society is the largest member association of the FIUV.

LINKS

FIUV: https://fiuv.org
LMS: https://lms.org.uk