SSPX declare four new bishops without papal mandate

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Source: Vatican Media

This morning, Wednesday, July 1, in Ecône, Switzerland, at the headquarters of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), the Lefebvrists, followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, consecrated four new bishops without a papal mandate.

The new bishops answered affirmatively to the liturgical question: "Habetis mandatum apostolicum?" ("Do you have the Apostolic Mandate?").

They justified the consecrations as necessary to ensure the continuity and survival of their society, despite the Holy See's efforts at dialogue and repeated warnings against proceeding with what it viewed as a schismatic act. Those warnings came in a letter from Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, as well as from Pope Leo XIV himself in a letter issued two days before the consecrations.

The letter sent by Pope Leo XIV to the Superior General of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X is dated 29 June, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, two days before the ceremony at Ecône.

More than 1,000 priests, religious men and women, and about 15,000 people attended the ceremony, which began at 9am in a large white marquee next to the FSSPX seminary. The event was livestreamed in six languages on the society's official website, where a countdown to the ceremony had been running in recent days, accompanied by commemorative merchandise and other related events.

The four bishops consecrated today are Pascal Schreiber, a 53-year-old Swiss priest ordained at Ecône in 1998; Michael Goldade, originally from North Dakota and raised in Kansas, United States; Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, 42; and Marc Happier, 36, both French.

The main celebrant performing the consecrations was Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, with Bishop Bernard Fellay serving as co-consecrator. They are the two surviving bishops among the four originally consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre on June 30, 1988. According to Catholic canon law, carrying out such consecrations without a papal mandate incurs latae sententiae (automatic) excommunication.

At the beginning of the liturgy, the Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X, Fr Davide Pagliarani, delivered a brief address saying, "We are prepared to pay any price to save the Church."

According to the Superior General, it is therefore "a most serious duty" to "hand on the grace of the episcopate to these priests."

"We consider that any penalties or censures imposed for this act have no value whatsoever," he added.

For the Lefebvrists, their superior concluded, today is "a historic day" and "a celebration." For the universal Church, however, it is a day on which, in the Vatican's assessment, an old wound has been reopened-the wound of division.

The seamless garment of Christ, which Pope Leo XIV had urged in his heartfelt letter on June 29 "not to tear apart," has now, in the Vatican's view, been torn.