The Society of St Pius X has filed an appeal with the Vatican against the decree that declared the traditionalist group in schism with the Catholic Church for consecrating four bishops without papal authorisation. Source: EWTN News.
According to a statement from the society – whose members are known as Lefebvrists – the appeal was submitted to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on July 11, nine days after the group was declared to be in schism.
The SSPX statement, published on Monday, says that “through this appeal, the society wishes to exercise the right that the Church recognises for any person who considers himself harmed by an administrative act to request its rectification, in a spirit of respect toward ecclesiastical authority and of faithful adherence to justice, truth, and the good of the Church”.
It adds that the appeal is “the prior requirement before the eventual filing of a hierarchical recourse” and “has the effect of suspending the execution of the decree, in accordance with Canon 1353 of the Code of Canon Law.”
Canon 1353 states that an appeal or recourse against a judicial sentence or against a decree that imposes or declares any penalty has a suspensive effect.
“The Society of St Pius X places this request in the hands of the competent authorities and entrusts this procedure to the prayers of all the faithful,” the statement concludes.
The appeal follows a letter the Lefebvrists addressed to Pope Leo XIV, published July 3, in which they reject the excommunications decreed by the Vatican after the illicit consecration of the four new bishops – measures they called “objectively unjust and invalid.”
The group, founded by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970, holds as its purpose the preservation of the traditional liturgy that predates the reforms introduced after the Second Vatican Council, while maintaining its opposition to aspects of conciliar teaching on ecumenism, religious freedom, and collegiality.
Archbishop Lefebvre was excommunicated in 1988 after consecrating four bishops without the permission of St John Paul II. That sanction was lifted by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.
Two of the bishops Lefebvre consecrated – Alfonso de Galarreta and Bernard Fellay – took part in the recent illicit consecration, which led to their being excommunicated once again.
The SSPX disregarded the Churchʼs warnings not to ordain new bishops, including an appeal from Leo XIV himself.
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Society of St Pius X appeals to Vatican against schism decree (By Walter Sánchez Silva, EWTN News)
