Since the suspension of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre from his priestly duties in 1976, successive popes have managed crises with the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) by resorting, at decisive moments, to personal audiences with its leaders. Faced with the announcement of possible new episcopal consecrations and the Vatican’s warning of a potential schism, the pontificate of Leo XIV has, until now, handled the matter through the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, without any direct papal audience with the leaders of the Society. The following is a chronology of these contacts.
1976: Paul VI receives Lefebvre at Castel Gandolfo
Tensions became formalized with the suspension a divinis of Lefebvre in 1976, after he repeatedly disobeyed the decisions of the Holy See concerning the seminary of Ecône and celebrated a large-scale mass in Lille despite the sanctions.
On September 11, 1976, Paul VI personally received the French archbishop at Castel Gandolfo. According to accounts of the meeting, the conversation was tense: the Pope accused him of acting as if he were an “antipope” and of judging the successor of Peter unfaithful to the faith, while Lefebvre insisted on denouncing what he considered a doctrinal and liturgical crisis following the Second Vatican Council. No agreement was reached, but discussions between the two parties continued.
1988: Jean-Paul II, le protocole du 5 mai et Ecclesia Dei
After months of negotiations led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Rome and Lefebvre signed a protocol on May 5, 1988, providing for the regularization of the Society and the possibility of a bishop being chosen from its ranks. Lefebvre reneged on this the following day and, a few weeks later, consecrated four bishops without papal mandate.
John Paul II described consecrations as an act gravely contrary to ecclesial communion and promulgated the motu proprio Ecclesia Dei . At the same time, he created a specific commission for the reconciliation of the faithful attached to liturgical tradition and kept open the way for future regularization. During the Jubilee of the Year 2000, he personally received Bishop Bernard Fellay.
2005-2013: Benedict XVI, Summorum Pontificum and the lifting of excommunications
Benedict XVI received Bishop Fellay at Castel Gandolfo a few months after his election. His pontificate included several important decisions regarding the case:
- In 2007, he promulgated Summorum Pontificum , which recognized that the 1962 Roman Missal had not been legally abrogated and broadened the celebration of the traditional liturgy.
- In 2009, he lifted the excommunications of the four bishops consecrated in 1988.
- He initiated official doctrinal conversations between the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Society on issues such as religious freedom, ecumenism, episcopal collegiality, and the interpretation of the Second Vatican Council.
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