The Chinese Communist government is allowed to choose bishops, but the Society of St. Pius X is facing the threat of excommunication for performing episcopal consecrations.
Why does Rome consent to Chinese communists dictating who becomes a bishop in China while forbidding the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) from consecrating its own bishops under threat of excommunication?
One aspect that I consider not insignificant is that SSPX priests (as well as Ecclesia Dei priests) are generally likely to be considerably better educated in philosophy and theology than most priests who “enjoyed” the priestly formation of the post-conciliar Church.
This could be one reason for Rome’s rigorous stance toward the SSPX. It is possible that Rome fears its intellectual superiority and impact. The Society of St. Pius X is not as tame as the Ecclesia Dei communities. Were Rome to integrate the SSPX into the Catholic Church, it would naturally pose a threat to the left-leaning theology and pastoral practice that have spread throughout the Church since the Council and have caused unprecedented devastation up to the present day. The Traditional Mass could no longer be kept under wraps, as happened in many places despite Ecclesia Dei and Summorum Pontificum, and as is happening again by papal decree since Traditionis Custodes. The monoculture of the Novus Ordo imposed upon the Catholic faithful would come to an end. Yet the Novus Ordo faction vehemently resists this. After all, the faithful might simply vote with their feet.
The quality of the clergy in the post-conciliar Church, particularly in the Western cultural sphere, resembles the quality of personnel in secular political range. The growing lack of education and personal integrity in the latter finds its parallel among the clergy in a decline of intellectual and spiritual level. This is especially disastrous at the level of the higher and senior clergy, just as it is among top personnel in government and politics. In both spheres, key positions are far too often filled by people who are simply unsuited for them.
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