On Wednesday, the largest traditional Catholic order of priests in the world, the Society of Saint Pius X, consecrated four bishops without a papal mandate.
The Vatican’s response was swift and brutal. Today, it announced that not only have the four new bishops and the two consecrators been excommunicated but, shockingly, so will all the priests and faithful who continue to adhere to the Society’s work – anedict that will likely affect more than a million Catholics worldwide.
This comes across as startlingly harsh, especially as the penalty of excommunication for consecrating bishops without a mandate has only existed since 1951. Pius XII established it to prevent the Chinese Communist party from appointing bishops loyal to Beijing. Ironically, today the CCP appoints bishops without a mandate for the explicit purpose of guaranteeing loyalty to communism and receives the Vatican’s automatic blessing. By contrast, over a million traditional Catholics have now been cut off from the Church for the crime of wanting to practise the faith as it was before the Second Vatican Council.
The morning sun was shining when the consecration began at the seminary of Econe, Switzerland, in the presence of 16,600 adult faithful and too many children to count. But a burst of heavy rain struck just before Communion was to be distributed. Outside the ceremonial tent, the drenched crowds sang ‘Ave Marias’ and prayed the rosary in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, until the downpour lightened enough to continue (by the end all was sunshine, organ and pealing bells).
It was a symbolic moment for the Society. It has particularly championed the Blessed Virgin since November, when the Vatican issued a document downplaying her role in salvation. The Society cited this document as influential in their decision to proceed with the consecrations.
Excommunication is the most severe punishment the Catholic Church can carry out. But the Society insists that canon law makes provision for the extraordinary consecration of bishops at times of crisis.
They uphold the Pope’s authority as Vicar of Christ and pray for him at Mass. But they say that even the Pope (who, as the old adage has it, is the vicar of Christ, not His successor) has no right to cut off the faithful from the traditional Catholic liturgy, doctrine and sacraments.
The traditional Mass is, with severe restrictions, available within the mainstream Church. But the Society of Saint Pius X and its affiliates are the only formal groups who offer exclusively traditional Catholic doctrine and liturgy as they were before the Second Vatican Council. Without bishops, their work will eventually end, and the faithful who want to practise Catholicism in its pre-conciliar form will have nowhere to turn.
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