SSPX plan to ordain new bishops prompts Vatican meeting

Cardinal Victor Fernández will meet Fr Davide Pagliarani after the Society revealed its intention to proceed with episcopal ordinations on July 1. The SSPX announced on February 5 that its Superior General had accepted the Vatican’s proposal for talks and called on its faithful to pray “for the good outcome of this meeting”.

Fr Pagliarani said he had sought an audience with Pope Leo XIV in August 2025, and later received a letter from the Vatican which, in his view, failed to address the Society’s concerns.

Cardinal Fernández has since clarified that the letter cited by the Superior General originated from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. According to the cardinal, it “merely responded negatively to the possibility of proceeding now with new episcopal ordinations”.

He added: “We have been exchanging letters in recent times. Next week I will meet with Fr Pagliarani in the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to try and find a fruitful path of dialogue.”

Discussions in recent months have not been limited to Cardinal Fernández and Fr Pagliarani. They are said to have involved Bishop Bernard Fellay and Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta of the SSPX, as well as Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and Archbishop Guido Pozzo, the former secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, which was dissolved in 2019.

In 1988, SSPX founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops against the explicit wishes of Pope St John Paul II. This resulted in several excommunications, which were lifted decades later.

The SSPX has an irregular canonical status, but the Vatican has made some sacramental concessions under recent popes.

FULL STORY

Vatican doctrine chief to hold talks with SSPX leader (By Edgar Beltrán/The Pillar)

Vatican summons SSPX superior after bishops consecration announcement (Catholic Herald)