A Bishop in the Middle: Why One Dutch Prelate Says Schneider's SSPX Hope Is 'Wishful Thinking'

I disagree with His Lordship. The "excommunications" would be null and void, ab initio, under the 1983 Code.

From The Catholic Corner

Bishop Robert Mutsaerts has spent years watching the SSPX situation from a unique vantage point. As auxiliary bishop of s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, he's close enough to feel the tensions, far enough to see the bigger picture. And on March 10, he finally spoke up.

His conclusion? Bishop Athanasius Schneider's argument that any excommunication of the SSPX would be invalid is "based more on wishful thinking than on legitimacy".

What makes Mutsaerts's intervention noteworthy isn't just his alignment with Cardinals Müller and Sarah—it's his honesty about the gray areas. He acknowledges what Rome rarely admits: the SSPX has received significant concessions over the years. Pope Francis granted them jurisdiction for confessions and marriages. Official documents describe them as "not fully outside the Church," merely "canonically irregular".