Illicit Consecrations: The SSPX and the Chinese Bishops

Why is the SSPX being threatened with excommunication, while the ChiCom slavemasters regularly do the same thing without consequence?

From One Peter Five

By Aurelio Porfiri

In recent days there has been considerable news coverage of the announcement by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X of new episcopal ordinations scheduled for July 1.

This announcement has understandably caused quite a stir because, according to some, it signals a schismatic intention toward the Church of Rome.

In reality, the Fraternity of Saint Pius X has specified that it does not consider itself schismatic with regard to Rome.

Certainly, this is a very complex issue, and it is also very difficult to understand what the best solutions might be to heal this wound that exists between the Holy See and the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, which has become a very significant reality both in terms of the number of priests and the number of faithful.

Some have drawn a comparison between the episcopal ordinations of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X and those carried out by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Church. I have worked closely with Cardinal Zen on several books and have published a history of the traditionalist movement, and so at the request of the editor of OnePeterFive I will make a few comments about this comparison.

Now, it must be said that these ordinations—both those of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X and those of the Chinese Patriotic Church—are certainly illicit from the point of view of the Church of Rome. Why are they illicit? Because they lack permission, authorization, the papal mandate. Therefore, both are illicit.

However, the matter must also be understood from the perspective of intentions, because I believe this is a very important point. Let me give an example: if a person steals an apple and is very wealthy, and another person steals an apple because he is starving, the act is the same, but one cannot say that the moral weight of that act is the same. In one case, the person acts out of real necessity. The act remains illegitimate, but the motivations behind certain actions are important. One must not assume that acts with similar external forms necessarily entail the same moral responsibility for those who perform them. Thus, if we consider the Chinese Patriotic Church and the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, we are certainly faced with different motivations.

In the case of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, these ordinations are carried out—let us not forget—from the standpoint of the Holy See, illicitly, because of the perceived need to continue the work of the Fraternity itself. The bishops who had been ordained by Archbishop Lefebvre are now reduced to two, since two have already died and one of the deceased, Bishop Williamson, had in any case left the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X.

Therefore, the two remaining bishops are now of quite advanced age, and since the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X has become a work truly spread throughout the world, they need additional bishops who can continue to ordain priests, administer confirmations, and so on. From their perspective, this is fully understandable.

I would say that, in their intention, it is not an act against Rome and, from what I have been able to understand by listening to statements from members of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X, it is an act of survival for the Fraternity itself. Moreover, members of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, beginning with their Superior, have always stated that they have never intended to separate from Rome, but they contest the direction the Catholic Church has taken, especially after the Second Vatican Council. In fact, this intention not to separate from Rome was always proclaimed by the founder of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

In the case of the Chinese Patriotic Church, however, we are faced with a different motivation, because in the intentions of those who created this Patriotic Church many decades ago there was precisely the aim of being independent from Rome.

Now, especially in recent years, important prelates with knowledge of the extremely complex Chinese situation have said that one can no longer speak of two Churches—the Patriotic Church and the underground or clandestine Church—but must speak of one single Church. This has been said particularly after the secret agreement reached ni 2018 between the Holy See and the Chinese government.

However, as we all know, in the Chinese Catholic Church—and not only there—there is strong control by the Chinese government. Even after this agreement, bishops have been ordained without prior authorization from the Holy See. Subsequently, the Holy See regularized these situations by accepting these bishops. I believe the Holy See did this in order to maintain a connection with the Chinese government and with the Chinese Church, because, as I repeat, the Chinese situation is very complex. Therefore, I think the Holy See shows a certain tolerance precisely because it does not wish to separate irreparably from Chinese Catholics. Nevertheless, the intentions behind these ordinations are certainly entirely different from those of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X.

I hope that the Pope’s diplomacy—and I mean his personal diplomatic disposition, since he has shown himself to be someone who seeks to mediate in conflicts—will be applied to the SSPX situation. I hope that the Pope personally will take up the question of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X and, by meeting with its current leaders, will be able to find a solution that safeguards his rights—which for a Catholic are obviously of the utmost importance—while at the same time maintaining and developing in a positive way the relationship with this Catholic body.

Let us recall that Pope Francis said he did not consider the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X to be outside the Church, but certainly in an irregular position.

This occasion of the announced ordinations could truly be the moment to heal this wound that has existed for decades and also to address the long-standing problem of the relationship with the world identified by the label—one I do not like, as you know—of “traditionalist.”

This would help both the traditionalists in an irregular position with respect to the Holy See and those who are in a perfectly regular position, fully subject to the Pope and his pastors, but who in recent years have, in my opinion—with profound injustice—been almost persecuted.

Pictured: Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Hong Kong