Vatican Prepares to Excommunicate the SSPX

I think the majority of the adherents of the SSPX will wear it as a badge of honour. To be excommunicated by the Rome of today is nothing less than a guarantee of your Catholicism!

From One Peter Five

By Timothy Flanders, MA

The impending break in communion fills me with sorrow.

Reports are emerging that the Vatican has prepared an excommunication order to come down upon the SSPX should they proceed to consecrate bishops on July 1st, as they have planned. From Miss Diane Montagna:

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Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández has prepared a declaration of schism should the Society of St. Pius X proceed with episcopal consecrations in Écône on July 1. The Vatican is also making pastoral arrangements to welcome those who may leave the SSPX after it ordains new bishops without papal permission. 

This is according to reports by Italian journalist Nico Spuntoni. His comments come amid online rumors about who precisely will be subject to the decree prepared by the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

“Informed sources on the matter have confirmed to me that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is already prepared for a scenario of schism following the likely new consecrations,” Spuntoni confirmed to me recently.

Spuntoni, known for his accurate reporting and for consistently publishing information ahead of official channels, added that, according to his sources, “the Dicastery claims to have been ‘lenient’ in the negotiations, but there are indications of an intention to be ‘firm’ in their response.”

“I don’t know whether this is a strategy or not,” he said. “My sources have not told me whether the excommunication will apply only to the new bishops or also to others.”

Based on the information in his possession, Spuntoni therefore stressed that he could “neither confirm nor deny the rumors circulating about who will be subject to the sanctions.”

However, based on his sources he was able to state that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith “is concerned about the pastoral care of the persons (i.e. clergy) connected to the Society who do not intend to remain in it after a further break with Rome.”

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This is a very regrettable and sad situation. First and foremost, we need to focus on the wounded hearts of Jesus and Mary. Whatever your opinion of the SSPX, we must meditate on the wounds that our sins cause in those two Hearts, and repent of our own evil doing. The impending break in communion fills me with sorrow. It is from this place of sorrow that I write and appeal to our readers to redouble our prayers and penances for some miracle to avert the wrath of God from this situation.

Here at OnePeterFive we will be promoting our cause for June, Sacred Heart Month, calling all good Catholics to put their zeal into Eucharistic reparation. If we, together, hide ourselves in the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, He Himself will see us through this storm, whatever may come.

My views on the SSPX come from my conviction that this situation is fundamentally a clerical matter, and it is the clerics who must resolve it. I do not have the expertise to die on any hill of disputed teachings about this or that jurisdiction or order or what not. But from my layman view, the idea that consecrating bishops without papal approval is such a large offence – this just strikes me as odd. Sure – we don’t want there to be a parallel episcopacy, which is obviously a divisive phenomenon. But I fail to see why this offense is so grievous as to warrant such a merciless response.

It is indeed supremely lamentable that His Holiness appeared to favour the female “Archbishop” of Canterbury (despite a somewhat mild rebuke) with an audience and a liturgical celebration, whereas the SSPX clerics, it seems, are treated harshly. But on the other hand – are the SSPX clerics being too intransigent since they utterly refused dialogue with a new Pope? I’m not the judge of anybody, much less a cleric, and like I said, I really don’t know enough to die on any particular hill. My only hope is the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. So let’s meet there, together, and plead for mercy, one and all.