Canonical situation of the Society of St. Pius X

1988 Protocol

In May 1988, Lefebvre and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith signed a protocol intended to regularize the canonical status of the SSPX. The first part of the protocol was doctrinal in which Lefebvre agreed that the SSPX would:

The second part of the protocol was juridical which negotiated rights and responsibilities of the SSPX as a group, and conditions of individuals affiliated with the SSPX that included that:

Ratzinger and Lefebvre suggested in the protocol that:

The protocol was to be submitted to John Paul II for his approval. However, Lefebvre quickly developed misgivings and declared his intention to consecrate a bishop as his successor, even without a pontifical mandate.

A meeting took place in Rome on 24 May. It is said that John Paul II promised to Lefebvre that he would appoint an SSPX member as a bishop, chosen according to the normal procedures, and that episcopal ordination would take place on 15 August. In return, Lefebvre would have to request reconciliation with the Church on the basis of the protocol of 5 May. Lefebvre presented three requests:

The Holy See's view

Following the 1988 episcopal consecrations without a pontifical mandate, John Paul II declared that the illicit consecrations were a schismatic act which "impli[ed] in practice the rejection of the Roman primacy" and that all six bishops involved in the ceremony had incurred automatic excommunication under the 1983 Code of Canon Law. John Paul II wrote, in Ecclesia Dei, that "the root of this schismatic act can be discerned in an incomplete and contradictory notion of Tradition." John Paul II reminded "that formal adherence to the schism is a grave offence against God" and schism is a delict against religion and the unity of the church with a penalty of excommunication. The individual excommunications of each of the SSPX bishops did not extend to the other SSPX members.

Ecclesia Dei commission

At the same time, John Paul II set up the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia dei (PCED) to help SSPX members and adherents who wished "to remain united to the Successor of Peter in the Catholic Church while preserving their spiritual and liturgical traditions" to enter "full ecclesial communion". The PCED issued many formal written clarifications about the canonical situation of people involved with the SSPX.

Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts

In 1996, the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts (PCILT) responded to an enquiry from Bishop Norbert Brunner, of the Diocese of Sion, Switzerland, that "in the case of the Lefebvrian deacons and priests there seems no doubt that their ministerial activity in the ambit of the schismatic movement is a more than evident sign of the fact that the two requirements" for formal adherence to the schism "have been met". The PCILT added: "On the other hand, in the case of the rest of the faithful it is obvious that an occasional participation in liturgical acts or the activity of the Lefebvrian movement, done without making one's own the attitude of doctrinal and disciplinary disunion of such a movement, does not suffice for one to be able to speak of formal adherence to the movement." It stated that its judgment was about the existence of the sin of schism, since for the existence of the canonical crime of schism, which entails excommunication, the conditions listed in canons 1323-1324 of the Code of Canon Law must also be met. While its reply concerned only one diocese, the PCILT said that, if there was serious general pastoral confusion about the canonical situation of SSPX members, the Holy See could issue a general decree on the matter. The Holy See has not yet done so.

Likelihood of schism

In 1999, the PCED stated that it was likely, but not certain, that the SSPX members were adhering to a schism, which would mean that they were excommunicated, but that people who, "because of their attraction to the traditional Latin Mass and not because they refuse submission to the Roman Pontiff or reject communion with the members of the Church subject to him", attended Mass celebrated by SSPX priests, were not excommunicated, although, the longer they frequented SSPX chapels, the greater the likelihood of imbibing a schismatic mentality that would seem to involve adherence to the schism and so excommunication. The PCED judged that documentation sent to it in 1998 clearly indicated the extent to which "many in authority in" the SSPX conform with the formal definition of schism.

Moral impediment

In 1995, PCED explained that it "morally illicit for the faithful to participate in" SSPX Masses "unless they are physically or morally impeded from participating in a Mass celebrated by a Catholic priest in good standing" and added that not being able to assist at a Tridentine Mass "is not considered a sufficient motive for attending such Masses." The PCED explained that although the ordinations of SSPX priests by SSPX bishops are valid, SSPX priests are prohibited from exercising a priestly function because SSPX priests are not incardinated into local diocese or religious institutes which are in full communion with the Catholic Church. The PCED also explained that the Masses celebrated by SSPX priests are valid but illicit, and that Penance and Matrimony by SSPX priests are invalid because SSPX priests lack conferred faculties.

Separation but not schism

Apart from the formal declarations by the Catholic Church, Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, president of the PCED, commented about the status of the SSPX in a 2005 interview that the 1988 consecrations, without a pontifical mandate, created a "situation of separation [...] even if it was not a formal schism." Castrillón Hoyos commented in 2005, about a 2004 meeting between Benedict XVI and Fellay, that it was said at that meeting that, in Castrillón Hoyos words, "It cannot be said in correct, exact, and precise terms that there is a schism. [...] They are within the Church. There is only the fact that a full, more perfect communion is lacking [...] a fuller communion, because communion does exist." Castrillón Hoyos commented in 2007, when asked "Does the Indult support ecumenism, 'ad intra' (internal)?" Castrillón Hoyos answered that he "reject[s] the term ' ecumenism ad intra '." He explained that the SSPX priests and adherents "are not schismatics" since it was Lefebrve who has undertaken an illicit Episcopal consecration and therefore performed a schismatic act. It is for this reason that the Bishops consecrated by him have been suspended and excommunicated. The priests and faithful of the Society have not been excommunicated. They are not heretics. I do, however, share St Jerome’s fear that heresy leads to schism and vice versa. The danger of a schism is big, such as a systematic disobedience vis-à-vis the Holy Father or by a denial of his authority. It is after all a service of charity, so that the Priestly Society gains full communion with the Holy Father by acknowledging the sanctity of the new Mass."

2009 declaration of no canonical status and no legitimate ministry

In 2009, Benedict XVI reaffirmed that: "Until the doctrinal questions are clarified, the Society has no canonical status in the Church, and its ministers – even though they have been freed of the ecclesiastical penalty – do not legitimately exercise any ministry in the Church." The status of the SSPX was not changed by Benedict XVI in 2009.

The Holy See and sanctions at the diocesan level

In 1991 Bishop Joseph Ferrario, of the diocese of Honolulu, declared that six adherents of the SSPX movement were excommunicated for, among other things, procuring the services of SSPX Bishop Williamson to illicitly administer confirmation. They sought hierarchical recourse from the Holy See to reverse the decree. The Holy See found in a review of the case that the submitted facts of the case were not formal schismatic acts so the decree lacked foundation under the cited canons and was therefore invalid; Ferrario should have, instead, imposed penalties under canon 1373.

In 1996, one of the earliest proponents of the Tridentine Mass, Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, of the diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, issued a warning that Catholics within the diocese who are members of the SSPX incur excommunication. One of the associations, Call to Action, appealed Bruskewitz's act and the Holy See rejected the appeal.

In 2014, Bishop Marcello Semeraro, of the diocese of Albano, Italy, issued a warning that Catholics within that diocese would incur excommunication for attending SSPX Masses or receiving sacraments from SSPX priests "because the society has no canonical status."

Extraordinary jurisdiction

The SSPX considers itself faithful to the Catholic Church and to the popes, up to and including Pope Francis. The SSPX bishops do not claim ordinary jurisdiction over SSPX adherents, which would make the latter subject to them, not to the local diocesan bishops, and would amount to an obvious challenge to the Holy See's authority and an act of schism. Instead the SSPX claims to possess extraordinary jurisdiction. This is of specific importance in Catholic canon law in relation to the sacraments of confession and marriage.

Absolution of sins and assistance at marriage

To absolve sins validly, a priest must be given the faculty to do so, a faculty that, normally, only the local bishop can give. Similarly, in normal circumstances a marriage can be contracted validly only in the presence of the local bishop or the parish priest or of a priest or deacon delegated by one of these. To overcome this difficulty, the SSPX argues that absolution and marriage under its auspices are valid, because of its interpretation of canon law, for example:

The SSPX also argues that if one believes they are outside of the Church, This opinion has been argued for a recipient who bound to believe that canon 844 §2, applies, which declares that, "whenever necessity requires or a genuine spiritual advantage commends it, and provided that the recipient avoids the danger of error or indifferentism, the recipient who is physically or morally impossible to approach a Catholic minister, may lawfully receive the sacraments of penance, the Eucharist and anointing of the sick from non-Catholic ministers in whose Churches these sacraments are valid."

The website advancedchristianity.com published a tract to support the SSPX opinion, the tract claims that in 1989 Cardinal Paul Augustin Mayer confirmed this in a letter that the "principle of 'common error', whether on the part of only one faithful or on the part of the community, can be applied in this case, and such acts are thereby valid"

The PCED explained that the sacraments of Penance and Matrimony are invalid because SSPX priests are not granted faculty to administer those sacraments, but that the principle of common error applies to the sacrament of Penance, so if a recipient is genuinely ignorant that the priest in question lacks the faculty to absolve. Such private letters to individuals do not have the force of law for the faithful in general. However, "statements of dicasteries and organisms of the Holy See which touch on faith and morals are not considered infallible, but should be taken as norms of moral certitude." In a letter dated 23 May 2008, the PCED stated: "The Sacraments of Penance and Matrimony, however, require that the priest enjoys the faculties of the diocese or has proper delegation. Since that is not the case with these priests, these sacraments are invalid. It remains true, however, that, if the faithful are genuinely ignorant that the priests of the Society of St. Pius X do not have proper faculty to absolve, the Church supplies these faculties so that the sacrament is valid (cf. Code of Canon Law, canon 144)."

Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy confessions

During the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, which starts in December 2015 and lasts for a year, Francis established that those people who approach SSPX priests to hear their confession during the jubilee "shall validly and licitly receive the absolution of their sins." Francis also granted all priests "the discretion to absolve" from the sin of abortion. (which usually must be absolved either by the Bishop, or by priests authorized to do so by him- there are usually, but certainly not always, many of those made available) The SSPX priests only have the faculty of being able to absolve sins during that Jubilee Year; outside of that time frame they do not have it, and they are still to be considered by Catholics who follow the Vatican to be suspended from all ministries except absolution.

On November 21, 2016, in Misericordia et Misera 12, Pope Francis announced that he had "personally decided to extend this faculty beyond the Jubilee Year, until further provisions are made, lest anyone ever be deprived of the sacramental sign of reconciliation through the Church’s pardon."

Marriage impediments

The SSPX provides, for the faithful who request it, a review of marriage annulment decrees emanated from diocesan tribunals, since in its view many tribunals have been granting them without sufficient grounds to do so; in this manner, the faithful can acquire a greater degree of moral certitude when an annulment is doubtful. Critics have interpreted this service as a usurping of the authority to dispense from marriage impediments and to declare marriage annulments, which belongs to the ordinary jurisdiction of diocesan bishops, and which would be schismatic in kind. This has led some priests to leave the SSPX.

The Holy See lifts excommunication of bishops

Lefebvre died in 1991 as an excommunicated person. In their 2008 petition, the four surviving SSPX bishops "acknowledged the supreme authority of the Holy Father, and noted that 'the current situation causes us much suffering'." In 2009, the Congregation for Bishops remitted the excommunication of the four surviving SSPX bishops. "By definition, their request carried with it an acknowledgement of the Pope's authority over the Church here on earth." Benedict XVI explained that the SSPX has no canonical status in the Catholic Church for doctrinal reasons and that SSPX ministers "do not legitimately exercise any ministry in the Church."

Suspension a divinis

Although the 1988 excommunication of the four SSPX bishops was remitted in 2009, the SSPX bishops and priests were still unable to exercise any episcopal or priestly ministry in the Catholic Church.

According to canon 1383 of the Code of Canon Law, a suspension a divinis affects SSPX clergy who have been ordained to the priesthood illegitimately.