Quotes & Sources

In itself, this act was one of disobedience to the Roman Pontiff in a very grave matter and of supreme importance for the unity of the church, such as is the ordination of bishops whereby the apostolic succession is sacramentally perpetuated. Hence such disobedience - which implies in practice the rejection of the Roman primacy - constitutes a schismatic act.

Context: Pope John Paul II's characterization of the 1988 episcopal consecrations performed by Archbishop Lefebvre. The Apostolic Letter also established the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei and called for pastoral provisions for Catholics attached to the traditional Latin liturgy.

To all those Catholic faithful who feel attached to some previous liturgical and disciplinary forms of the Latin tradition I wish to manifest my will to facilitate their ecclesial communion by means of the necessary measures to guarantee respect for their rightful aspirations.

Context: Announcing pastoral provisions for Catholics attached to the traditional Latin liturgy, issued alongside the declaration regarding Lefebvre's consecrations.

What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful.

Context: Letter to bishops accompanying Summorum Pontificum, which liberalized access to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite and implicitly addressed the pastoral concerns underlying SSPX attachment to the traditional Mass.

On the basis of the powers expressly granted to me by the Holy Father Benedict XVI, by virtue of the present Decree I remit the penalty of excommunication latae sententiae incurred by Bishops Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson and Alfonso de Galarreta, and declared by this Congregation on 1 July 1988.

Context: Official decree, signed by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, remitting the excommunications of the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre. Subsequent communications from the Holy See clarified that the canonical situation of the SSPX as a body remained irregular and that doctrinal questions remained unresolved.

As long as the Society does not have a canonical status in the Church, its ministers do not exercise legitimate ministries in the Church. There needs to be a distinction, then, between the disciplinary level, which deals with ecclesiastical institutions as such, and the sacramental level, at which God himself acts through the minister.

Context: Personal letter explaining the rationale for remitting the excommunications, clarifying that the remission did not resolve the canonical irregularity of the SSPX or grant it official standing.

For the pastoral benefit of these faithful, and trusting in the good will of their priests to strive with God's help for the recovery of full communion in the Catholic Church, I have 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.

Context: Extending indefinitely the faculty granted during the Jubilee Year of Mercy for SSPX priests to validly and licitly hear confessions. The faculty for confession became permanent as of November 2016.

With a letter of March 27, 2017, the Holy Father has decided to authorize local Ordinaries the possibility to grant faculties for the celebration of marriages where one of the spouses or both belong to the faithful who attend SSPX Masses.

Context: Official Vatican communication extending to diocesan bishops the authorization to grant faculties for marriages involving SSPX faithful, addressing a longstanding concern about the canonical regularity of such marriages.

The Society of Saint Pius X has no canonical standing in the Catholic Church, and the SSPX clergy do not possess the faculties necessary for the valid celebration of the Sacrament of Penance or for the assistance at marriages.

Context: Frequently cited paraphrase of a private letter of clarification issued by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei prior to the concessions later granted by Pope Francis. The letter has not been officially published; it is cited from secondary canonical sources.

The Holy See judged the SSPX response to the Doctrinal Preamble insufficient to overcome the doctrinal problems underlying the rupture, and invited clarification toward reconciliation.

Context: Summary of the Holy See Press Office communiqué after the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith evaluated Bishop Fellay's response to the Doctrinal Preamble. The full text of the Preamble itself was not made public.

This is why, in order to come to your assistance and to meet your expectations, we are proceeding with this episcopal consecration today, in spite of the Roman authorities' prohibition. We think that the command of Our Lord Jesus Christ to transmit the Catholic Faith and the Catholic priesthood to subsequent generations, this supreme law of the Church, prevails.

Context: SSPX source. Sermon by Archbishop Lefebvre at the June 30, 1988 episcopal consecrations, explaining his rationale for proceeding despite Vatican prohibition. The sermon is widely reproduced in SSPX publications; the text here is cited from those secondary sources. The consecrations resulted in declarations of excommunication.

The Society of Saint Pius X has constantly affirmed its attachment to Rome and to the successor of Peter, while rejecting the errors that threaten the faith. We do not seek a merely practical arrangement, but a doctrinal clarification that would permit a true canonical regularization.

Context: SSPX source. Summary of Bishop Fellay's stated position during the 2011–2012 doctrinal exchange with the Holy See. The Preamble itself was not publicly released; this paraphrase is drawn from public statements and SSPX correspondence. The Holy See subsequently deemed the SSPX response insufficient for regularization to proceed.

Both the Bishop who, without a pontifical mandate, consecrates a person a Bishop, and the one who receives the consecration from him, incur a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.

Context: The canon under which Archbishop Lefebvre and the four bishops he consecrated on June 30, 1988 incurred excommunication. It was numbered Canon 1382 in the 1983 Code as originally promulgated; following Pope Francis's 2021 revision of Book VI (Pascite Gregem Dei), it is numbered Canon 1387. The 1988 excommunications were remitted by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.

In factual or legal common error and in positive and probable doubt of law or of fact, the Church supplies executive power of governance for both the external and internal forum.

Context: The principle of supplied jurisdiction (supplet Ecclesia). Some theologians have cited this canon in arguments that the Church supplies jurisdiction to SSPX ministers in certain circumstances; others dispute that the canon applies to the SSPX's situation.

No one is liable to a penalty who, when violating a law or precept: ... acted under the compulsion of grave fear, even if only relative, or by reason of necessity or grave inconvenience, unless, however, the act is intrinsically evil or tends to be harmful to souls.

Context: The canon on grave necessity as an exemption from penalty. The SSPX has cited this and related canons to argue that its ministry is justified by a state of necessity in the Church. Critics, including the Holy See, have argued that the conditions for invoking necessity were not met.

The order of bishops, which succeeds to the college of apostles and gives this apostolic body continued existence, is also the subject of supreme and full power over the universal Church, provided we understand this body together with its head the Roman Pontiff and never without this head. This power can be exercised only with the consent of the Roman Pontiff.

Context: Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, defining the relationship between the episcopal college and the Pope. Relevant to debates about the authority of individual bishops and the legitimacy of the 1988 SSPX consecrations.

A bishop who, contrary to the prescript of can. 1015, ordains without legitimate dimissorial letters someone who is not his subject is prohibited for a year from conferring the order. The person who has received the ordination, however, is ipso facto suspended from the order received.

Context: Relevant to the 1976 Écône ordinations that preceded Lefebvre's suspension and the later escalation toward the 1988 consecrations.

Both clergy and faithful, of whatever rite and dignity, both singly and collectively, are bound to submit to this power by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, and this not only in matters concerning faith and morals, but also in those which regard the discipline and government of the church throughout the world.

Context: Defines the scope of papal primacy in governance and discipline, directly relevant to claims that obedience is optional when disciplinary acts are disputed.

No one can lawfully confer episcopal consecration unless he has received the mandate of the Apostolic See.

Context: Pius XII's teaching on episcopal consecrations without papal mandate, cited in debates over the 1988 Écône consecrations.

Bishops who have been neither named nor confirmed by the Apostolic See, but who, on the contrary, have been elected and consecrated in defiance of its express orders, enjoy no powers of teaching or of jurisdiction since jurisdiction passes to bishops only through the Roman Pontiff.

Context: Relevant to SSPX claims about extraordinary or supplied jurisdiction for bishops consecrated outside normal canonical structures.

We refuse, on the other hand, and have always refused to follow the Rome of neo-Modernist and neo-Protestant tendencies which were clearly evident in the Second Vatican Council and, after the Council, in all the reforms which issued from it.

Context: A foundational SSPX text setting out Lefebvre's distinction between 'Eternal Rome' and post-conciliar Rome.

I, Marcel Lefebvre, Archbishop-Bishop Emeritus of Tulle, as well as the members of the Society of St. Pius X founded by me: Promise always to be faithful to the Catholic Church and the Roman Pontiff, its Supreme Pastor, Vicar of Christ, Successor of Blessed Peter in his primacy as head of the body of bishops.

Context: The May 5, 1988 protocol initialed by Lefebvre and Cardinal Ratzinger, withdrawn by Lefebvre the next day.

I exhort you, Reverend Brother, not to embark upon a course which, if persisted in, cannot but appear as a schismatic act.

Context: Warning sent before the June 30, 1988 consecrations, after Lefebvre announced his intention to proceed without papal mandate.

If you should carry out your intention as stated above, you yourself and also the bishops ordained by you shall incur ipso facto excommunication latae sententiae reserved to the Apostolic See in accordance with canon 1382.

Context: Formal warning before the 1988 consecrations.

Monsignor Marcel Lefebvre, Archbishop-Bishop Emeritus of Tulle, notwithstanding the formal canonical warning of 17 June last and the repeated appeals to desist from his intention, has performed a schismatical act by the episcopal consecration of four priests, without pontifical mandate and contrary to the will of the Supreme Pontiff.

Context: Formal declaration issued the day after the Écône consecrations.

We have never wished to belong to this system which calls itself the Conciliar Church, and defines itself with the Novus Ordo Missæ, an ecumenism which leads to indifferentism and the laicization of all society.

Context: SSPX response after the declaration of excommunication; often cited regarding the Society's view of post-conciliar ecclesial structures.

The power possessed by the Hierarchy does not come from the people, and it would be heresy to say it did: it comes solely from God.

Context: Relevant to arguments that faithful requesting sacraments can generate jurisdiction for SSPX clergy.

The jurisdictional authority of the bishop does not come from a Roman nomination, but from the necessity of the salvation of souls.

Context: SSPX source used in disputes over whether necessity or lay requests can supply jurisdiction.

It is inasmuch as you do not refuse to receive from your priests the ministry which they have the right to exercise for your good, that is to say for the good of the Church, that the jurisdiction that you in a certain way give them will be able to be fruitfully exercised.

Context: SSPX explanation of supplied jurisdiction, contrasted with papal teaching that jurisdiction comes through hierarchical authority rather than lay delegation.

It follows from this that the Sovereign Pontiff alone enjoys the right to recognize and establish any practice touching the worship of God, to introduce and approve new rites, as also to modify those he judges to require modification.

Context: Relevant to claims that the Roman Pontiff lacked authority to promulgate the revised Roman Missal.

This faculty was above all motivated by the desire to foster the healing of the schism with the movement of Mons. Lefebvre.

Context: Francis's explanation of the pastoral motive behind earlier permissions for use of the 1962 Missal.

Thus, a cleric lawfully functions as a priest if he either has ordinary mission (sent by Church authority) or an extraordinary mission (sent by Christ directly) proven by miracles.

Context: True or False Pope's framework for evaluating SSPX claims that crisis or necessity justifies ministry without ordinary canonical mission.

If they [the priests of the SSPX] have no faculties, all the priestly work they perform every day is illegitimate and therefore evil.

Context: Quoted by True or False Pope from Fr. Angles's SSPX treatment of faculties, used to frame the stakes of the canonical-mission dispute.

Supplied jurisdiction does not “supply” canonical mission.

Context: True or False Pope's response to arguments that Canon 144 or related principles authorize SSPX ministry broadly.

The conferral of canonical mission is a juridical act, performed by competent ecclesiastical authority.

Context: Relevant to claims that Archbishop Lefebvre's claimed mandate or lay requests can substitute for canonical mission.

For my part, I should not believe the gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church.

Context: Quoted in SSPX: Indefensible on Church authority.

Wherefore we teach and declare that, by divine ordinance, the Roman church possesses a pre-eminence of ordinary power over every other church… So, then, if anyone says that the Roman pontiff has merely an office of supervision and guidance, and not the full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the whole church, and this not only in matters of faith and morals, but also in those which concern the discipline and government of the church dispersed throughout the whole world; or that he has only the principal part, but not the absolute fullness, of this supreme power; or that this power of his is not ordinary and immediate both over all and each of the churches and over all and each of the pastors and faithful: let him be anathema.

Context: Article quotes Vatican I on papal jurisdiction and discipline.

Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

Context: Article quotes Unam Sanctam on subjection to the Roman Pontiff.

During the night between May 5 and May 6, I said to myself: "All this is impossible. I cannot accept Ratzinger's answer, which avoids fixing the date of the ordination." Then I thought that I should write a letter to the Pope and to Ratzinger: if they would not grant me the ordination on June 30, I would do it anyway. On the morning of May 6, I wrote the letter and I sent it to them.

Context: Quoted regarding Lefebvre’s decision after the May 5, 1988 protocol.

If there is no agreement with Rome, we shall just have to continue our work.

Context: Quoted regarding Lefebvre’s intention before the 1988 consecrations.

For the love of Christ and His Church, the Holy Father asks you with paternal firmness to leave today for Rome without proceeding to the episcopal consecrations on June 30 which you have announced.

Context: Article quotes Cardinal Ratzinger’s final request before the June 30, 1988 consecrations.

We find ourselves in a case of necessity… This is why we are convinced that, by the act of these consecrations today, we are obeying... the call of God.

Context: Article quotes Lefebvre’s consecration homily on necessity.

The permanent will to annihilate Tradition is a suicidal will, which justifies, by its very existence, true and faithful Catholics when they make the decisions necessary for the survival of the Church and the salvation of souls.

Context: Article quotes Lefebvre’s stated justification after the 1988 consecrations.

A fortiori, a single bishop without a canonical mission does not have in actu expedito ad agendum, the faculty of deciding in general what the rule of faith is or of determining what tradition is. In practice you are claiming that you alone are the judge of what tradition embraces. You say that you are subject to the Church and faithful to tradition by the sole fact that you obey certain norms of the past that were decreed by the predecessor of him to whom God has today conferred the powers given to Peter. That is to say, on this point also, the concept of "tradition" that you invoke is distorted. Tradition is not a rigid and dead notion, a fact of a certain static sort which at a given moment of history blocks the life of this active organism which is the Church, that is, the mystical body of Christ. It is up to the pope and to councils to exercise judgment in order to discern in the traditions of the Church that which cannot be renounced without infidelity to the Lord and to the Holy Spirit—the deposit of faith… Hence tradition is inseparable from the living magisterium of the Church, just as it is inseparable from sacred scripture.

Context: Article quotes Paul VI correcting Lefebvre’s concept of tradition.

No bishop is permitted to consecrate anyone a bishop unless it is first evident that there is a pontifical mandate.

Context: Article cites canon 1013 regarding episcopal consecrations.

The writings of the ancients testify that the election of Patriarchs had never been considered definite and valid without the agreement and confirmation of the Roman Pontiff. … Everyone knows that the eternal and at times the temporal happiness of people depends on the proper election of bishops; the circumstances of time and place must be considered referring all the authority for selecting the bishops to the Apostolic See. … He instructed him "by the Apostolic authority given to Us by the Lord through the most holy Peter, prince of the Apostles," to appoint bishops, … But We considered that We should not keep silence on Our right to elect a bishop. … But even if We had remained silent, this right and duty of the See of blessed Peter would have remained unimpaired. For the rights and privileges given to the See by Christ Himself, while they may be attacked, cannot be destroyed; no man has the power to renounce a divine right which he might at some time be compelled to exercise by the will of God Himself.

Context: Article quotes Pius IX on the Apostolic See’s right concerning bishops.

To communicate somehow the power of jurisdiction in the Church contrary to the will of the Pope contradicts a principle of divine right and is therefore a theological impossibility. No exceptional situation, no extraordinary circumstance could ever legitimize, much less make possible, the communication of the power of jurisdiction against the Pope's will.

Context: Article quotes Fr. Gleize on jurisdiction against the pope’s will.

Through episcopal consecration itself, bishops receive with the function of sanctifying also the functions of teaching and governing; by their nature, however, these can only be exercised in hierarchical communion with the head and members of the college.

Context: Article cites canon 375 on episcopal functions and hierarchical communion.

For the right of ordaining bishops belongs only to the Apostolic See, as the Council of Trent declares; it cannot be assumed by any bishop or metropolitan without obliging Us to declare schismatic both those who ordain and those who are ordained, thus invalidating their future actions.

Context: Article quotes Pius VI on ordaining bishops without Apostolic See authority.

…those who of their own rashness assume them to themselves [the ordination of bishops], are not ministers of the church, but are to be looked upon as thieves and robbers, who have not entered by the door.

Context: Article quotes Trent on those assuming episcopal ordinations to themselves.

The perpetrator of a violation is not exempt from a penalty, but the penalty established by law or precept must be tempered or a penance employed in its place if the delict was committed… by a person who was coerced by grave fear, even if only relatively grave, or due to necessity or grave inconvenience if the delict is intrinsically evil or tends to the harm of souls.

Context: Article cites canon 1324 in discussing SSPX arguments from necessity.

…doubt cannot reasonably be cast upon the validity of the excommunication of the Bishops declared in the Motu Proprio and the Decree. In particular it does not seem that one may be able to find, as far as the imputability of the penalty is concerned, any exempting or lessening circumstances. (cf CIC, can. 1323) As far as the state of necessity in which Mons. Lefebvre thought to find himself, one must keep before one that such a state must be verified objectively, and there is never a necessity to ordain Bishops contrary to the will of the Roman Pontiff, Head of the College of Bishops. This would, in fact, imply the possibility of "serving" the church by means of an attempt against its unity in an area connected with the very foundations of this unity.

Context: Article quotes PCILT on the 1988 excommunications and alleged necessity.

Schism is the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.

Context: Article cites canon 751 defining schism.

He is schismatic who refuses to act as part of the Church. It does not matter what the reasons are: as soon as one refuses to act as part of the one Catholic Church, one falls into schism. However varied the reasons and passions may be that impel Christians to withdraw from communion, to want to sanctify and be sanctified, to instruct and be instructed, to lead and be led . . . , not as parts of the Catholic Church, but as if they were themselves separate "wholes," they are schismatics.

Context: Article quotes Cajetan on schism.

Those who are divided in faith or government cannot be living in the unity of such a Body, nor can they be living the life of its one Divine Spirit.

Context: Article quotes Mystici Corporis Christi regarding unity of faith and government.

Formal adherence to the schism is a grave offense against God and carries the penalty of excommunication decreed by the Church's law.

Context: Article quotes Ecclesia Dei on formal adherence to schism.

One of internal nature, consisting in a free and informed agreement with the substance of the schism, in other words, in the choice made in such a way of the followers of Archbishop Lefebvre which puts such an option above obedience to the Pope (at the root of this attitude there will usually be positions contrary to the magisterium of the Church).

Context: Article quotes PCILT on internal criteria for adherence to schism.

The other of an external character, consisting in the externalizing of this option, the most manifest sign of which will be the exclusive participation in Lefebvrian "ecclesial" acts, without taking part in the acts of the Catholic Church.

Context: Article quotes PCILT on external criteria for adherence to schism.

Pope John Paul II primarily wanted to assist the Society of Saint Pius X to recover full unity with the successor of Peter, and sought to heal a wound experienced ever more painfully. Unfortunately, this reconciliation has not yet come about.

Context: Article quotes Benedict XVI on the purpose of Ecclesia Dei.

The remission of the excommunication has the same aim as that of the punishment: namely, to invite the four bishops once more to return [to full communion with the Church].

Context: Article quotes Benedict XVI on the aim of remitting excommunications.

For the pastoral benefit of these faithful, and trusting in the good will of their priests to strive with God's help for the recovery of full communion in the Catholic Church.

Context: Article quotes Francis on extending confession faculties.

Any uneasiness of conscience on the part of the faithful who adhere to the Society of St. Pius X as well as any uncertainty regarding the validity of the sacrament of marriage.

Context: Article quotes the 2017 letter on SSPX marriages.

There is no canonical explanation for [this delegation of faculties], and it is simply an anomaly.

Context: Article quotes Cardinal Burke on delegated faculties.

Despite the various arguments surrounding the question, the fact of the matter is that the Priestly Society of St. Pius X is in schism since the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre ordained four bishops without the mandate of the Roman Pontiff. And so it is not legitimate to attend Mass or to receive the sacraments in a church that's under the direction of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X.

Context: Article quotes Cardinal Burke on the SSPX and attending its sacraments.

Every cleric must be incardinated either in a particular church or personal prelature, or in an institute of consecrated life or society endowed with this faculty, in such a way that unattached or transient clerics are not allowed at all.

Context: Article cites canon 265 on incardination.

All power is given to me in heaven and on earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.

Context: Article quotes the Great Commission in discussing mission.

If any one saith … that those who have neither been rightly ordained, nor sent, by ecclesiastical and canonical power, but come from elsewhere, are lawful ministers of the word and of the sacraments; let him be anathema.

Context: Article quotes Trent on ministers being sent by canonical power.

For in virtue of the juridical mission by which our Divine Redeemer sent His Apostles into the world, as He had been sent by the Father, it is He who through the Church baptizes, teaches, rules, looses, binds, offers sacrifices.

Context: Article quotes Pius XII on juridical mission.

Those who teach disciplines concerning faith or morals must receive, after making their profession of faith, a canonical mission from the Chancellor or his delegate, for they do not teach on their own authority but by virtue of the mission they have received from the Church.

Context: Article quotes Veritatis gaudium on canonical mission.

It can and should certainly be answered reasonably that when that inner mission is hidden, it does not suffice for anyone to assert so boldly that he is sent by God, since any heretic may profess this: but it is necessary that he proves that invisible mission by the working of miracles or by special testimony of the Scriptures… Therefore, he who says that he is sent by God should not be believed, since he has not been sent by man, unless he personally offers special testimony from Scripture, or he shows an obvious miracle.

Context: Article quotes Innocent III on extraordinary mission.

No credit is to be publicly given to him who says he has invisibly received a mission from God unless he confirms it by a miracle or a special testimony of Holy Scripture.

Context: Article quotes Benedict XIV on invisible mission.

Where will you ever show me a legitimate extraordinary vocation which has not been received by the ordinary authority?... I saw, thirdly, that the authority of the extraordinary mission never destroys the ordinary, and is never given to overthrow it.

Context: Article quotes St. Francis de Sales on extraordinary vocation.

Contrary to the known intentions, the known will of those successors of the Apostles, the Princes of the Church.

Context: Article quotes an SSPX admission about acting contrary to successors of the Apostles.

This introduction shows, first, that legitimate dispensation of the sacraments can only come from the Catholic Church, so that anyone who does not have a mission from her, by that very fact administers illicitly, and anyone who by receiving the sacrament communicates with the sin of the minister receives sacrilegiously. ... But the sacraments are the property of Christ. Hence they can be legitimately dispensed only by those who have a mission from Christ, i.e. those to whom the apostolic mission has been transmitted.

Context: Article quotes Cardinal Billot on sacramental ministry and mission.

Q. 1004. Can bishops, priests and other ministers of the Church always exercise the power they have received in Holy Orders? A. Bishops, priests and other ministers of the Church cannot exercise the power they have received in Holy Orders unless authorized and sent to do so by their lawful superiors. The power can never be taken from them, but the right to use it may be withdrawn for causes laid down in the laws of the Church or for reasons that seem good to those in authority over them. Any use of sacred power without authority is sinful, and all who take part in such ceremonies are guilty of sin.

Context: Article quotes Baltimore Catechism on authorization to exercise orders.

Tell me, what business had you to hear them and believe them without having any assurance of their commission and of the approval of Our Lord, whose legates they called themselves? In a word, you have no justification for quitting that ancient Church in which you were baptized, on the faith of preachers who had no legitimate mission from the Master.

Context: Article quotes St. Francis de Sales on following preachers without mission.

We, then, both priests and people, have a right to know whence our pastors have received their power. If they claim our obedience without having been sent by the bishop of Rome, we must refuse to receive them for they are not acknowledged by Christ as His ministers. They must be aliens to us, for they have not been sent, they are not pastors.

Context: Article quotes Dom Guéranger on pastors sent by the bishop of Rome.

The legislator authentically interprets laws as does the one to whom the same legislator has entrusted the power of authentically interpreting.

Context: Article cites canon 16 in discussing interpretation of ecclesiastical law.

Even though a priest lacks the faculty to hear confessions, he absolves validly and licitly any penitents whatsoever in danger of death from any censures and sins, even if an approved priest is present.

Context: Article cites canon 976 on danger of death.

A person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass.

Context: Article cites canon 1248 on Sunday obligation.

The Mass must be celebrated in a Catholic rite, i.e., in the liturgical rite of any Catholic church sui iuris, but not in a church which is not in full communion with the Catholic Church, although using a Catholic liturgical rite.

Context: Article quotes the New Commentary on canon 1248.

A community of the Christian faithful, which is joined together by a hierarchy according to the norm of law and which is expressly or tacitly recognized as sui iuris by the supreme authority of the Church.

Context: Article quotes CCEO canon 27 defining church sui iuris.

A celebration of Holy Mass should be done in communion with the Church and with the Pope, and with the bishop of the place. The celebration of the Mass should be done by a priest who is in union with the Church. ... Now, the priests of the SSPX are not in union with the Church because of their adherence to the schism of Abp. Lefebvre who provoked the schism by his ordination of some bishops contrary to the will of the Pope…

Context: Article quotes Msgr. Perl on SSPX Masses.

Must abstain from receiving Holy Communion. It is a sin to depart from the discipline of the Church regarding the Sunday obligation.

Context: Article quotes Msgr. Perl on Communion and Sunday obligation at SSPX Masses.

Question: May we lean upon canon 844 to justify participation in the sacraments in the chapels and houses of the Society St. Pius X [since there is no Indult Mass in my vicinity]? Response: No. The canon referred to speaks of 'the physical and moral impossibility to have recourse to a Catholic minister' and not of the absence of a Mass in one rite rather than in another.

Context: Article quotes PCED dubium on canon 844 and SSPX chapels.

Question: Could [one] attend a Mass celebrated by an SSPX priest or a priest from a community close to this Society and receive Holy Communion on a Sunday? Response: No. Holy Mass must be offered in communion with the Church, the Pope and the local Bishop.

Context: Article quotes PCED dubium on attending SSPX Mass and receiving Communion.

Question: Strictly considering the aforementioned canon [1248§1], would a Catholic be able to fulfill his Mass obligation by assisting at Holy Mass at this 'Friends of the Society of St. Pius X' chapel, called…Roman Catholic Church in…? Response: Negative. Question: Upon the condition that the answer to the first question is in the negative, does a Catholic sin by assisting at Holy Mass at the aforementioned chapel? Response: Negative, unless the Catholic substitutes it for his Sunday obligation.

Context: Article quotes PCED dubium on Sunday obligation at an SSPX-related chapel.

While it is true that participation in the Mass at chapels of the Society of St. Pius X does not of itself constitute "formal adherence to the schism" (cf. Ecclesia Dei 5, c), such adherence can come about over a period of time as one slowly imbibes a schismatic mentality which separates itself from the teaching of the Supreme Pontiff and the entire Catholic Church. While we hope and pray for a reconciliation with the Society of St. Pius X, the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" cannot recommend that members of the faithful frequent their chapels for the reasons which we have outlined above.

Context: Article quotes PCED on frequenting SSPX chapels.

The problems (with the SSPX) now to be addressed are essentially doctrinal in nature and concern primarily the acceptance of the Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar Magisterium of the Popes.

Context: Article quotes Benedict XVI on doctrinal questions involving the SSPX.

No compromise is possible on the level of the Catholic Faith, in particular as it was correctly formulated by the Second Vatican Council. Vatican II is not in contradiction with the whole of the Church's tradition; strictly speaking it is opposed to certain erroneous interpretations of the Catholic Faith. We cannot negotiate the Catholic Faith; no compromise is possible.

Context: Article quotes Cardinal Müller on Vatican II and Catholic faith.

With an affectation of submission and respect, [they] proceed to twist the words of the Pontiff to their own sense.

Context: Article quotes Pius X while discussing interpretations of Vatican II.

Whenever it becomes necessary to expose statements that disguise some suspected error or danger under the veil of ambiguity, one must denounce the perverse meaning under which the error opposed to Catholic truth is camouflaged.

Context: Article quotes Pius VI on ambiguous statements.

It is not we who are in schism but the Conciliar Church… we are talking about a counterfeit version of the Church, and not the Catholic Church… It is no longer the Catholic Church.

Context: Article gathers Lefebvre statements about the “Conciliar Church.”

[T]hey have put us out of an official Church which is not the real Church…

Context: Article gathers Lefebvre statements about the “Conciliar Church.”

Obviously, we are against the Conciliar Church which is virtually schismatic, even if they deny it. In practice, it is a Church virtually excommunicated because it is a Modernist Church. ... That is no longer the Catholic Church…

Context: Article gathers Lefebvre statements about the “Conciliar Church.”

This Council represents, in our view and in the view of the Roman authorities, a new Church which they call the Conciliar Church.

Context: Article gathers Lefebvre statements about the “Conciliar Church.”

A Church which no longer brings forth good fruits, a Church which is sterile, is not the Catholic Church.

Context: Article gathers Lefebvre statements about the “Conciliar Church.”

But the Church against her past and her Tradition is not the Catholic Church.

Context: Article gathers Lefebvre statements about the “Conciliar Church.”

…salvation is in the Catholic Church and not in the Conciliar Church that becomes more and more schismatic.

Context: Article gathers Lefebvre statements about the “Conciliar Church.”

It is a matter of the radical incompatibility between the Catholic Church and the conciliar church, the mass of Paul VI representing the symbol and the program of the conciliar church.

Context: Article gathers Lefebvre statements about the “Conciliar Church.”

The See of Peter and the posts of authority in Rome [are] being occupied by anti-Christs.

Context: Article gathers Lefebvre statements about the “Conciliar Church.”

How could it be clearer?! From now on it is the conciliar church one must obey and be faithful to, and not to the Catholic Church. This is precisely our problem. We are suspended a divinis by the conciliar church, of which we do not want to be a part. This conciliar church is a schismatic church, because it breaks with the Catholic Church of all time. It has its new dogmas, its new priesthood, its new institutions, its new liturgy, already condemned by the Church in many official and definitive documents… Rome has lost the Faith, my dear friends. Rome is in apostasy. These are not words in the air. It is the truth. Rome is in apostasy. They have left the Church. This is sure, sure, sure. It is a schismatic council. The Church which affirms such errors is both schismatic and heretical. This Conciliar Church is therefore not Catholic. To whatever extent pope, bishops, priests or faithful adhere to this new Church, they separate themselves from the Catholic Church. The Novus Ordo Mass is a bastard rite. The Novus Ordo sacraments are bastard sacraments. The Novus Ordo priests emerging from the Novus Ordo seminaries are bastard priests. … It is a Church that I do not recognize. I belong to the Catholic Church… I am not of that religion, I do not accept that new religion. It is a liberal, modernist religion. We are not of this new religion! We do not accept this new religion! We are of the religion of all time; we are of the Catholic religion… It is, therefore, a strict duty for every priest wanting to remain Catholic to separate himself from this Conciliar Church for as long as it does not rediscover the Tradition of the Church and of the Catholic Faith.

Context: Article quotes Lefebvre’s Spiritual Journey at length on the Conciliar Church.

We [the SSPX] truly represent the Catholic Church such as it was before, because we are continuing what it always did. It is we who have the notes of the visible Church: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. That is what makes the visible Church.

Context: Article quotes Lefebvre on the SSPX and marks of the visible Church.

The official church is the visible church; it is the Catholic Church, period.

Context: Article quotes Bishop Fellay on the visible Church.

Now, even if one wanted to contest the heretical elements of the New Mass, the sole refusal to profess Catholic dogmas quintessential to the Mass renders the new liturgy deficient. It is like a captain who refuses to provide his shipmen with a proper diet. They soon become sick with scurvy due, not so much to direct poison, as from vitamin deficiency. Such is the new Mass. At best, it provides a deficient spiritual diet to the faithful. The correct definition of evil—lack of a due good—clearly shows that the New Mass is evil in and of itself regardless of the circumstances.

Context: Article quotes an SSPX article on the New Mass.

In so far as by the generality of the words it includes and submits to a prescribed examination even the discipline established and approved by the Church, as if the Church which is ruled by the Spirit of God could have established discipline which is not only useless and burdensome for Christian liberty to endure, but which is even dangerous and harmful and leading to superstition and materialism, – false, rash, scandalous, dangerous, offensive to pious ears, injurious to the Church and to the Spirit of God by whom it is guided, at least erroneous.

Context: Article quotes Auctorem fidei on Church discipline.

If anyone says that the ceremonies, vestments, and outward signs, which the Catholic Church uses in the celebration of Masses, are incentives to impiety rather than the services of piety: let him be anathema.

Context: Article quotes Trent on the ceremonies of Mass.

Are not priests who lose the faith in the same case? There are already priests who no longer wish to confect the sacrament of the Eucharist according to the Council of Trent's definition. "No", they say, "The Council of Trent was a long time ago. Since then we have had Vatican II. Now its's trans-signification, or trans-finalisation. Transubstantiation? The Real Presence of the Son of God under the appearances of bread and wine? Not in these days!" When a priest talks like this, he makes no valid consecration. There is no Mass or Communion.

Context: Article quotes Lefebvre on sacramental intention and validity.

The Novus Ordo Missae will no longer in and of itself guarantee that the celebrant has the intention, that will depend on his personal faith, generally unknown to those assisting that more and more doubtful if the crisis in the church is prolonged. Therefore those masses can be of doubtful validity and more so with time.

Context: Article quotes Most Asked Questions about the Society of Saint Pius X.

All these sacraments are made up of three elements: namely, things as the matter, words as the form, and the person of the minister who confers the sacrament with the intention of doing what the Church does. If any of these is lacking, the sacrament is not effected.

Context: Article quotes Council of Florence on sacramental intention.

The Council of Trent does not mention the purpose of the sacrament or say that the minister ought to intend to do what the Church intends but what the Church does. Moreover, what the Church does refers to the action, not the purpose. There is required the intention with regard to the action, not in so far as it is a natural action, but in so far as it is a sacred action or ceremony, which Christ instituted or Christians practice. If one intends to perform the ceremony which the Church performs, that is enough.

Context: Article quotes Bellarmine on sacramental intention.

The Church could not be considered a perfect, visible supernatural society (and it is of Divine faith that the Church possesses these characteristics) if the possibility existed of it offering its members invalid Sacraments.

Context: Article quotes Michael Davies on the Church and sacramental validity.

For it hath been signified unto me, my brethren… that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith: I indeed am of Paul; and I am of Apollo; and I am of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul then crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

Context: Article quotes St. Paul in the conclusion.

The synthesis of all heresies.

Context: Article quotes Pius X’s characterization of modernism.