The “Saint Pius X” group, a dissident from traditional Catholics, challenges the authority of Pope Leo
The community, which celebrates the traditional Latin Mass and rejects the modernizing reforms of the Catholic Church, is preparing for a huge and very organized celebration, lasting 4 days, and broadcast live on the Internet, to install the bishops at its theological institute in Switzerland, while offering a commemorative set of wine to the attendees.
This event, nearly four decades after the group became a thorn in the side of the Vatican, indicates that it is clinging more than ever to its dissident status before a new generation of Catholics who prefer their saints in Latin and do not mind having their bishops outside the Vatican.
Despite its anti-modernity and anti-totalitarian agenda, the group embraced technology and digital marketing for its religious identity, which gained it fame and spread.
“Their goal is not to return to the fold of the church, but to restore the monopoly of that strict traditional identity,” says Massimo Fagioli, a professor of theology at Villanova University, where Pope Leo XIV graduated.
A break with Rome
The Order of Saint Pius
The group broke away from the Vatican for the first time in 1988 when its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, ordained four bishops without the pope’s approval. The Vatican immediately excommunicated Lefebvre and the other four bishops, and the group remains to this day without legal status in the Church.
Parallel Church
Over the decades since that first schism, the community has continued to grow, and its schools, seminaries, and parishes have spread throughout the world, as well as branches of Catholic priests, nuns, and laity committed to the traditional Latin Mass.
This growth constitutes a threat to the Holy See, as the “Community of Saint Pius
Next week, their number will increase with the ordination of a number of new priests and four new bishops: Pascal Schreiber from Switzerland, Michael Goldade from the United States, Michel Poincinier de Sivry from France, and Marc Hanapier, who is also from France.
The Vatican warns
The Vatican pre-empted the event by warning that this ordination is “an act of schism and a grave insult to the Lord that requires automatic excommunication, or expulsion from the church community under the leadership of the Pope, for the four bishops and those who conduct the rituals.”
On the other hand, the head of the Community of St. Pius He based his opinion on what he called a “state of necessity” to save souls.
Heresies and deviations
The “Community of Saint Pius
After Pagliarani’s announcement of the ordination, the Vatican invited him for talks. But the same theological and practical problems that have prevented rapprochement for more than 40 years have left the two sides in an impasse.
The group’s website indicates months of preparation for thousands of people wanting to attend, and that registered participants can reserve accommodations at more than a dozen hotels and family homes in the vicinity, can request car-sharing options from more than 100 locations, and pay for daily lunches in advance via a festival wristband.
Then there is the wine which enables registered participants to “preserve the memory of this historic event” by purchasing a limited edition set of 4 bottles of wine. Each bottle bears a bishop-inspired label: an image of the bishop’s pointed hat, ring, cross or baton.
They can also purchase a gift box for $93 – a gift box containing Pinot Noir, Syrah, Petit Arvin and Vendane – available for pickup from the site. This level of organization suggests they “never thought about backing out” of the plans, Fagioli said.
challenge
These consecrations represent a direct challenge to the unity of the Church and the authority of Pope Leo, as the Pope’s approval of new bishops is a fundamental expression of his authority, and is a prerequisite for ensuring apostolic succession, that is, the line of bishops descending from the first apostles of Christ.
However, US Pope Leo
“But this is their choice. We have to realize what this means for them and for the church,” Liu told reporters, saying that the division of Christians is always painful for the church.
Concessions
From the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Leo has sought to calm relations with conservative Catholics, which had deteriorated under Pope Francis. While the Argentine pope made some concessions to the Order of St. Pius
These Catholic conservatives opposed Francis’ campaign, and were somewhat sympathetic to the arguments of the “Community of St. Pius X” about the “crisis” of the church today. But they did not join the group, and they are certain that this ordination is an illegal sign of disobedience.
Publicity of secrets
Joseph Shaw, president of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales, said the planned St. Pius
“There is a general principle that Catholics have the right to know the authenticity of their sacraments, and the Community of St. Pius X has the resources to do this well,” he added.
Luigi Casalini, of the Latin Mass blog, said the consecrations were “dangerously illegal” and that the St. Pius
But he also accused the Vatican of “double standards, as it threatens the bishops of the Community of St. Pius
Pope Leo refused to meet with Pagliarani, yet “the German Church does not show such strictness towards the doctrinal statements circulating within the German Church, which is already on the verge of a schism,” Casalini said.
In anticipation of such discussions, the Vatican officially rejected yesterday a German request to allow the laity to preach sermons at the Mass, confirming church rules that stipulate that only priests and deacons are entitled to do so.
