SSPX responds to Rome's excommunication threat: We are “in communion with the Church”
The Society of Saint Pius X addressed an open letter to Pope Leo XIV, declaring their Catholic Faith and their desire to be “sons” of the Pope.
(PerMariam) — The Society of Saint Pius X has responded to the Holy See’s warning of excommunication by publishing an open declaration of Catholic Faith, writing to Pope Leo and expressing their desire “to truly call ourselves Catholics and, consequently, your sons.”
For over fifty years the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) “has endeavoured to set before the Holy See a matter of conscience in the face of the errors that are destroying Catholic faith and morals,” according to the SSPX’s superior general Fr. Davide Pagliarani.
“Regrettably,” he added, “all the discussions entered into have remained without result, and none of the concerns expressed have received any truly satisfactory response.” {The full statement can be read online, or at the bottom of this article. For Per Mariam’s full coverage of the ongoing SSPX consecrations, see here.}
He lamented that in that same time period, “the only solution truly considered by the Holy See has appeared to be that of canonical sanctions. To our great regret, it seems to us that canon law is thus being used, not to confirm in the Faith, but to lead away from it.”
Pagliarani’s open letter to Pope Leo XIV – entitled “Declaration of Catholic Faith addressed to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV by Fr. Davide Pagliarani Superior General of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X” – comes by way of a response to the May 13 note from the Vatican, warning of excommunications should the SSPX proceed with the July 1 episcopal consecrations.
The document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued by prefect cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, made clear the Vatican’s opposition to the consecrations and the penalties it would levy.
According to the Vatican’s note, such consecrations – of the four new episcopal candidates – do “not have the corresponding papal mandate,” and would be deemed by the Holy See as an act of schism, incurring “the excommunication established by the law of the Church.”
The Society’s Declaration defends the traditional, Catholic teaching on a number of issues relating to the worship of God, the role of Mary in the redemption, the role of the Church in saving one’s soul, the primacy of the Roman Pontiff, and the liturgical and theological significance of the Mass.
It also defends the Church’s teaching on doctrine and morals, particularly those relating to the reception of Holy Communion and sins against the Sixth Commandment.
As has been previously highlighted, the dialogue between the SSPX and the Holy See broke down due to what the former described as a “shared recognition that we cannot find agreement on doctrine.”
Yet issuing the statement today, Fr. Pagliarani on behalf of the Society stated that the Society’s Declaration of Faith “seems to us to correspond to the minimum indispensable to be in communion with the Church, and to truly call ourselves Catholics and, consequently, your sons.”
As Bishop Athanasius Schneider has repeatedly observed, including just yesterday, the SSPX do not appear to have an intention to separate themselves from the Pontiff. Similarly, the the doctrinal crises and confusion with the Society highlights are concerns shared by many within the Church, though often less publicly or vociferously when contrasted with the SSPX.
Bp. Schneider, who previously served as the Holy See’s designated visitor to the Society, has also supported the argument that the Church is in a state of emergency – something which the SSPX cites when defending the planned episcopal consecrations.
Even just as recently as last week, following the publication of the latest Synod study group report featuring promotion of homosexuality, Schneider cited this scandal as “proof” of the Society of St Pius X’s “state of emergency.”
“The current situation of the Church can only be described as a true state of emergency, which the SSPX rightly states,” said Schneider. “One would have to be blind not to see it. Anyone in the Church who still denies the true state of emergency today is either spiritually blinded or considers the naked emperor to be decently dressed (as in Andersen’s fairytale, ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’).”
{That report has now been revealed to have been compiled largely under the influence of Father James Martin SJ, the notoriously pro-LGBT priest who enjoyed signal favor and prominence under Pope Francis. Such was the ensuing scandal over the Synod document that the General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops has now distanced itself from the text, saying: “these reports cannot be attributed to the General Secretariat” as “not even the Secretariat logo appears, but only that of the synodal process.”}
Schneider’s voice is stronger than many in the Church, but there is no basis for accusing him of lacking filial love and obedience to the Pope, nor of harming the integrity of the Catholic faith. It was already as an outspoken prelate that Pope Francis trusted him to conduct the Holy See’s visitation into the SSPX, and Schneider has been forthright enough to convey his doctrinal concerns about the Church to Popes Francis and Leo directly.
The full statement from the SSPX can be read below.
Declaration of Catholic Faith addressed to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV by Fr. Davide Pagliarani Superior General of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X
Most Holy Father,
For more than fifty years, the Society of Saint Pius X has endeavoured to set before the Holy See a matter of conscience in the face of the errors that are destroying Catholic faith and morals. Regrettably, all the discussions entered into have remained without result, and none of the concerns expressed have received any truly satisfactory response.
For more than fifty years, the only solution truly considered by the Holy See has appeared to be that of canonical sanctions. To our great regret, it seems to us that canon law is thus being used, not to confirm in the Faith, but to lead away from it.
In the text that follows, the Society of Saint Pius X is glad to express to You, filially and sincerely, its devotion to the Catholic Faith, concealing nothing, either from Your Holiness or from the Universal Church.
The Society places this simple Declaration of Faith in Your hands. It seems to us to correspond to the minimum indispensable to be in communion with the Church, and to truly call ourselves Catholics and, consequently, your sons.
We have no other desire than that of living and being confirmed in the Roman Catholic Faith.
“Thus, remaining firmly rooted and established in the true Catholic Faith, strive always to be worthy ministers of the divine Sacrifice and of the Church of God, which is the Body of Christ.
For, as the Apostle says: ‘all that is not of faith is sin’, (1) schismatic and outside the unity of the Church.” (2)
DECLARATION OF CATHOLIC FAITH
In the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, divine Wisdom, the Word Incarnate, Who willed one sole religion, Who rendered the Old Covenant definitively null and void, Who founded one sole Church, Who triumphed over Satan, Who conquered the world, Who remains with us until the end of time and Who shall come again to judge the living and the dead.
He, the perfect Image of the Father, the Son of God made man, was appointed the sole Redeemer and Saviour of the world through the Incarnation and the voluntary offering of the Sacrifice of the Cross. Our Lord satisfied divine justice by shedding His Most Precious Blood, and it is in that Blood that He established the New and Eternal Covenant, abolishing the Old. He is therefore the sole Mediator between God and men and the sole way to come to the Father. Only he who knows Him knows the Father.
By divine decree, the Most Holy Virgin Mary has been directly and intimately associated with the entire work of Redemption; to deny this association — in the terms received from Tradition — is therefore to alter the very notion of Redemption as willed by divine Providence.
There is only one Faith and one Church by which we may be saved. Outside the Roman Catholic Church, and without the profession of Faith that she has always taught, there is neither salvation nor remission of sins.
Consequently, every man must be a member of the Catholic Church in order to save his soul, and there is but one baptism as the means of being incorporated into her. This necessity concerns the whole of humanity without exception and embraces without distinction Christians, Jews, Muslims, pagans, and atheists.
The mandate received by the Apostles, to preach the Gospel to every man and to convert every man to the Catholic Faith, remains binding until the end of time and responds to the most absolute and most pressing necessity in the world. “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned.”3 Therefore, to renounce the fulfilment of this mandate constitutes the gravest of crimes against humanity.
The Roman Church alone possesses simultaneously the four marks that characterize the Church founded by Jesus Christ: Unity, Holiness, Catholicity, and Apostolicity.
Her unity flows essentially from the adherence of all her members to the one true Faith, faithfully preserved, taught, and handed down by the Catholic hierarchy throughout the centuries.
The denial of even a single truth of the Faith destroys faith itself and renders radically impossible all communion with the Catholic Church.
The only possible path to restoring unity among Christians of different confessions consists in the urgent and charitable appeal addressed to non-Catholics to profess the one true Faith within the one true Church.
The Catholic Church can in no way be regarded or treated on an equal footing with a false form of worship or a false church.
The Roman Pontiff, the Vicar of Christ, is the sole possessor of supreme authority over the whole Church. He alone directly confers on the other members of the Catholic hierarchy jurisdiction over souls.
“The Holy Ghost was not promised to the successors of Peter that they might make known, by His revelation, a new doctrine, but that, by His assistance, they might inviolably keep and faithfully expound the revelation transmitted by the Apostles, that is, the Deposit of the Faith.” (4)
To a unique Faith there corresponds a unique form of worship, the supreme, authentic, and perfect expression of that same Faith.
The Holy Mass is the perpetuation in time of the Sacrifice of the Cross, offered for many and renewed upon the altar. Although offered in an unbloody manner, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is essentially expiatory and propitiatory. No other form of worship offers perfect adoration. No other form of worship that is not ordered to it is pleasing to God. No other means is sufficient for the sanctification of souls.
Consequently, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass can in no way be reduced to a mere commemoration, to a spiritual meal, to a sacred assembly celebrated by the people, to the celebration of the Paschal mystery without sacrifice, without satisfaction of divine justice, without expiation of sins, without propitiation, and without the Cross.
The help afforded to souls by the Sacraments of the Catholic Church is sufficient in every circumstance and in every age to enable the faithful to live in a state of grace.
The moral law contained in the Decalogue and perfected in the Sermon on the Mount is the only one practicable for obtaining the salvation of souls. Every other moral code — founded, for example, on respect for creation or on the rights of the human person — is radically insufficient to sanctify and save souls. In no way can it replace the one true moral law.
Following the example of St. John the Baptist, true charity obliges us to warn sinners and never to renounce the means necessary to save their souls.
He who eats the Body of Our Lord and drinks His Blood whilst in a state of sin eats and drinks his own condemnation, and no authority can alter this law contained in the teaching of St. Paul and in Tradition.
Sins of impurity that are against nature are of such gravity that they always and in every circumstance cry to God for vengeance, and are radically incompatible with every form of authentic Christian love. Such a ‘lifestyle’ can therefore in no way be recognized as a gift from God. A couple practising this vice must be helped to free themselves from it, and can in no way be blessed — formally or informally — by ministers of the Church.
The submission of institutions and nations, as such, to the authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ flows directly from the Incarnation and the Redemption. Therefore, secularism of institutions and nations constitutes an implicit denial of the divinity and universal kingship of Our Lord.
Christendom is not a mere historical phenomenon, but the only order willed by God among men.
It is not for the Church to conform herself to the world, but for the world to be transformed by the Church.
It is in this Faith and in these principles that we ask to be instructed and confirmed by Him Who has received the charism to do so. With the help of Our Lord, we would rather die than renounce them. It is in this immutable Faith that we desire to live and die, in the hope that it may give way to the direct vision of the immutable eternal Truth.
Menzingen, 14 May 2026,
on the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord
Davide Pagliarani
Rom. 14:23
Roman Pontifical, Admonition to ordinands to the subdiaconate
Mark 16:16
Pastor Aeternus, ch. 4