As most of you know, the traditionalist Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated four bishops for his religious congregation titled the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X (FSSPX) in 1988. This was against the will of the Vatican. The Archbishop claims he did this in order to preserve the old rite of the seven Roman sacraments. Subsequently, Pope John Paul II immediately declared Lefebvre and his bishops to be automatically (latae sententiae) excommunicated for doing that without his permission.>However, there is very strong evidence from JPII’s own 1983 Code of Canon law that there were no valid excommunications, considering Lefebvre acted in a manner not ex dolo (out of malice.) But even if you don’t agree with that, know that Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications in 2009, be them putative or real. (Please see that link as it explains my view of the SSPX back in 2022. My view hasn’t changed, but it’s important to see how their congregation functioned with Rome before the recent conflict began.)>Since then, the FSSPX (now shortened in American circles to SSPX) has grown extensively to include over a hundred thousand laity and over 700 priests worldwide offering the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM.) Not even educated liberal Catholic outlets can doubt they are Catholics with valid sacraments. However, they do exist in a canonical limbo. Since 1988, they have sought to obtain canonical regularization from Rome, alternating between resignation and resistance, depending on who was at the control-wheel in the Society.

Originally published in Padre Peregrino. Read original article