Bishop forbids attendance at SSPX services

Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano, secretary of Pope Francis’ advisory council of cardinals, has told priests in his diocese that Catholics attending Masses by the Society of St Pius X (SSPX) or receiving sacraments from its priests would be automatically excommunicated because the society has no canonical status.

In a more conciliatory tone, an archbishop involved in negotiations with SSPX said the Vatican did not intend to “impose a capitulation” on it. Archbishop Guido Pozzo, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, told the French magazine Famille Chrétienne the Vatican could make the SSPX into a personal prelature with the right to continue to question elements of the Second Vatican Council.