Society of Saint Pius X discharges priests critical of reconciliation with Vatican

SSPX discharges priests critical of reconciliation

The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) has discharged seven parish priests who signed a letter challenging the reconciliation under way between the ultra-traditionalist group and the Vatican.

The seven, who include the head of the group’s main church in Paris, criticised a recent Vatican decision to ensure the validity of marriages in SSPX congregations and the consent that the group’s leadership gave it.

The Vatican initiative, outlined in a letter by Cardinal Gerhard Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, instructs bishops to appoint diocesan priests to preside over a separate marriage rite while an SSPX priest then celebrates the nuptial Mass. Only if no diocesan priest can be found would an SSPX priest be authorised to celebrate the marriage rite, it said. “Any other marriage celebrated by an SSPX priest without the explicit delegation of the ordinary would continue to be considered invalid,” said the protest letter, suggesting the Vatican would make further demands on the SSPX.

Fr Christian Bouchacourt, head of the French SSPX district, called the letter “subversive”. He immediately replaced Fr Patrick de La Rocque at Saint-Nicolas-du Chardonnet, the Paris church the SSPX occupied by force 40 years ago, and said the other replacements would be announced in August. Fr Guillaume de Tanoüarn, a former SSPX priest now in communion with Rome, said SSPX head Bishop Bernard Fellay wanted an accord because his 12-year mandate would end in 2018. “His policy of opening to Rome is a minority view,” he told AFP news agency. “It is not certain he will be re-elected. If a (personal) prelature is created, he will be prelate for life. It is a type of unspoken coup d’etat.”

On his flight back from Fátima last week, Pope Francis said relations with the SSPX were “fraternal” but some issues must still be examined before a full reconciliation. “I don’t like to rush things,” he said. Separately, an SSPX priest was sentenced to 16 years in prison for the sexual abuse of three female pupils at a school the group runs west of Paris.