The SSPX’s bishop problem

On June 30, 1988, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, without Vatican authorisation, consecrated four priests to the episcopate: Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson and Alfonso de Galarreta. The consecrations were for Lefebvre’s Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a traditionalist Catholic priestly society he founded in 1970, known for its adherence to pre-Vatican II liturgy and teachings. By this time, the SSPX had become a well-established but rebellious faction within the Church, with the French bishops referring to the SSPX seminary in Écône, Switzerland, as the “séminaire sauvage”—the wildcat seminary.

Lefebvre had been in the habit of ordaining priests without the approval of the Holy See for some time. For this, he had already been suspended a divinis, meaning that he could no longer legally administer the sacraments. Keen to see the amusing side of the situation, the archbishop remarked that he had been forbidden from celebrating the New Rites of the sacraments, which he had no intention of doing anyway.

Prior to the episcopal consecrations, Lefebvre had been in regular dialogue with the Vatican, primarily through Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI. Lefebvre sought an arrangement to ensure the continuation of his society’s work after his death, and this necessitated the consecration of a bishop. Cardinal Ratzinger was sympathetic to Lefebvre’s cause and willing to regularise the society’s situation.

However, Lefebvre’s behaviour was erratic. In July 1987, he requested a meeting with Ratzinger to address “the problems regarding the relations” between the Holy See and the SSPX. Yet, a month later, he allegedly declared, “Being excommunicated by a Church that is not truly Catholic would not constitute a sin,” and claimed that Pope John Paul II had “no character”. By September of the same year, during a retreat for Society priests, Lefebvre stated: “We must hold on, absolutely hold on, against all odds…. Rome has lost the faith, my dear friends. Rome is in apostasy.”

Despite these remarks, on May 5, 1988, Lefebvre signed an agreement with Cardinal Ratzinger to regularize the Society of St. Pius X. The agreement stipulated that one bishop would be consecrated for the Society, with papal approval. For a moment, it seemed the situation was resolved.

Shortly afterwards, however, Lefebvre claimed he was asked to “beg pardon for my errors”. Believing himself to be in the right, he refused, fearing that such an admission would signify approval of Vatican II and its reforms. He said that such an agreement would place the Society under “the authority of Cardinal Ratzinger, President of the Roman Commission, and consequently into the hands of those who wish to draw us into the spirit of the Council and the spirit of Assisi. This was simply not possible.”

The consecrations went ahead without Vatican approval, and just two hours later, the Holy See excommunicated Lefebvre and the four bishops he had consecrated.

Thirty-six years later, the SSPX’s bishops have dwindled from five to two. Lefebvre died in 1991. In 2009, embarrassingly, at the same time that the Vatican remitted the automatic excommunications of the bishops, Richard Williamson made headlines by stating on Swedish television, “I believe that the historical evidence is strongly against, is hugely against six million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler.”

Williamson’s relationship with the society was already strained, and in 2012, he was expelled for his refusal “to show respect and obedience deserved by his legitimate superiors”.

In October of this year, Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais tragically died after falling down the stairs of the Écône Seminary.

This leaves the SSPX with only two bishops: Bernard Fellay, a Swiss, and Alfonso de Galarreta, an Argentine. Both are in their late 60s. The current Superior General, Italian Fr. Davide Pagliarani, is not a bishop.

The Society has grown considerably, from around 200 priests in 1988 to some 700 today, with almost 300 in training. Having just two bishops to oversee such a large number of priests is unusual. By comparison, the Archdiocese of Chicago, with a similar number of diocesan priests, has seven active bishops to serve its clergy.

These two Bishops are also called upon to confer the sacrament of confirmation on the some 600,000 SSPX faithful, and to ordain new priests and deacons for the society (34 in 2021). 

With a growing priestly population and aging bishops, the question naturally arises: when will the fractious fraternity consecrate new bishops?

Fr. Pagliarani is an outspoken critic of Pope Francis, and it is unlikely he has engaged in the diplomatic groundwork necessary to secure Vatican approval for new consecrations. He may have missed an opportunity, as Pope Francis has sought to build bridges with the Society, declaring SSPX confessions and marriages “valid and licit”. He seems intent on going ahead in the manner of Lefebvre having previously said , “the argument of necessity invoked by Archbishop Lefebvre to preserve doctrine and tradition will always remain the same.”

If Vatican approval is not forthcoming, the question becomes when and how many bishops the society will consecrate on its own. Without wishing ill upon the remaining two bishops, it seems likely that the death of one would force the SSPX’s hand. In such a scenario, they might turn to one of the many episcopal offspring of their former confrater, Richard Williamson. However, the humility required to request such assistance would be beyond most.

They could also ask Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who has declared, “His [Lefebvre’s] defense is mine; his words are mine; his arguments are mine.” However, since Viganò has openly embraced sedevacantism (the belief that the See of Rome is vacant), the SSPX has distanced itself from him as well.

In all likelihood, the coming years will see Consécrations d’Écône II administered either by Fellay or de Galarreta. While the fallout will no doubt cause sleepless nights for many high-ranking churchmen, nearly 40 years after the first illicit consecrations, one cannot help but feel they have not been the disaster for the Church that some feared. The SSPX has continued to ordain priests, the Holy See has maintained its authority, and many beautiful liturgies have been celebrated by both sides.

If the Church is, as Pope Saint John Paul II says, the “family of God”, then sometimes it resembles a family in all its complexities—united by love but also marked by disagreements, growing pains, and the challenge of reconciling diverse perspectives. The SSPX and their need for bishops is simply one of those complexities. 

(New priests prostrate themselves as they receive benediction from Bishop Bernard Fellay (Background 2-R) during an ordination Mass of the Society of St Pius X in Econe, western Switzerland on June 29, 2009 | FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

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