Breaking Down Leo XIV's SSPX Remarks
What the Pope said about Vatican II, the coming consecrations, and why the Council remains the sticking point.
With one brief, off the cuff comment the Pontiff has highlighted the central issue highlighted as a point of concern by the Society of St Pius X and many others – namely the centrality of the Second Vatican Council to the modern church.
For many decades analysts, clerics, journalists and everyday Catholics have been steadily pointing to Vatican II as a point of immense concern, of rupture with tradition or of immense confusion. Some have tried to marry Vatican II with the Church’s prior Tradition: others have defended it strongly saying it presents no issues: still more have argued that it contains immense confusion that must be clarified as a point of great necessity.
For the SSPX the issue of the “state of necessity” is not simply linked to the traditional Mass but is much more deeply connected to Vatican II. Declining the Holy See’s proposed dialogue in February, the Society’s Superior General wrote:
“We both know in advance that we cannot agree doctrinally, particularly regarding the fundamental orientations adopted since the Second Vatican Council. This disagreement, for the Society’s part, does not stem from a mere difference of opinion, but from a genuine case of conscience, arising from what has proven to be a rupture with the Tradition of the Church. This complex knot has unfortunately become even more inextricable with the doctrinal and pastoral developments of recent pontificates.
I therefore do not see how a joint process of dialogue could end in determining together what would constitute “the minimum requirements for full communion with the Catholic Church”, since—as you yourself have recalled with frankness—the texts of the Council cannot be corrected, nor can the legitimacy of the liturgical reform be challenged.
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday night, Pope Leo XIV confirmed that the SSPX’s stance regarding Vatican II is the chief cause of the Holy See’s stance against them. “I am considering making another appeal and saying ‘don’t do this, let’s try to live the communion of the Church.’ But it is their choice,” he said regarding the upcoming July 1 consecrations.
On the possibility of “schism” he replied: “We must realize what it means for them and for the Church. Certainly, the division among Christians is a painful point.”
Finally he referenced the chief matter at hand:
“However, they refuse to accept some fundamental elements of the Church, starting with several points of the Second Vatican Council. If they make that choice, I am sorry. But we must move forward.”
Such a statement succinctly points to an issue which many Catholics have expressed concerns about – namely the emphasis given by the Holy See to Vatican II seemingly at the expense of centuries of Tradition.
For a Council which was “pastoral” above all else, the Holy See’s stance makes little sense according to the SSPX. If Vatican II was indeed “pastoral” and not dogmatic then any new elements proposed in it not in line with Tradition need not be agreed with. If the Council was formally proposing a new teaching on many points, and if those points disagree with Tradition, then the Church is in an immense crisis.
