In a highly significant move aimed at overcoming the more than 55-year division between the Priestly Society of St. Pius X and the Holy See, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, proposed “a specifically theological dialogue path, with a very precise methodology” to the SSPX to discuss “issues that have not yet been sufficiently clarified” between them.

Cardinal Fernández offered this possibility on condition that the society, which has some 600,000 members, 700 priests and seminarians and two bishops, “suspends” its recent decision to ordain new bishops, with or without the pope’s approval, on July 1.

The SSPX announced its decision to ordain new bishops after its superior general failed to get an audience with Pope Leo last August and, more recently, expressed dissatisfaction with a response from the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to a follow-up letter from the society’s superior general.

Cardinal Fernández offered this proposal to the Rev. Davide Pagliarani, the superior general of  the SSPX, when they met, with Pope Leo’s approval, at the offices of the dicastery on Feb. 12. 

The dicastery stated this in a communique after what it described as “a cordial and sincere encounter.” Father Pagliarani and Cardinal Fernández were both in Argentina while the former served as rector of the Our Lady Co-Redemptrix SSPX seminary of La Reja, outside Buenos Aires, for six years starting from 2012. 

The D.D.F. statement said Cardinal Fernández reaffirmed the Holy See’s position that “the ordination of Bishops without the mandate of the Holy Father, who holds supreme ordinary power, which is full, universal, immediate and direct (cf. CDC, can. 331; Dogmatic Constitution “Pastor Aeternus,” chapters I and III), would imply a decisive rupture of ecclesial communion (schism) with grave consequences for the Fraternity as a whole.” Pope John Paul II also stated this clearly in July 1988 at the time of the first illicit ordinations by the SSPX.

“The Superior General of the SSPX will present the proposal to his Council and give his response to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith,” according to the Vatican communique. It did not indicate a time limit for such a response, though it is clear that this has to happen before the scheduled SSPX episcopal ordinations on July 1.

“In the event of a positive response, the steps, stages, and procedures to be followed will be mutually agreed upon,” the D.D.F. statement, issued soon after the meeting, said.

It revealed that during the meeting “some points presented by the SSPX in several letters, sent by the Society, particularly in the years 2017-2019” were clarified. It listed among these “the question of divine will regarding the plurality of religions was discussed.” 

Though the D.D.F. statement does not say so, this would appear to refer to the affirmation in the Document on Human Fraternity signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, in Abu Dhabi, in Feb. 2019 that the plurality of religions has been willed as such by Divine Wisdom. Fr. Pagliarani raised this specific issue in a Feb. 5 interview.

The D.D.F. communique revealed that “the prefect”—Cardinal Fernández—“proposed a specifically theological dialogue path, with a very precise methodology, regarding issues that have not yet been sufficiently clarified, such as: the difference between the act of faith “religious submission of the mind and will” and “the different degrees of adherence required by the different texts of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and its interpretation.” 

The latter is a key element in the discussion because since 1970, when the SSPX was founded by the French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the society has always had problems accepting the full teachings of the Second Vatican Council not only on liturgy, but also on ecumenism, religious liberty, inter-religious dialogue and aspects of the council’s ecclesiology.

At the same time, the Vatican statement said, the cardinal also “proposed to address a series of issues listed by the SSPX in a letter of 17 January 2019.” It did not identify those.

Most importantly, the D.D.F. statement explained that “this path” of theological dialogue “would have the aim of highlighting, in the topics discussed, the minimum necessary for full communion with the Catholic Church and consequently to outline a canonical statute of the Society, together with other aspects to be further explored.” The society currently does not have such a statute, but has sought to be a personal prelature.

Over the past 55 or more years, the Holy See made various efforts—first under Paul VI, then John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis and now under Leo XIV—to overcome the currently irregular situation of the SSPX, but the society has consistently held firm on its positions dissenting from the teachings of Vatican II on the issues mentioned above. Whether this new effort under Pope Leo will lead to a change in its position remains to be seen. 

Today’s statement from the D.D.F. concluded by asking “he entire Church to accompany this journey, especially in the coming times, with prayer to the Holy Spirit, who is the principal architect of the true ecclesial communion desired by Christ.”