Who Excommunicated the Society of Saint Pius X?

Two years after his suspension a divinis, Archbishop Lefebvre wrote:

“We are suspended a divinis by the Conciliar Church and for the Conciliar Church, of which we do not wish to be a part. This Conciliar Church is a schismatic Church because it has broken with the Catholic Church of all time.¹”

Bishop Tissier de Mallerais himself is no less explicit:

“Formally considered, the Conciliar Church is a sect occupying the Catholic Church.²”

Father Calmel also, as early as 1971, denounced in Itinéraires this “false Church,” this “pseudo-Church”:

“The false Church that has appeared among us since the strange Council of Vatican II is moving farther and farther away, year by year, from the Church founded by Jesus Christ. The post-conciliar false Church stands in ever greater opposition to the holy Church that has been saving souls for twenty centuries (and, moreover, enlightening and sustaining society). The pseudo-Church now being constructed stands in ever greater opposition to the true Church, the one and only Church of Christ, through the most extraordinary innovations both in her hierarchical constitution and in her teaching and morals.³”

Now, those who excommunicated the Society of Saint Pius X after the episcopal consecrations of July 1 are none other than this Conciliar Church denounced by Archbishop Lefebvre. Having identified the authors of all these condemnations, let us now examine the purpose for which they were issued. Once again, we shall turn to Archbishop Lefebvre for guidance. Speaking of his refusal to obey Paul VI in 1976, he explained that he did not wish, after his death, to hear Our Lord say to him:

“You too have helped to destroy My Church.”

To destroy the Church: that is the goal. It is the old dream of Freemasonry. But Providence watches over the Church, and it raised up Archbishop Lefebvre and Bishop de Castro Mayer, through whom the gates of Hell have not prevailed. All these condemnations are obviously devoid of any value. They do not proceed from Eternal Rome. Moreover, they are contrary to all justice, to every principle of law, and to the good of the Church, since they were issued in order to destroy her. Even if the Society now lodges an appeal, this changes nothing in substance. These excommunications are null and void.

“It must needs be that scandals come; but woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh” (Mt. 18:7). May the present authorities realize what they are doing and do penance for all the crimes committed against the true Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ during and after Vatican II.

May the Society, in turn, recover the firmness of its founder, who declared that he did not belong to the Conciliar Church, which is schismatic because it has broken with the Catholic Church of all time.

† Thomas Aquinas O.S.B.

1 – Quoted by Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais in Le Sel de la Terre, no. 85, editorial: “Is There a Conciliar Church?”, p. 12.

2 – Ibid., p. 6.

3 – Ibid., p. 11.