The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX; , FSSPX) is a traditionalist Catholic organization founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Considered schismatic by the Catholic Church, the society comprises priests and seminarians and is associated with a worldwide network of chapels, schools, religious communities, and lay supporters. It is known for its opposition to several reforms associated with the Second Vatican Council. Adherents to the SSPX are called Lefebvrists, Lefebvrians, or Lefebvrites, terms SSPX rejects.
The Holy See formally declared the SSPX and its adherents to be in schism and excommunicated them in 1988 and in 2026, each time following illicit consecrations of bishops by the SSPX. The SSPX considers itself never to have been excommunicated nor to be or have been in schism.
Named after Pope Pius X for his anti-modernist stance, the society retains the Tridentine Mass and pre-Vatican II liturgical books in Latin. It has more than 700 priests among 1,482 total members. Estimates of the number of laypeople who attend SSPX Masses vary significantly.
History
Like Traditionalist Catholicism in general, SSPX was born out of an attachment to many elements that they sought to preserve despite the changes in the Catholic Church that followed the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). The founder and central figure of the society was the French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who had served the Catholic Church as Apostolic Delegate for French-speaking Africa, Archbishop of Dakar, and Superior General of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, a missionary order of priests.
Foundation of the Society In September 1970, shortly after his retirement as Superior General of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Lefebvre was approached by eleven members of the Pontifical French Seminary in Rome, who asked him to help them find a seminary with a more traditional formation. They sought Lefebvre's advice on a conservative seminary where they could complete their studies. He directed them to the University of Fribourg, in Switzerland.
In late 1970, Lefebvre was urged by the abbot of Hauterive Abbey and the Dominican theologian Marie-Dominique Philippe to teach the seminarians personally but he felt he was too old to undertake such a large project, and told them he would visit François Charrière, Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg, with a request to set up a religious society. He told them that if he agreed to go through with it, he would see in it a sign of Divine Providence. Charrière granted Lefebvre's request. With a document predated six days to 1 November 1970, he established the Pius Union under the official title of the Apostles of Jesus and Mary. It was also given the civil title, the Society of Saint Pius X.. It was a (Latin, for "pius union"/"holy union") on a ("provisional"/"experimental") basis for six years. The Society of Saint Pius X was formally founded, adhered to all canonical norms, and received the episcopal blessing and encouragement of the local ordinary. Some Swiss laymen offered the International Seminary of Saint Pius X at Écône to the newly formed group, and in 1971 the first 24 candidates entered, followed by a further 32 in October 1972.
1974: canonical visitation of the seminary, Lefebvre's declaration On 11 November 1974, two apostolic visitors from the Holy See came to the Seminary of St. Pius X in Écône. The SPPX claims that the seminarians and staff at Écône were shocked by some alleged "scandalous opinions" expressed by the two priests, such as "the ordination of married men will soon be a normal thing, truth changes with the times, and the traditional conception of the Resurrection of our Lord is open to discussion". In response to this, in November 1974, Lefebvre wrote a declaration denouncing what he considered liberal trends "clearly evident" in the council and in the subsequent reforms.
Canonical suppression of the SSPX and its aftermath On 24 January 1975, Bishop Pierre Mamie, Charrière's successor as bishop of Fribourg, petitioned the Sacred Congregation for Religious in Rome to suppress SSPX's status as a , even before the end of its six-year experimental period. The reason given was the November 1974 declaration of Lefebvre. The congregation's prefect, Cardinal Arturo Tabera, replied on 25 April 1975, stating that Mamie had the authority to withdraw his predecessor's approval and that the congregation agreed SSPX should be suppressed immediately. In the same period, Lefebvre was summoned to the Vatican, meeting with the cardinals on 13 February and 3 March.
On 6 May 1975, with the cardinals' approval, Bishop Mamie formally withdrew SSPX's pious union status. On the same day, a commission of cardinals that had interviewed Lefebvre in January issued a separate letter, approved by Pope Paul VI, detailing the conditions of the suppression.
SSPX continued to operate in spite its canonical suppression.
In the consistory of 24 May 1976, Pope Paul VI rebuked Archbishop Lefebvre by name, and appealed to him and his followers to change their minds.
On 1 July 1976, the Press Office of the Holy See declared that following canon 2373 of the then-Code of Canon Law, Lefebvre was automatically suspended for one year from conferring ordination and that those whom he had ordained were automatically suspended from exercising the order received. It was also announced that the Holy See was examining Lefebvre's disobedience to the Pope's orders.
On 11 July 1976, Lefebvre signed a certificate of receipt of a letter from Cardinal Sebastiano Baggio, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, intimating that further penalties would be imposed per canon 2331 §1 of the then Code of Canon Law concerning obstinate disobedience to legitimate precepts or prohibitions of the Roman Pontiff. He was enjoined, within ten days of receipt of the letter, to take steps "to repair the scandal caused." In a letter of 17 July to Pope Paul VI, Lefebvre declared that he judged his action of 29 June to be legitimate. The Pope considered this response inadequate, and on his instructions, the Congregation for Bishops, on 22 July 1976, suspended Lefebvre for an indefinite time from all exercise of holy orders: he could not confer any of the Sacraments, save Reconciliation or Baptism in an emergency (suspension a divinis).
Écône consecrations of 1988
A central controversy surrounding SSPX concerns the consecration by Archbishop Lefebvre and Brazilian bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer of four SSPX priests as bishops in 1988, in violation of the orders of Pope John Paul II.
By 1987, Archbishop Lefebvre was 81. If he had died at that point, SSPX could have had their members ordained to the priesthood only at the hands of non-SSPX bishops, regarded by Lefebvre as unreliable and unorthodox. In June 1987, Lefebvre announced his intention to consecrate a successor to the episcopacy. He implied that he intended to do this with or without the approval of the Holy See. In the Catholic Church, a bishop requires the mandate of the Pope if he is to consecrate a bishop, and an unauthorized consecration automatically incurs excommunication.
Earlier, Pope Pius XII, in his encyclical , had described the sacramental activity of bishops who had been consecrated without papal approval as "gravely illicit, that is, criminal and sacrilegious".
On 5 May 1988, a skeleton agreement between Lefebvre and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (and future Pope Benedict XVI) was signed.
On Pope John Paul II's instructions, Cardinal Ratzinger replied to Lefebvre on 27 May, insisting on the observance of the 5 May agreement and adding that, if Lefebvre carried out unauthorized consecrations on 30 June, the promised authorization for the ordination to the episcopacy would be withdrawn.
On 2 June, Lefebvre wrote to Pope John Paul II that he intended to proceed with his consecrations. On 9 June, the Pope replied with a personal letter, appealing to him to abandon a design that "would be seen as nothing other than a schismatic act, the theological and canonical consequences of which are known to you".
On 30 June 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre proceeded to ordain to the episcopate four priests of SSPX. Antônio de Castro Mayer, the retired Bishop of Campos in Brazil, assisted in the ceremony. Those consecrated as Bishops were: Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Alfonso de Galarreta, and Richard Williamson.
The following day, the Congregation for Bishops issued a decree declaring that Archbishop Lefebvre and the four newly ordained bishops had incurred the automatic canonical penalty of excommunication reserved to the Holy See. On the following day, 2 July, Pope John Paul II issued an apostolic letter known as in which he condemned the Archbishop's action. The Pope stated that, since schism is defined in the 1983 Code of Canon Law as "withdrawal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or from communion with the members of the Church subject to him" (canon 751), the consecration "constitute[d] a schismatic act", and that, by virtue of canon 1382 of the Code, it entailed ipso facto excommunication for all the bishops involved.
Some members of SSPX disassociated themselves from the society as a result of Lefebvre's actions and, with the approval of the Holy See, formed a separate society called the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter.
Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer resigned as Bishop of Campos on 20 August 1981; he later participated in the 1988 Écône consecrations, declaring "my presence here at this ceremony is a matter of conscience: It is the duty of a profession of the Catholic Faith before the entire Church." After his retirement, Bishop Mayer founded the Priestly Union of Saint John Mary Vianney (SSJV). Under the leadership of his successor, Bishop Licínio Rangel, the SSJV was reconstituted in January 2002 by Pope John Paul II as the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney, with the same territory as the Diocese of Campos.
Discussions with the Holy See (1988–2017)
Archbishop Lefebvre died in 1991.
At the express request of the 4 bishops consecrated in 1988, in 2009 the Holy See remitted the excommunications of the SSPX's bishops that it had declared at the time of the 1988 consecrations, and expressed the hope that all members of the society would follow this up by speedily returning to full communion with the church.
Discussions since then have been complex, stemming from the society's insistence that the teachings of the Second Vatican Council on ecumenism, religious liberty, and collegiality are inconsistent with Catholic teaching and doctrine, a claim that the Holy See views as unacceptable, but recent discussions have indicated the possibility of an understanding. In an interview on 4 March 2017 with DICI, the official news organ of the society, Bishop Bernard Fellay stated:
Whether it is a question of religious liberty, collegiality, ecumenism, the new Mass, or even the new rites of the sacraments [...] And now all of a sudden, on these points that have been stumbling blocks, the emissaries from Rome tell us that they are open questions.
In the same month of March 2017, Archbishop Guido Pozzo, the prelate in charge of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, the Roman Curia's organ for traditionalist societies, stated that the Holy See and the society were close to an agreement regularizing the society's status. In a letter of the same month, it was announced that Pope Francis authorized diocesan bishops to grant to SSPX priests faculties to officiate at a marriage valid in the Catholic Church in cases where no priest in good standing could do so.