Explaining the Vatican’s SSPX Decrees

[00:00:00] Foreign. [00:00:12] To make this quick video, I think it's going to be quick explaining the decrees that came down from the Vatican today regarding the penalties, as well as the penalties to XSPX affiliated people for the consecrations yesterday and continuing to remain affiliated with the sspx. Plus what the Vatican says is the path to reconciliation, which people who are members or attend the sspx, how they can leave the SSPX in a proper fashion. [00:00:45] Now, before I do this, I just want to explain a couple things. First of all, this video is not to rehash arguments about whether or not the excommunications were valid or not, whether or not the SSPX should have done this or not. I have made at least three or four podcasts on that. I wrote an article that came out today. [00:01:02] You can easily find what my opinions are on that. I don't want to rehash that. I just want to explain what this means because a lot of people are asking questions like, does this mean I can't attend SSPX Mass? What are the. What's the status of their confessions? What if I attend but I don't really adhere to the schism? What does that mean? There's a lot of questions that do arise from these decrees. I also want to note. I'm simply going to explain the Vatican's perspective, so to speak. What the Vatican is saying. Whether or not I think these decrees are just is irrelevant for at least for our discussions right here. I'm just going to explain what they say. So don't. I mean, you know, if you want to, you can, but don't put in the comments, oh, this doesn't actually apply and this is not valid. This is done. Whatever. I'm just simply saying what the Vatican says and what they mean by it. Because some of this language does get a little bit difficult to understand. [00:01:53] And so I want to make sure it's very clear. Okay, so first let's just talk about the decree on the excommunications. [00:02:00] To be honest, they didn't do very much different than what happened after the 1988 consecrations. In fact, they refer to it multiple times. [00:02:09] And so they classify different group. They have the decree and then they have an explanatory note. [00:02:16] And what they're basically doing is they're classifying different groups of people. The bishops involved, the priests of the society, and any of the lay faithful who attend the society or adhere to the society. That's kind of how they break it down. And what is, what are the consequences for each of them. [00:02:33] For the bishops, it's pretty obvious. [00:02:36] It states they are in schism and must therefore be considered schismatic. I'm sorry, I'm reading the wrong one. I'm reading for priests, it basically says they're excommunicated. And this applies to the four priests who were consecrated bishops yesterday, plus the two society bishops who consecrated them, who had actually been excommunicated when they were consecrated in 1988. Their excommunications were lifted in 2007. I think it was by Pope Benedict. Well, now they're excommunicated again. [00:03:06] So what this means is the six bishops, society bishops, are excommunicated. The Vatican has made this very clear. And are in a state of schism. [00:03:15] Okay, that doesn't apply. I. I'm willing to bet none of those six men are watching this. [00:03:21] If you are, that's your status. If you. If you weren't sure, now you know from Eric Sammons. But let's talk about what's more interesting, which is the priest and the laity. So for the priests. So these are the priests of the society. [00:03:37] The Vatican statement, it states that they are in schism and must therefore be considered schismatics, which seems kind of weird. If they're in schism, of course they're schismatics and are subject to the excommunication prescribed by law. [00:03:51] Now it does. This was not a decree of their excommunication. [00:03:56] It was more stating the fact that this has simply been incurred on them automatically because they are part of the society. And so it's like they're subject to the excommunication prescribed by law. And they. They quote canon 1364, section 1. [00:04:13] So what this means is essentially, in the view of the Vatican, any society priest who still, like, you know, has gone along so far with everything that happened yesterday and still a society priest not wanting to leave. And I'll talk about what that means in a minute. If they want to leave, they are in schism. They are schismatics, and they are under. [00:04:37] They are subject to the excommunicate. To excommunication. So that's a fancy way of saying that the Vatican considers them excommunicated. [00:04:45] So that's the priest. [00:04:47] Now, I doubt very many society. I know some society priests have watched my podcast in the past. [00:04:53] So if you're watching this one again, you're considered schismatic and excommunicated by the Vatican. [00:04:59] Okay, and by the way, just real quick step back. When I say the Vatican, this has all been by Cardinal Fernandez who, you know, longtime listeners, this show know, I am not a fan of. In fact, I think he's the greatest scandal of Pope Leo's pontificate is keeping him in office. [00:05:14] And again, I'm not talking about the. The justice of this or anything like that. He is though, the prefect of the Diascorie of the Congregation for the Faith. So that is the person who's supposed to do these things. Whether or not we like the person is somewhat irrelevant for a discussion today. [00:05:32] It is the person who's supposed to do this. So, okay, so the bishops are excommunicated. [00:05:37] I mean, he actually announced they're excommunicated. The priests of the society are basically also excommunicated. Now, what about the laity? This is what matters. I know there are a number of the laity who attend the Society, watch this podcast. I've had them on my podcast before. [00:05:53] And so what does this mean for them? And some people just, they attend the Society, a society chapel every once in a while. What does it mean for them? I know a number of people like this where maybe they're traveling and they're. The only TLM nearby is a society chapel. So they'll pop in there sometimes it's just more convenient. Maybe they have a TLM they parish, they attend normally, but sometimes it's just more convenient to go to society chapel. So they go there every once in a while. What does it mean for people like that as well as the people who attend the society completely? They live in St. Mary's Kansas and. Or Missouri. No, Yeah, I can't remember now. It's Kansas. Right. Okay. Anyway, the point being they are full time attendees of a society chapel. They receive all their sacraments there. They, they exclusively go to society people like that as well. [00:06:42] So what he did was what the decree does is it talks about those who formally adhere and formally here is the. Is the key term here. [00:06:54] Those who formally adhere to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X are to be considered schismatics and excommunicated. By the way, this obviously shows that all the priests are schismatic and excommunicated. Because if he's saying here that a lay faithful who formally adheres to the society is schismatic and excommunicated. Obviously all priests would be, because you wouldn't be a priest if you didn't formally adhere to it. I mean, I think it'd be very difficult, in other words. [00:07:21] But now here's the key point though. [00:07:24] He references a 1996 Vatican document about this. What does it mean to formally adhere. So I just decided to go to a society mass one morning. Do I formally adhere? Does that mean I'm excommunicated for doing that? [00:07:36] Maybe I go and I don't receive communion, or maybe I go often, but not all the time. It's not my parish, but, you know, it's not where I receive all my sacraments. But I do go maybe a couple times a month, or maybe I go all the time, but I didn't really like what they did yesterday. I mean, there's lots of different types of people in this. And so it references 1996 document that talks about two conditions. So what are those two conditions? Let me pull it up here. [00:08:03] The first is it says such adherence must imply two complementary elements, meaning both of these really have to apply in order for formal adherence to be true, and therefore being a schismatic and excommunicated. The first is one of an internal nature consisting in freely and consciously sharing the substance of the schism, that is in opting in such a way for the followers of Lefebvre that. That this option is placed above obedience to the Pope. At the root of this attitude, there will usually be positions contrary to the magisterium of the Church. Okay, well, setting aside that last part, it's saying basically, did you. Do you support the actions of the society in consecrating bishops? [00:08:46] Do you. Do you basically share the arguments? Do you agree with the arguments of society for why they should have done it and why they should have disobeyed the Pope? [00:08:56] Are you basically just all in and you're like, yes, I completely. I think it was right. I think it was just. I think it was good. [00:09:03] That would mean that you would qualify in the internal nature. [00:09:08] The second condition is of an external nature consisting in the externalization of that option, the most evident sign of which will be the exclusive participation in the Lefevrian Ecclesial Acts without taking part in the Acts of the Catholic Church. [00:09:25] This is, however, a non uvicol sign, since there is the possibility that some faithful may take part in liturgical functions and Lafayette's followers without sharing their schismatic spirit. So what it's saying is, okay, do you just exclusively, exclusively attend a society chapel? You won't go to Novus Ordo Mass. You won't even attend maybe a fraternity parish or anything like that. You just will only go to society functions and, and, and liturgies and sacraments. If that's the case, then, yeah, that would apply to you. So if those two things apply Then essentially you are a schismatic and excommunicated, according to the Vatican. Now I'm going to break down for a little bit more what that means when I talk about people wanting to leave the society. A layperson wants to lead the society, but for now they. That's essentially what it's saying. Because, and I do think, by the way, I understand there's some confusion there and that's why I'm going to break it down a little bit more in a minute. [00:10:22] Okay. So because the reality is, and like, I'll explain this more, is it. It's a case by case basis, essentially. Okay. Another thing I think that was not noted by a lot of people. I didn't even notice it the first time I read the explanatory note. And the decree on excommunication is that it also states, it says finally, all the faithful. So this is literally every Catholic. All the faithful are urged to remain steadfast in communion with the Roman Pontiff. Okay. [00:10:55] With the bishops in communion with him. Okay. And with the whole church. Fine. [00:11:01] And to refrain from taking part in celebrations and activities promoted by the aforementioned priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X. [00:11:10] In other words, what the Vatican is saying is we urge everybody not to attend society masses or sacraments or anything. Just don't go. [00:11:18] Now, it's important to note it does not attach a penalty to this. It does not say if you do attend one, you're automatically excommunicated or you're automatically in schism. It does not say that. It's simply saying, hey, don't do it. Just don't go. And I think you could just argue from their perspective. They're saying like, if you start going, then you're probably going to end up having the schismatic spirit over time. So it's best just not to go. And by going, you're supporting, even in a minor way perhaps this, the schismatic spirit, the schism of the Society of St. Pius X. I think that's essentially what they're saying is so just don't go. That, that is, they're urging people. But again, they're not saying if you attend a society Mass, therefore you are excommunicated. That is not what they're saying. [00:12:01] They're just simply saying, we don't want you to go. We don't think you should go. [00:12:06] Okay. [00:12:07] I wish they would say that about, by the way. Okay, I have to bring in one of my opinions here. I wish they would say that about like attending maybe non Catholic Christian services, like Protestant services or services of Islam or Judaism or something like that. But they don't say that. Okay. Anyway, let's move on. Now. What about attending? I'm sorry, what about leaving? [00:12:32] If you decide your society person and you want to no longer attend, you want to, as they would say, return to Catholic Communion, as the Vatican say. Now I want to be clear about something here, and that is actually, never mind. I'll talk about that in a minute. Okay, so I won't be clear about right now then. [00:12:54] So obviously it does not talk about the bishops. I think the bishops would obviously have to appeal directly to the Pope and do a bunch of stuff. So it first mentions priests. What do priests need to do? Who society Priests who want to return to Catholic Communion. Oh, I know what I wanted to say. Actually, I'd forgotten before. Now I remember. [00:13:14] I got confused. [00:13:16] I personally don't think there's gonna be a huge outflow of people to, from the society. Now I've talked to people who know more than I do and they think there might be. I've heard, I've heard both ways. I've heard people say yes, a lot of people leave. I heard people say no, I don't think they will. We'll see. I personally don't think there will be a lot. But let's, let's just. But if anybody does here, they, The Vatican gave procedures for what you do. [00:13:39] Basically, it's a six step process. [00:13:42] A six step process for a priest who wants to leave the society. [00:13:49] Step one is find an ordinary willing to receive him. What do I mean by ordinary? That is a bishop, like a diocesan bishop or a religious superior of, like for example, The Fraternity of St. Peter, something like that. You have to find somebody who wants, who will take you as a bishop. I mean, I'm sorry, as a priest. If you can't find anybody, you're out of luck. As a pre. You can't be a priest, you can't practice as a priest. If that's the case, and this is true, by the way, for any priest who decides to leave his order, his society, his fraternity, whatever, he has to find somebody who's willing to take him. This is the tragedy of a lot of canceled priests is they get canceled by their bishops and they, they put a black mark on them so nobody else will accept them. But. So that's the first step. Now let's say you find an ordinary who's willing to accept you. [00:14:35] The second thing is you have to declare that you accept the Second Vatican Council and the legitimacy of The Novus Ordo, meaning the new Mass. [00:14:44] I personally don't like that language of accept the second backing Council. What does that mean? [00:14:51] Do you accept it as valid? Do you have to rubber stamp and say I agree with the wording and how everything is said, every word of every decounsul document? Does that mean you have to accept a lot of the things that came out of the Vatican Council but weren't part of the Vatican Council? [00:15:06] I don't like that language, but that's what it says accept the Vatican Council. And the legitimacy of the no sort which you make clear is you have to say the Novus Ordo is valid. [00:15:15] I don't think you have to say every single Novus Ordo ever celebrated is valid. There might be problems, problems with some where they didn't it wasn't valid. But essentially you have to say it's a valid right of the Church. That's the second step. Third step is you make a profession of faith and, and you a formula of adherence by which you promise fidelity to the Pope and commit yourself not to attack him or him or his magisterium publicly. Now this is interesting because they actually printed up a sample of the profession of faith and the formula of adherence which I have here. The profession of faith is relatively just a Nicene Creed. [00:15:50] It looks like a few other things. [00:15:53] It says the last one is furthermore, with religious obedience of will and intellect, I adhere to the doctrines proclaimed by either the Roman Pontiff or the College of Bishops when they exercise their authentic magisterium, even if they do not intend to proclaim the definitively at the moment. This is actually language that comes from Lumen Gentium which I'm going to talk about in a minute. The profession of faith is kind of cookie cutter. The formula of adherence though is a little bit more specific, specific directly towards I think the Society because I think okay again the Vatican's perspective here, if they accept a society person, they have specific worries, concerns. For example, if a priest were to accept a Muslim convert, he would make sure explicitly that that person no longer accepts Muhammad as a true prophet. He wouldn't necessarily ask that about a Protestant. You don't ask a Protestant convert, hey, what do you think about Muhammad? Doesn't apply. But you would ask a Muslim convert. [00:16:54] So likewise these, this formula of adherence gear towards things that the Society has challenged, rejected whatever you want to say. [00:17:04] And it talks about never making a public declaration that would be contrary to his person or his magisterium which that you know, I've made I think, I think the normal person would say, I have made such statements. [00:17:19] I mean, it's hard. What do you mean by contrary to his person or his magisterium? I have said that Pope Francis has taught things, said things that were inaccurate, incorrect, like when he's talked about economics or something like that. Would that apply? I think they're trying to say, like, basically, don't talk against the Pope ever again publicly. [00:17:37] It also says, I accept the doctrine set forth in number 25 of the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium of the Second Vatican Council, and I adhere to it. And chapter 25, paragraph 25 of Lumen Gentium, that's the one where basically it talks about that. I mean, it's kind of long. I'm not going to read all. [00:17:57] But here, here's like, kind of the most important part. It says, when either the Roman Pontiff or the body of bishops together with him, define a judgment, they pronounce it in accordance with revelation itself, which all are obliged to abide by and be conformity with. That is a revelation which has written or orally handed down is transmitted in its entirety through the legitimate succession of bishops, especially in care of the Roman Pontiff himself. [00:18:25] Actually, this is not the part I wanted. I wanted to really mention. [00:18:29] Let me find it here. [00:18:31] Oh, here we go. [00:18:33] It says. [00:18:40] Okay, actually, you know, I'm not finding the part that. [00:18:45] Oh, here we go. I'm sorry. It's at the beginning of the paragraph. Some reason. I thought it was at the end of 25. It's actually in the beginning. [00:18:53] It says, bishops teaching and communion with the Ron Moon Pontiff are to be respected by all as witnesses to divine and catholic truth in faith and morals. [00:19:01] In matters of faith and morals, the bishops speak in the name of Christ and the faithful and are to accept their teaching and adhere to it with a religious assent. [00:19:09] This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex catharta, I. E. Not infallibly, that is, must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence. The judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to according to his manifest mind and will. His mind and will in the matter may be known either from the character of the documents, from his frequent reception, repetition of the same doctrine, or from his manner of speaking. [00:19:38] This has been a very controversial part of Vatican II that's been much debated. What exactly does it mean to give religious submission of mind and will to his Authentic magisterium. When does this apply, when doesn't it apply, things like that. But they're basically saying that you accept it. [00:19:53] A society priest would have to accept this to become, to leave the society and become a priest somewhere else. [00:20:01] And it also says, I undertake the obligation to follow a positive approach in interpreting doctrine of the guidance of the magisterium so that no one may separate it from the rest of the Church's sacred doctrinal heritage. I mean, that's very nebulous. What does that mean, a positive approach? I think it would mean, like you're not criticizing when the Pope says something, or the bishops, the Vatican releases some document that might be seem contrary to tradition. [00:20:23] It also says, I accept the validity the sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments celebrated with the intention of doing what the Church does in accordance with the rights of that follow Vatican ii. [00:20:33] And you have to abide by the code of can law. So that's the profession of faith and the formula of adherence. Basically, they're trying to say, okay, you gotta, you gotta, you got to get on board, you got to get on the team. You can't be railing on the Pope. You can't really be railing on Vatican ii. [00:20:50] You can't, you can't. You know, you got to be a good, A good soldier is kind of what it's saying. I'm not trying to say it in a demeaning way. I do think there's a lot of room for interpretation. Here is the problem. [00:21:01] Okay, what else? That was the third thing. Forest. He must accept the teaching in number 25, Lumen Gentium. That actually was part of the formula of adherence. [00:21:10] He has to declare the celebration of Mass is valid. That was also part of it, and adhere to the norms of canon law. Okay, so these things were actually in the formula of adherence. So essentially find an ordinary willing to receive you if you're a priest, accept the Vatican Council and illegitimacy Novus Ordo, make a profession of faith, and the formula of adherence, which includes adherence to 25, number 25 of Lumen Gentium. And you can't say the Mass isn't valid, and you have to abide by modern canon law. So that's what a priest has to do. Now. Okay, now let's get to the laity because this is gets a lot more. It's already been a little bit confusing, but this is where I think we get the most confusing in some ways. [00:21:51] Essentially it breaks down, okay, has this layperson incurred excommunication? [00:21:57] But of course, that's not really known with certainty. I mean, we know the Vatican says the bishops are excommunicated. We know they're saying that the priests are excommunicated, but what about the laity? They may or may not be executed whether or not they formally adhere to the Society to the schism or not. [00:22:17] And so it basically says if you do adhere to it, then you have to go to your bishop and basically do the profession of faith and the formula of adherence that the priest did. If you do that, the bishop should just say, okay, you're good to go now. And, and also say you're not going to attend the SSPX anymore. You do that, you're good. [00:22:36] If you haven't had excommunication occur, then you just approach a priest and in full communion and just simply say you're not going to attend the society anymore, the masses anymore, and that's it. But how do you know if you're a lay person? [00:22:53] How do you know if those two conditions we talked about before, the internal nature and the external nature, that you basically support the schism, that is, you support the arguments of the Society fully and you also attend exclusively the sspx? [00:23:08] This is where the Vatican's not saying. It's not declaring excommunicated. It's simply saying you might be if these. You would be if these things are true. How do you know if they're true? You go to your local bishop. That's essentially what it's saying. If you're not. If, let's say you've decided I want to leave the Society because of what's happened this week, what do I do? And you're a layperson. [00:23:31] What I would say is go to your priest first and just tell him what you thought. Like, what were your feelings about this? [00:23:41] What's been your history with the Society? Do you attend every once in a while, but not, not regularly? Do you attend it all the time? And you, but you don't really like the excommunications, do you? Do you think? I mean, I'm sorry, the consecrations. I mean, there's a lot of different things here. So I just say talk to your, talk to a pastor. Find a, you know, whatever parish you end up deciding to go to, approach the pastor and ask him and then he will tell you. He might tell you you have to go to the bishop and in order to, to get the excommunication lifted, so to speak, and make your profession of faith in the formula of adherence, he might just say you're fine. Just don't go back. And you're good because really, you weren't formally adhering to it. I think most priests will probably say that because I think it's just like, it's probably too much a mess to go to the bishop. The bishop probably doesn't want to deal with it, to be honest. That's the reality. [00:24:31] And so he might say, the pastor might say, here, sign these two. Because these two documents I read the Profession of Faith and the Formula of Adherence, they are stated as, that you fill in your name and you sign it and date it. Perhaps you'd say, okay, sign and date these two documents and I will mail them to the bishop. And then it'll be. And the bishop will probably just say, okay, sounds good. You're, you're, you're fine. [00:24:55] That's the most likely scenario is something like that. And so what does that mean, though, going forward about attending? [00:25:05] Okay, so that's. If you wanted to leave, but let's say you never were. You never regularly attended, but you want to attend sometimes, or maybe you just attended sometimes and so you know it, you don't formally adhere to it, can you keep attending? [00:25:17] I will say that personally, this is where I'm getting to my opinion now, not just simply what the Vatican's saying. Personally, I no longer will recommend people to attend a society chapel. I never really was like enthusiastic about it. I just kind of was laissez faire about it in the past. [00:25:34] In fact, my statement I think I've made in the past is like, if there is a TLM available that's not a society one or SETI or anything like that, then go there instead. I never really said if there wasn't one available, then go there. [00:25:48] I would still say. I would just say. I wouldn't. I just won't recommend it. I won't recommend it to anybody in any situation because I do think, I think it's, it's, it's a problem now. [00:25:58] I'm not judging, though, people who attend the sspx. [00:26:02] I mean, I'm just a layman. I have no authority to declare anything. I'm just simply stating my personal opinion and people. Because people ask me for it sometimes I simply say, if you do sometimes attend an SSPX chapel, stop, Just, just stop attending and take that for what it's worth, because I think that's, that's thinking in the. With the mind of the Church and with essentially what the Pope wants. And the Pope has made very clear what he wants here. And so I, I And I don't see a reason, like I've always talked about obedience to the Pope exists. It's just not this hyper papalist idea. But it also isn't the Protestant idea. There's a, there's a good medium there, medium there of yes, we do obey the Pope when he exercises his authority legitimately. I think here he is again. He's not saying, nobody's saying you're excommunicated if you do happen to attend one, but you're not. You're basically told not to. And now if you're part of SSPX and then you leave, they are saying don't ever go back as a condition for being received back in the Church. So I think you'd had to make a promise not to go back at that point. I'm talking about the people, though, who never were, never really adhered, weren't regular attendees or anything like that. [00:27:16] Okay, so that wraps up, hopefully that explained things. I know it can be a little bit confusing. Hopefully that answered most people's questions about like, kind of what's the status of everybody involved associated with the SSPX from the perspective of the Vatican and, and going forward, what should we do? That's basically what the Vatican has said. I can't give you my own opinions. I do think ultimately we just, we just need to pray, we need to do penance, we do reparations, we need to fast. [00:27:45] Obviously, we know there's a crisis in the Church. We know there's a lots of problems in the Church. We know that the Vatican is not consistent in how it, it enforces the rules of the church and things like that. But ultimately this was a case where they did enforce certain rules and this is what they're saying. So it's up to your conscience whether or not you will abide by that and follow that for me in my house. You know, we will serve the Lord. We will follow what, what the, the Vatican has decreed in this, and we will recommend others do as well. Okay, I'm going to wrap it up there again. Pray and fast. It's a sad situation. Anybody who's rejoicing on either side with what happened yesterday, I don't think you have a Catholic spirit. I don't think you have a charitable spirit. I think you, you kind of need to check yourself and recognize this is a time to mourn, not a time to rejoice. Okay, until next time, everybody. God love you. And remember the four it.