FSSPX: Pagliarani's public letter to Leo XIV - "Far from us the idea of separating"

Context

In our last two issues, we devoted a lengthy dossier to the standoff between the Society of Saint Pius X and Rome. The Écône consecrations of July 1, 2026, the notification of latae sententiae excommunication by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on July 2, and then the publication by Vatican News of a procedure for returning to communion have marked a now-familiar canonical scenario. On July 4, a new piece was added to the file: the public letter from Superior General Davide Pagliarani, addressed to Pope Leo XIV and disseminated by Le Salon Beige.

The Facts

The letter is dated July 3. It was written after the Roman notification of July 2. The Superior General affirms his "fidelity to the See of Peter," protests the "necessity" of the consecrations on the grounds of a state of necessity, and asks the Pope for "time for discernment." He rejects the schismatic qualification. He recalls that the Society "does not wish to separate from the Church" but to "preserve the faith of all time." LifeSiteNews quotes Pagliarani calling the censures "objectively unjust and invalid." EWTN News reports the same line: belonging to the Church is based on the profession of the same faith.

Doctrinal Analysis

Canon 1382 §2 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law is explicit: "Both the one who attempts to confer episcopal ordination without a pontifical mandate and the one who receives the ordination from him incur a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See." The principle of a state of necessity, invoked by the Society since the 1988 consecrations, has never been recognized by a magisterial text. John Paul II expressly rejected it in the motu proprioEcclesia Dei of July 2, 1988 (n. 3), which speaks of an "act schismatic in itself." Leo XIII, in Satis Cognitum (June 29, 1896, n. 15), recalled that "the unity of the Church consists in submission to the Vicar of Christ."

Stakes for the Church and the Faithful

Pagliarani’s letter puts Leo XIV before a choice: prolong the dialogue opened by Cardinal Fernández’s note or close the file. The faithful attached to the traditional Mass outside the Society await clarification. Cardinal Müller last week called for a revision of Traditionis Custodes. The Roman question now extends beyond the Society alone.

Critical Reading and Blind Spots

The distinction Pagliarani makes between "fidelity to Peter" and refusal of a magisterial act of the reigning Pope is theologically unstable. The Dicastery’s note of July 2, signed by Cardinal Fernández, precisely qualifies the Écône act as "schismatic in nature." Separating obedience to Peter from obedience to what he notifies amounts, in canon law, to a contradiction.

To Ponder and Act

Pray for unity. Do not give in to polemics. "Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia," teaches Saint Ambrose. True attachment to Tradition passes through the See of Peter, not against it.