Cardinal Gerhard Müller and Cardinal Robert Sarah have spoken out against the Society of St. Pius X after it confirmed plans to consecrate bishops on July 1 without Vatican approval. According to EWTN News, SSPX Superior General Father Davide Pagliarani outlined the decision in a letter dated February 18 following his meeting with Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on February 12.
The group stated that the proposed consecrations would not represent a rupture of communion with the Catholic Church. However, under canon law, automatic excommunication is incurred by bishops who carry out episcopal consecrations without a papal mandate, as well as by those who receive them.
In a February 21 statement, Cardinal Müller stated that personal sensitivities must give way to the good of Church unity. He emphasised that Catholics must obey the pope not only in words but also through their actions, adding that no one can justify separation from the pope on grounds of conscience.
Over the weekend, Cardinal Sarah expressed deep concern, asking whether defending tradition could justify what he described as a potentially irreversible division within the mystical body of Christ.
The chosen date marks the anniversary of the 1988 excommunication imposed on Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre after he consecrated 4 bishops without Rome’s approval. The SSPX celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass and has longstanding doctrinal differences with aspects of the Second Vatican Council.