A rebel Catholic sect is defying the Vatican by pressing ahead with plans to ordain more than 20 men as priests and deacons. The Society of St Pius X, which rose to notoriety this year when it emerged that one of its members, Richard Williamson, was a Holocaust denier, said it would proceed with this month's ordinations in Germany, Switzerland and the US in spite of the Vatican insisting they are "illegitimate".
A statement posted on an SSPX website questioned whether, in an era of plummeting numbers in the priesthood, the Vatican was wise in attempting to frustrate the ambitions of men who wished to serve the church.
It also denied the ordinations were intended as a snub to Benedict XVI, who plunged the church into crisis when he reversed the excommunication of Williamson and three other SSPX bishops.
Father Stefan Frey, rector of the seminary in Zaitzkofen, in the German state of Bavaria, said: "There can be no talk of an insult to the unity of the church and most certainly not of a rebuff of the outstretched hand of the Holy Father … A valuable building is burning down, a group of courageous young men rushes to the blaze to extinguish the fire, or at least to contain it and then afterwards to begin with the rebuilding. But they are detained by law enforcement for having exceeded the speed limit."
The announcement is embarrassing for the Vatican, which is once more having its authority publicly undermined by the Swiss-based group.
Amid growing media interest over the ordinations, the Holy See press office said: "As long as the Society [of St Pius X] does not have a canonical status in the church, its ministers do not exercise legitimate ministries in the church."
It cited a papal letter, written in March, in which the lifting of the excommunication was explained as a way to start a dialogue that would eventually lead to the full reintegration of the group.
The Vatican statement also said disciplinary questions regarding the SSPX "remained unresolved" – a sign the ordinations could have repercussions on negotiations.
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