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On Wednesday, at their headquarters at Écône, Switzerland, four new bishops were ordained by the society against the wishes of Pope Leo XIV.
In a letter to the Society on Monday, Leo pleaded with them, in the interests of the faithful, not to go ahead with the ordinations as “the schismatic act you are about to undertake would deprive them of the licit and, in some cases, even valid reception of the sacraments, which they love and seek for their sanctification”.
At the SSPX Ireland headquarters in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, Fr Laisney seemed more amused than upset – even as the Vatican announced his excommunication as well as that of all other priests and bishops in the society and those laity who continued to be loyal to it.
“It’s not new. It happened in 1988,” he said, referring to the last time the society ordained four bishops in defiance of a pontiff, in that instance John Paul II. That excommunication was overturned by
The reason for Fr Laisney’s calm on Thursday is his belief that in canon law – internal Catholic Church law – necessity rules, even where the Pope is concerned. Canon law stated that “in the case of necessity that excommunication does not apply”, the priest said. “Let’s apply the whole canon law, not just one canon.”
The necessity in this instance was that the two remaining SSPX bishops, of the four ordained in 1988, were now elderly and the society needed new bishops. “There is no excommunication in the case of necessity, so there is no excommunication. We are not excommunicated. We have an irregular canonical situation. It’s not our fault: we would like to have a regular canonical situation and they [Rome] have done nothing for us.”
He explained that SSPX superior general Fr Davide Pagliarani “sought meetings with the Pope”, but there was “no offer of a meeting, only threats, threats, threats. No offer to meet, no offer to have discussion, nothing but a threat”.
As to the future, he said: “It will be the same thing as in 1988. Rome will come to the realisation that we were not properly excommunicated.”
Asked if the SSPX accepted the authority of the Pope, he replied: “Yes, of course.” Infallibility? “Yes, of course.” And, in this current context, does it accept the authority of Pope Leo? “Yes, of course.” Do they consider themselves excommunicated? “No.”
He agreed “the Pope has authority to excommunicate”.
The SSPX strongly prefers the pre-Vatican II Tridentine Mass, which is said in Latin with the priest facing the altar. It believes Communion should be received while kneeling and on the tongue only, being distributed only by clergy with just boys allowed as altar servers. It is also opposed to ecumenism and religious liberty, believing that Catholicism is the one true faith.
According to its own figures as of last November, it has 1,482 members worldwide with 733 priests – of whom 254 are in France, 143 in the US and six in Ireland – and, as of Wednesday, six bishops. It is estimated that, internationally, between 150,000 and 200,000 followers attend their Masses.
Founded in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who opposed many of the changes ushered in by the Second Vatican Council, which ended in 1965, it is named after one of the most conservative popes, Pius X, who died in 1914.
Fr Laisney is French, from Rouen in Normandy, and was ordained in 1982 at Écône by Archbishop Lefebvre.
Since then he has become one of the more senior clergy in the society, having served as district superior of the US in the 1980s and as SSPX general bursar in the 1990s. He has also served in Australia, as prior in New Zealand and district bursar for Britain and Ireland.
Recently appointed to serve in the UK, he has been in Dublin for the past five months while awaiting a visa to enter Britain. “I don’t want to be an illegal immigrant.”
He says that between 70 and 80 people attend Masses at the SSPX Church of St John the Evangelist at Mountdown, near Dún Laoghaire, while four priests residing at the Dún Laoghaire headquarters also serve communities in Athlone, Belfast, Cork, Kilkenny, Newry and Newbliss, Co Monaghan.
The Catholic Church, as understood by the SSPX and Fr Laisney, “is the one true church, outside of which there is no salvation. That is the teaching of the church, but today you have Mrs Mullally, so-called Archbishop of Canterbury, she is received by the Pope and he said, ‘We are one’. That’s not true. She’s not ‘one’. She is not of the Catholic faith”. Fr Laisney was referring to Sarah Mullally, who this year became the first woman to lead the Church of England and the Anglican Communion.
Pope Leo “wouldn’t invite Mrs Mullally to convert. The King of England has to convert, too, in order to go to Heaven”. He also hoped that the man most likely to be Britain’s next prime minister, Andy Burnham, would be “a good Catholic. Joe Biden was not a good Catholic”.