The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX) continues to litigate in Rome against the excommunications that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith declared following the episcopal consecrations at Écône.
The Fraternity’s General House, based in Menzingen (Switzerland), has stated in a communiqué dated this Tuesday, October 13, that since its first approach to the dicastery in July, it has followed the avenues of recourse provided by canon law, within the established deadlines and procedures.
Its bishops, it adds, request that the legal and doctrinal objections they have raised against the texts of July 2 be examined. The communiqué does not indicate before which authority the matter now stands nor whether Rome has responded.
The text, only a few lines long, is presented as a continuation of the communiqué of July 13, in which the Fraternity announced that on the 11th it had filed a preliminary appeal with the dicastery itself against the decree, under canons 1734 and following of the Code of Canon Law.
That document described it as a prior and mandatory step for a possible hierarchical appeal and maintained that it suspended the execution of the decree by virtue of canon 1353, which grants suspensive effect to appeals against decrees that impose or declare a penalty.
The new communiqué does not mention the hierarchical appeal or the Apostolic Signatura and refers only to the competent authorities.
While these authorities act, the Fraternity will maintain the discretion required by the nature of these proceedings, and invites priests and faithful to remain united in prayer for the Holy Father and for the whole Church.
The note was released on the same day that Leo XIV underwent surgery at the Gemelli Polyclinic.
The appealed decree bears the signature of the prefect of the dicastery, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, and of the secretaries of its doctrinal and disciplinary sections, Monsignor Armando Matteo and Archbishop John J. Kennedy.
It declares that Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, to whom it attributes the act of consecration, and the four new bishops, Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Marc Hanappier, incurred ipso facto the excommunication latae sententiae reserved to the Apostolic See, and extends the same penalty to Bishop Bernard Fellay for his direct participation in the rite.
An attached explanatory note described as schismatic the ministers of the Fraternity who exercise their ministry within it, warned of excommunication for the faithful who formally adhere to the schism, and maintained that the confessions and marriages celebrated by those priests are invalid.
The matter concerning confessions has been publicly discussed by Cardinal Gerhard Müller and canonist Juan Ignacio Arrieta.
What occurred between July and October is known only through third parties. According to AdVaticanum, which cites sources from the dicastery, each of the six bishops filed his appeal separately, and in Rome it was assumed that the dicastery’s silence could amount to an implicit rejection.
The Code grants the author of a decree thirty days to respond to the request for revocation; if he does not, from that moment the peremptory period of fifteen useful days begins to run for appealing to the hierarchical superior, according to canons 1735 and 1737.
The Fraternity’s director of communications, James Vogel, told LifeSiteNews last week that they still did not have a definitive response and recalled that excommunications, however grave, are not infallible.
The appeal continues its course at a low point in relations between Rome and the traditionalist world.
On the same Tuesday, Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, stated in an interview with AdVaticanum that Leo XIV will not change Traditionis custodes nor return to Summorum Pontificum.
Since the summer, the bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes has withdrawn the Fraternity’s authorization to celebrate at the shrine, and its annual pilgrimage to Assisi ended at the doors of the Basilica of St. Francis.
The Fraternity has chosen to defend itself with the tools of the same Code that sanctions it and to maintain discretion while doing so.
The final decision, AdVaticanum recalls, may also be taken directly by the Pope.