Father Patrick Duverger, who led the SSPX’s Benelux district before being succeeded by the then-Father Michel de Sivry in 2022, is now serving the FSSP community in Viry-Châtillon, approximately 20 kilometres south of Paris.
An announcement published on the FSSP website for the Diocese of Évry on 25 October 2026 welcomed Father Duverger to the community, confirming that Bishop Michel Pansard had officially accepted the arrival of a new priest to serve the congregation.
“Good news for our community in Viry-Châtillon: Bishop Michel Pansard has officially accepted the arrival of a new priest to serve our community. This is Father Patrick Duverger,” the announcement stated.
The community also invited parishioners to meet the priest following Mass, with a small reception organised on the church steps.
Born in France, Father Duverger is 58 years old and was ordained a priest in 1993. His priestly assignments have also included a period of service in Gabon before his appointment to the leadership of the SSPX’s Benelux district.
In an announcement published by the SSPX in 2022, the Society confirmed that his six-year term as district superior had come to an end. “At the end of his six-year term, Father Patrick Duverger will return to France,” the Society announced.
Then-Father Michel de Sivry, who was director of the St John Baptist de la Salle school in Camblain, France, was appointed to succeed him as prior and district superior. Bishop de Sivry was subsequently consecrated a bishop in 2026.
Father Duverger’s previous public statements provide an indication of the theological and ecclesiological position he occupied during his leadership of the SSPX. In an interview conducted on 31 July 2017 for the Society’s district magazine Pour qu’Il règne, subsequently published on the SSPX website, he spoke extensively about the organisation’s understanding of its mission and its relationship with the post-conciliar Church.
Discussing the situation of the Church in the Benelux countries, Father Duverger said: “I have already caught a glimpse of the incalculable destruction caused by the conciliar crisis, especially here in the Benelux Union.”
He presented the SSPX’s vocation and charism as inseparable, arguing that its mission was to defend Catholic Tradition against those who questioned or relativised it. “The two [vocation and charism] are inseparable in this time of grave crisis in the Church,” he said. “Its charism is to manifest the vitality of the Tradition of the Church, to defend it against those – whoever they may be – who question it or relativize it.”
He also addressed criticism that the Society contested the teachings and practices of the reigning pontiffs, defending its opposition to the changes introduced following the Second Vatican Council.
“Indeed, so many teachings and practices are objectively contestable, since they are strangely dissonant and even contrary to the Tradition of the Church,” Father Duverger said.