Bishop Marian Eleganti has said that any episcopal consecrations carried out by the Society of St Pius X without a papal mandate would constitute “a schismatic act”, insisting that visible and canonical unity with the Pope is inseparable from being part of the Church.
In two statements published on the auxiliary bishop emeritus of Chur’s personal blog, the Swiss prelate set out in detail why he believes the Society’s planned consecrations on 1 July would amount to a rupture with Rome.
In his latest blog post, dated 10 February and titled “And yet it remains a schism”, Bishop Eleganti cited Canon 1382 of the Code of Canon Law, which provides that “a bishop who consecrates someone as bishop without papal mandate, and likewise anyone who receives consecration from him, incurs excommunication as a penalty reserved to the Apostolic See”. He also referred to Canon 1013, which states that “no bishop is permitted to ordain someone as a bishop unless” the papal mandate has been issued.
