Bishop David Waller of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham has cautioned against the FSSPX consecrating bishops without papal mandate.
Earlier this week, the Priestly Society of St Pius X announced plans to consecrate new bishops without papal approval, a move that risks deepening its rift with the Holy See and could lead to the automatic excommunication of those involved.
The decision was made public by Fr Davide Pagliarani, the society’s superior general, during a ceremony for the taking of the cassock at the International Seminary of St Curé of Ars in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, France, on February 2. In a statement issued by the society’s general house in Menzingen, Switzerland, Fr Pagliarani explained that the consecrations would take place on July 1, with the society’s existing bishops entrusted with the task. He said the step followed months of fruitless attempts to engage with the Vatican, including a request last August for an audience with Pope Leo XIV to discuss the society’s situation and the need to ensure the continuation of its episcopal ministry.
In response, the Vatican has emphasised that contacts with the society remain ongoing, with the aim of avoiding rifts or unilateral solutions. Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, told the Catholic Herald on February 3: “Contacts between the Society of Saint Pius X and the Holy See continue, with the aim of avoiding disagreements or unilateral solutions to the issues that have emerged.”
Bishop David Waller, who leads the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham for former Anglicans in Great Britain, spoke exclusively to the Catholic Herald about the announcement. “The announcement is a very serious matter and the best response is prayer for the Holy Father and for the SSPX,” he said. “The Holy Father is the focus of unity and we can be confident that he will be anxious to avoid further disunity or schism. That being said, it is difficult to see how he can provide for bishops to be in an irregular relationship with the See of Peter. The fact that the Society believes it has the authority to consecrate bishops without a papal mandate is indicative of a serious ecclesiological problem in itself, regardless of whether such consecrations go ahead. One can only pray that discussions continue and that a solution is found.”
This key point of ecclesiological disagreement, as Bishop Waller points out, is central to the current deadlock. The SSPX’s determination to consecrate bishops on its own, without papal permission, on the basis of a perceived state of necessity, directly questions the Pope’s essential role as the guardian of Church unity. This makes it very hard for the Holy Father to find a way to accept or accommodate such bishops while keeping everything in proper communion with Rome.
At the same time, Bishop Waller expresses real hope. He is confident that Pope Leo XIV is deeply committed to preventing any new schism or further division. This confidence suggests there is still a chance for progress through the ongoing talks between the Vatican and the SSPX, as long as both sides approach them with genuine openness to conversation and prayer, just as he recommends.
This perspective aligns with broader calls within the Church for structural solutions to safeguard the Traditional Latin Mass while preserving unity under the See of Peter. Some traditionalists have proposed the creation of a dedicated ordinariate for communities devoted to the older liturgical forms, a framework that could address the irregularities Bishop Waller identifies. Such an ordinariate, modelled on existing ones like Bishop Waller’s own for former Anglicans or those for military personnel, would provide canonical stability under a bishop directly accountable to the Pope. French Dominican Fr Louis-Marie de Blignières first advanced the idea of a “traditional ordinariate” in September 2023, suggesting it as a way to integrate traditionalist groups amid the restrictions of Pope Francis’s 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, which limited the 1962 Missal in an effort to foster liturgical unity.
Fr de Blignières’s proposal, sent in a letter to cardinals ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s first consistory in January, envisioned an ecclesiastical jurisdiction akin to a personal apostolic administration, focused on the ancient Latin rite. He argued it would honour both tradition and papal authority, offering pastoral care for priests and faithful loyal to Rome but attached to pre-Vatican II practices.
Historically, the question of structure has always been a matter of debate. In the early 2000s, following the society’s pilgrimage to Rome during the Great Jubilee, Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, president of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, presented proposals from Pope John Paul II. Bishop Bernard Fellay, then SSPX superior general, later recalled in a 2002 talk that the Vatican suggested a personal prelature, similar to Opus Dei’s, or an apostolic administration, like that in Campos, Brazil, for traditionalists. These would grant the SSPX global autonomy in liturgy and governance while ensuring submission to papal authority.
Under Pope Benedict XVI, efforts intensified with doctrinal talks from 2009 to 2012, exploring SSPX acceptance of Vatican II. In June 2012, Cardinal William Levada offered a draft protocol and reiterated the personal prelature as a canonical vehicle, allowing an SSPX bishop exempt from local oversight but under the Pope. Disagreements over the Council stalled progress, despite Benedict’s 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum liberalising the Traditional Latin Mass.
