One of the key factors in the entire debate surrounding the episcopal consecrations performed by the Society of Saint Pius X is the state of necessity which the Society invokes. It has been the cause of great controversy, as theologians, canonists and clerics both for and against the Society argue over whether a state of necessity exists, what it might be and who can determine that one exists.
This is no small matter. It underlies the entire rationale for the consecrations which took place on July 1 against the request of the Holy See.
