Society of Saint Pius X
The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX; Latin: Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X, FSSPX)[a] is a canonically irregular traditionalist Catholic fraternity of priests founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.[6] Lefebvre was a leading traditionalist at the Second Vatican Council with the Coetus Internationalis Patrum and Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers until 1968. The society was initially established as a pious union of the Catholic Church with the permission of François Charrière, the Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg in Switzerland.
Not to be confused with Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter.Abbreviation
The society is named after Pope Pius X, whose anti-Modernist stance it stresses,[7] retaining the Tridentine Mass and pre-Vatican II liturgical books in Latin for the other sacraments. The present Superior General of the society is the Reverend Davide Pagliarani, who succeeded Bishop Bernard Fellay in 2018. Several organisations derive from the SSPX: most notably the effectively sedevacantist Society of Saint Pius V (SSPV), a group mostly in the United States; and the canonically regular Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), that Pope John Paul II made into a society of apostolic life in 1988.
Tensions between the society and the Holy See climaxed in 1988 with the Écône consecrations: Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without the Apostolic Mandate and against a personal warning by Pope John Paul II,[8] resulting in Rome declaring that the bishops who consecrated or were consecrated had incurred latae sententiae (automatic) excommunication.[9] Though the SSPX denied that the bishops incurred any penalty, claiming canon law in their defense, the declared excommunication of the surviving bishops was at their request removed in 2009 in the hope of speedily reaching "full reconciliation and complete communion".
The society's canonical situation remains unresolved. The 2010s saw growing recognition by the Holy See of its sacramental and pastoral activities, with papal recognition extended indefinitely in 2017 to confessions heard by its priests,[10] and local ordinaries allowed to grant delegation to its priests for officially witnessing marriages.[11] In addition, the Holy See named SSPX bishop Fellay as judge in a canonical trial against one of the society's priests.[12] The significance of these recognitions is that, unlike other Catholic sacraments, both confession and marriage require canonical jurisdiction for their validity. While its critics claim the society's priests were not explicitly granted the requisite jurisdiction, it contends that they possessed "supplied jurisdiction" for confessions due to a "state of necessity".[13]
In 2022, the society states it has over 700 priestly members, with 1,135 total members.[2]
