SSPX tells Cardinal Sarah: ‘How can we remain silent’ when salvation of souls is threatened?

(LifeSiteNews) — The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has issued a statement defending its decision to move forward with episcopal consecrations without papal approval, in response to Cardinal Robert Sarah’s rebuke of the Society for what he sees as their abandonment of the Church.

In Sarah’s “call to unity” addressed to the SSPX and published in Le Journal du Dimanche on February 22, the cardinal expressed his “grave concern” over the SSPX’s planned consecrations, which he considers to constitute a break with the Church, that is, a schism.

“Can one who abandons the Chair of Peter still claim to be within the Church of Christ?” wrote Cardinal Sarah.

Father Étienne Ginoux, an SSPX prior based in South Africa, wrote in response in an article published Wednesday, “One might rightly ask whether it is truly the souls of the faithful who attend the chapels of the Society that are in danger, or whether we should fear more for the salvation of those who follow the ‘prelates who renounce teaching the deposit of faith’ or the ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ — denunciations that come from the cardinal himself.”

Fr. Ginoux argued that fidelity to the Catholic faith, including its morality and liturgical tradition, does not come automatically from the man recognized as “the Successor of Peter,” for “it is precisely from Rome” in recent years that aberrations from the Catholic faith have issued, including the admittance of Holy Communion to the divorced and remarried; blessings in Catholic churches of homosexual couples; the declaration that God wills a diversity of religions; the questioning of papally endorsed Marian titles; and attempts to “phase out” the Traditional Latin Mass.

Cardinal Sarah has opposed these very novelties, Fr. Ginoux pointed out. “On the one hand, he shows us the example of the good fight for the faith, Catholic morality, and liturgical Tradition; on the other hand, he invites us to obey those who are at the root of the very evils we are battling,” the priest wrote.

READ: John-Henry Westen: An open letter to Cardinal Sarah on the SSPX

These errors promoted by Rome compel the SSPX to distinguish between its teachings which are “faithful to the perennial faith” and those which are incompatible with it.

In the case of the upcoming 2026 episcopal consecrations, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández insisted upon total, unreserved acceptance of Vatican II documents and the so-called liturgical “reform” of the Novus Ordo Mass, which the SSPX Superior General Davide Pagliarani has declared “impossible.”

In an Ash Wednesday letter to Fernández, Pagliarani wrote, “We both know in advance that we cannot agree doctrinally, particularly regarding the fundamental orientations adopted since the Second Vatican Council. This disagreement, for the Society’s part, does not stem from a mere difference of opinion, but from a genuine case of conscience, arising from what has proven to be a rupture with the Tradition of the Church.”

“I therefore do not see how a joint process of dialogue could end in determining together what would constitute “the minimum requirements for full communion with the Catholic Church,” he continued, “since—as you yourself have recalled with frankness—the texts of the Council cannot be corrected, nor can the legitimacy of the liturgical reform be challenged.”

Thus, it is the SSPX’s desire to adhere to the perennial teaching of the Church by rejecting the errors of Vatican II which has caused Fernández’s rejection of even the consideration of SSPX episcopal consecrations.

It is notable that Fernández’s demand of SSPX’s full acceptance of Vatican II texts is at odds with Archbishop Guido Pozzo’s clarification in 2016 that “some texts of the Council that are not doctrinal and are thus not binding on the Catholic conscience,” as journalist Maike Hickson put it. Pozzo specifically named texts with which the SSPX takes issue, including Nostra Aetate about interreligious dialogue and the decree Unitatis Redintegratio on ecumenism; he explained:

They are not about doctrines or definitive statements, but, rather, about instructions and orienting guides for pastoral practice. On can [thus legitimately] continue to discuss these pastoral aspects after the [proposed] canonical approval [of the SSPX], in order to lead us to further [and acceptable] clarifications.

READ: Canon lawyer explains why SSPX consecrations would not be ‘schismatic act’

An example of a Vatican II document which contradicts Catholic teaching is Nostra Aetate, which claims that “in Hinduism, men contemplate the divine mystery.”

In his statement, Fr. Ginoux brought up the “beautiful example of Padre Pio’s heroic obedience” in the face of an unjust command not to hear confessions, highlighted by Cardinal Sarah as a model for the SSPX. Fr. Ginoux pointed out that, while St. Pio’s example is laudable, there is an “immense difference” between his situation and that of the SSPX.

This is because St. Pio’s obedience to this order “had no external consequences for the salvation of souls,” whereas the survival of the SSPX, due to its clear and full teaching of the Catholic faith and its continuation of the traditional Holy Mass perpetually sanctioned by Quo Primum, is a matter of “the common good of the Church,” now “wounded in her faith, her morals, and her liturgy.”

“How can we remain silent when the faith and salvation of the faithful are threatened?”

“Your Eminence, we beg you to use your authority, your reputation, and your pen to convince the Holy Father to put an end to the doctrinal, moral, and liturgical crisis through which the Holy Church is passing,” Fr. Ginoux implored Cardinal Sarah. “Then the Society of Saint Pius X will no longer be compelled to ordain bishops without a papal mandate. Then there will be true unity and perfect communion in the Church of God: unity and communion in the faith.”