This article is just the basics of the Vatican drama that will go down in the annals of Catholic Church history.
As most of you know, the traditionalist Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated four bishops for his religious congregation titled the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X (FSSPX) in 1988. This was against the will of the Vatican. The Archbishop claims he did this in order to preserve the old rite of the seven Roman sacraments. Subsequently, Pope John Paul II immediately declared Lefebvre and his bishops to be automatically (latae sententiae) excommunicated for doing that without his permission.
However, there is very strong evidence from JPII’s own 1983 Code of Canon law that there were no valid excommunications, considering Lefebvre acted in a manner not ex dolo (out of malice.) But even if you don’t agree with that, know that Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications in 2009, be them putative or real. (Please see that link as it explains my view of the SSPX back in 2022. My view hasn’t changed, but it’s important to see how their congregation functioned with Rome before the recent conflict began.)
Since then, the FSSPX (now shortened in American circles to SSPX) has grown extensively to include over a hundred thousand laity and over 700 priests worldwide offering the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM.) Not even educated liberal Catholic outlets can doubt they are Catholics with valid sacraments. However, they do exist in a canonical limbo. Since 1988, they have sought to obtain canonical regularization from Rome, alternating between resignation and resistance, depending on who was at the control-wheel in the Society.
Now fast forward to 2025. Finding increasing doctrinal scandals in Rome (and also finding increasing years under the belts of their few remaining bishops!) the SSPX sought to re-open communications with the Vatican. But as they were brushed aside in 2025, the Society shockingly declared in early 2026 that they would consecrate new bishops, all the same. This time (just like 1988) they would act without the permission of Rome. This time (just like 1988) they would seek Rome’s blessing, if not their permission.
Rome finally heard the request, but did not send their best. The Vatican sent a graphic-erotic writer named “Tucho” Fernandez to meet the SSPX. (Yes, even EWTN admitted that Fernandez was a “graphic erotic” writer. Click on the link if you think I’m exaggerating.) Fernandez is now head of the DDF. The DDF is a newly invented dicastery (operative word here being invented) in the Vatican that used to be in the office of the CDF. Ironically, the CDF used to be the Holy Inquisition!
Put all these facts together and you may even come to my own conclusion: Not even an anti-Catholic author like the Dan Brown (forgotten since the early 2000s when he wrote the Da Vinci Code) could have attempted such an outrageous work of fiction to have the Inquisition send a graphic-erotic writer nicknamed “Kissy” to meet with the head of a fringe Latin Mass congregation!
Yet here we are… and this is sadly all non-fiction. So, Cdl. Fernandez (top-left) met with Fr. Davide Pagliarani, Superior General of the SSPX (top-right.) Their meeting was supposed to be one of dialogue and accompaniment, as that is the current modus operandi of the Vatican. (For example, the Vatican recently had a lovely message to Muslims to help them prepare for Ramadan.)
Yet the meeting with the SSPX turned out not to be one of dialogue, but one of fake-dialogue containing a thinly-veiled threat for more excommunications should the SSPX continue with the episcopal consecrations. A second meeting was set up…and yet… the SSPX canceled it on Ash Wednesday last week!
This declaration shocked the traditional world—both those who support the Society and those who despise them. And yes, the traditional world is quite divided on the SSPX. Some loud voices from the FSSP (to the Society’s left) and other loud voices from the sedevacantists (to the Society’s right) stand opposed to their upcoming consecrations, but for very different reasons.
In any case, the SSPX stated in their most recent letter that another meeting with the Vatican would be futile, especially considering that the latter was threatening the former under pretext of “dialogue.” The SSPX also stated (in so many words) that procedural issues could not be tackled until doctrinal issues were tackled. Fr. David Pagliarani listed many such doctrinal errors coming out of the Vatican, but then promised he would pray for Fernandez to “the Mediatrix of all Graces.” (This was, of course, was a beautiful piece of poetic justice against Fernandez who wrote that recent blasphemous decree against Mary, stating we should not call her “the Mediatrix of all Graces.”)
Going forward, the question I want to ask is simply this: Why will the current Vatican apparatus publicly honor Anglicans, trannies, satanic American rock stars, abortion promoters, Buddhist monks, Muslims, Jews, liberal Catholics, globalist leaders, prisoners and even animals before they will publicly honor Latin Mass Catholics?
That’s the topic I’m going to cover in my next article. We will consider why the leftists who run the current Church buildings are so terribly allergic to traditional Catholics. You might be surprised at the answer I propose, as we’re going to look at it more through the eyes of psychology than ecclesiology.