Is the SSPX Schismatic — or Is the Church Facing a Deeper Crisis?
The announcement that the Society of St Pius X intends to consecrate new bishops on 1 July has provoked a predictable reaction. The word “schism” has been deployed quickly and confidently, often without any reference to canon law, Church history, or Rome’s own recent precedents. For many commentators, the case appears settled before it has even been examined. But Catholic theology has never operated on slogans. The question is not simply whether episcopal consecration without papal mandate is illicit. Everyone agrees that it ordinarily is. The real question is whether the Church still possesses the juridical and moral coherence required to condemn such an act unequivocally in the present circumstances. In my latest Substack essay, I argue that this moment cannot be understood without grappling seriously with three uncomfortable facts. First, the 1983 Code of Canon Law itself explicitly recognises situations of necessity that excuse or mitigate even the gravest canonical pena...