Letter #23, 2026, Wednesday, July 8: Eyewitness
Greetings.
I will be on a live podcast today with Fr. Charles Murr, in about 2 hours, at 5 pm Rome time, 11 am Eastern Standard Time in the US.
Here is the link.
Fr. Murr, as a correspondent for a Spanish Catholic television program, was in Econe, Switzerland, one week ago, and was an eyewitness to the unapproved consecrations of 4 bishops by bishops of the Society for St. Pius X.
We will discuss what he saw and heard, as an eyewitness to the event.
Since the consecrations were not approved by Pope Leo XIV, the Vatican announced on July 2 that the four bishops and their consecrators had been, by the very fact of carrying out the consecrations without papal approval, were automatically (“latae sententiae“) excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
We will discuss this decree, and try to answer the questions of viewers.
The podcast will be on the YouTube channel of Urbi et Orbi Communications, the publisher of Inside the Vatican magazine since 1993. Here is a link to subscribe.
—RM
The Decree
Here is the text of the Vatican’s July 2 decree of excommunication, with an accompanying explanatory note (link):
DICASTERY FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH
Prot. N. 99/2009
DECREE
Despite the warnings addressed to the Superior General of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, having committed an act of a schismatic nature through the episcopal consecration of four priests, without a pontifical mandate and against the will of the Supreme Pontiff, has ipso facto incurred the penalties provided for by canon 1387 and canon 1364 § 1 CIC 2021.
I therefore declare for all legal purposes that both the aforementioned Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta and Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Marc Hanappier have incurred ipso facto the latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.
I further declare that Bishop Bernard Fellay, having directly participated in the liturgical celebration as a co-consecrator, thus publicly adhering to the schismatic act, has incurred the latae sententiae excommunication provided for by canon 1364 § 1 CIC 2021.
Clerics and lay faithful are warned not to adhere to the schism of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, because they would ipso facto incur the penalty of latae sententiae excommunication.
From the Dicastery Building, 2 July 2026
Víctor M. Card. Fernández
Prefect
John J. Kennedy
Titular Archbishop of Ossero
Secretary for the Disciplinary Section
Monsignor Armando Matteo
Secretary for the Doctrinal Section
***
Explanatory Note from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith
From the time of St. Paul VI up to the most recent discussions held at this Dicastery, the numerous attempts to bring the adherents of the movement founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre back into full communion with the Catholic Church have proved fruitless. This situation has further worsened due to the recent episcopal consecrations celebrated without a papal mandate, against the will of the Holy Father, in open violation of canon law. Therefore, this Dicastery, in the faithful exercise of the functions entrusted to it, deems it necessary to note that this act constitutes the crime of schism, with canonical consequences for the ordained ministers and lay faithful involved.
In fact, as already stated in 1988, “such disobedience—which entails a practical rejection of the Roman Primacy—constitutes a schismatic act” (cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Ecclesia Dei, 3).
In this regard, from now on:
1. Sacred ministers belonging to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X are in schism and must therefore be considered schismatics (cf. Ecclesia Dei, 5 c; Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, Explanatory Note on the Excommunication for Schism Incurred by Adherents to the Movement of Bishop Marcel Lefebvre, Aug. 24, 1996, 5–6), and are therefore subject to the excommunication prescribed by canon law (can. 1364 § 1 CIC).
2. As regards the lay faithful, those who formally adhere to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X under the conditions established in the Explanatory Note of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts of 1996 (cf. ibid., 7), which remains in force and which this Dicastery endorses, are to be considered schismatic and excommunicated.
3. Finally, the holy People of God are hereby warned that the sacred ministers of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X administer the sacraments unlawfully and that the sacrament of penance administered by them and the marriages they officiate are invalid.
The Church, as a caring mother, will welcome with sincere affection and deep concern all those who wish to return to full communion. The Apostolic Nuncios will establish the procedures that the Ordinaries may use in various cases.
Finally, all the faithful are urged to remain firm in communion with the Roman Pontiff, with the bishops in communion with him, and with the entire Church (cf. Lumen Gentium, 22; can. 751 CIC), and to refrain from participating in the celebrations and activities promoted by the aforementioned Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X.
From the Dicastery’s headquarters, July 2, 2026
Víctor M. Card. Fernández, Prefect
Mons. Armando Matteo, Secretary for the Doctrinal Section
John J. Kennedy, Titular Archbishop of Ossero, Secretary for the Disciplinary Section
[Original text: Italian]
***
Here is the July 3 response of the head of the Society of St. Pius X, Fr. Davide Pagliarani (he is not a bishop, and was not one of the bishops who were involved in the consecrations):
Letter to the Holy Father regarding the Decree of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Superior General
To His Holiness
Pope Leo XIV
Ecône, 3 July 2026
Among yourselves, if a father is asked by his son for bread, will he give him a stone? Or for a fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish? Or if he is asked for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? Why then, if you, evil as you are, know well enough how to give your children what is good for them, is not your Father much more ready to give, from heaven, his gracious Spirit to those who ask him? (Lk XI, 11-13)
Most Holy Father,
The notification of the decision taken by the Holy See regarding the Society of Saint Pius X, signed by His Eminence Cardinal Fernández, has reached us and is now a matter of public knowledge.
It appears to us that this decision once more brings to light the profoundly tragic context in which the universal Church finds herself. What the Society of Saint Pius X has done, and will continue to do, is nothing other than an extraordinary initiative for the salvation of souls, amidst the doctrinal and moral confusion into which the Church is plunged. We in no way claim to substitute ourselves for the Church, and we have no ambition other than to remain faithful to her.
In conscience, we did not believe we could evade the moral duty we owe to souls, as we have already explained, both privately and publicly, to Your Holiness.
We had asked for bread, that is to say, a measure of understanding for a sincere case of conscience—an act of fatherhood directed not so much toward the Society of Saint Pius X as toward souls, promising You to form them into true sons of the Roman Church; unfortunately, we received a stone.
We had asked for a fish, that is to say, the possibility of temporarily obtaining the necessary means to continue forming good priests, so that they might pursue their mission of making Our Lord known to souls; unfortunately, we received a serpent.
We had asked for an egg, promising to return it as soon as possible. Indeed, the holy Tradition that we preserve within souls belongs to the Church, our Mother—and not to the Society of Saint Pius X—and we are certain that one day a Pope will wish to employ it for the good of the universal Church; unfortunately, we received a scorpion.
We had asked to be instructed and confirmed in the faith of all time; instead, we have been declared schismatic a second time.
Despite the sanctions levelled against us, the Society of Saint Pius X sincerely renews the promise it has already expressed to Your Holiness. Allow me, in this regard, to freely reiterate what I have previously stated:
“The Society promises You […] to devote all its energies to preserving Tradition and placing it at the service of the Church. In doing so, the Society of Saint Pius X does not merely maintain ancient customs; it fosters and preserves priestly vocations, religious vocations, and large, deeply Christian families—in a word, everything that manifests the vitality of the Church, of grace, and of the Catholic faith. Our intention is not to offer the Church a museum of antiquities, but rather the entirety of Tradition: fruitful, a source of spiritual life, embodied and lived out within souls.
“[…] I am certain that one day You yourself, or one of Your successors, will be able and willing to utilise this service, the offering of which, within the Church and for the Church, constitutes our sole reason for being.” (Personal letter addressed to His Holiness on 21 November 2025)
But above all, the Society of Saint Pius X promises You today that it will not receive these new sanctions—objectively unjust and invalid—with bitterness or revolt.
These recent condemnations, like those of the past, strike at what we hold most dear: our attachment to our Mother, the Roman Church. Yet, even in this trial, all things must work together for the good of souls and of the Church herself. Therefore, these condemnations compel us to love Holy Church even more, and to provide for her needs with all our strength, now more than ever. For this very reason, the Society of Saint Pius X willingly offers up the suffering caused by these new sanctions for the good of the universal Church and of Your Holiness.
We are certain that one day You yourself, or one of Your successors, will wish to adopt the program of Saint Pius X: “To restore all things in Christ,” Instaurare omnia in Christo.
On that day, the Holy Father will discover in the Society of Saint Pius X not a nest of serpents and scorpions, but a small army of loyal sons, ready to do anything to sustain Him in the restoration of all things in Our Lord, and to vindicate before all mankind the imprescriptible rights of Christ the King over all souls and over all nations.
On that day, the Holy Father will discover, with great joy and profound consolation, authentically Catholic souls whose bond with the Church was never founded upon the shifting sands of an ambiguous dialogue, but upon the rock of the faith of Peter.
We ask the Most Holy Virgin Mary to hasten the dawning of that day, and we pray, above all, that Your Holiness may experience this joy and consolation as soon as possible.
In the meantime, if You are able, despite Your recent decision, bless us as Your sons. For us, nothing has changed, and nothing ever will change.
Trusting in Divine Providence, from which nothing is hidden and which reads into the depths of every man’s heart,
I remain, Most Holy Father, your most devoted son in the Lord.
Don Davide Pagliarani
SSPX link to letter
