From the Archives: Neither Schismatic nor Excommunicated
In 1993, the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) published a series of apologetic articles in the collection, Is Tradition Excommunicated? The full work is available from Angelus Press. Due to an influx of shopworn accusations against the Society over the years, excerpts from the collection have been published online, including the 1988 study, “Neither Schismatic nor Excommunicated.”
Appearing originally in the pages of Courrier de Rome (the French-language version of the Italian SiSiNoNo), this article defends the SSPX from the false claims that it is either in schism or that its members are excommunicated. Although Pope Benedict XVI formally lifted the contested excommunications against the SSPX’s bishops in 2009, some detractors persist in claiming that some or all of the Society’s clerics and religious are excommunicated or that the SSPX itself is in a state of schism.
“Neither Schismatic nor Excommunicated” meets these accusations head on while also providing context regarding the canonical and doctrinal issues surrounding Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre’s decision to consecrate four bishops for the SSPX in 1988.
Read the text of “Neither Schismatic nor Excommunicated” here. To order a hard copy of this and the other works included in Is Tradition Excommunicated?, please visit Angelus Press’s online store.
