No sooner are my spirits lifted by the prospect of what seems to be imminent “excommunications” for the SSPX, then I’m abruptly doused with the cold water of a communication from a friend, opining that the GREC plan for the reinsertion of the SSPX into the conciliar church is in full swing.
I outline the argument for my readers below, in order that they be prepared for anything.
What do you think?
In one of the several posts The Seraphim has published on the subject of the forthcoming SSPX July 1 episcopal consecrations expressing concerns that the whole drama might be nothing more than a stage-crafted conflict designed to pacify Roman and SSPX constituents, but is in reality nothing more than a furtherance of the long ralliement of the SSPX to conciliar Rome, we discussed the pretext by which +Schneider contrived the means by which the SSPX might avoid conciliar excommunications, namely, a last minute about-face by Leo, ostensibly in his great “charity” for those on the periphery, giving permission for the consecrations (but in reality, already having long ago agreed to acceptable consecrands in order to keep the Society corralled within conciliar pastures, and thereby exercising some degree of control over a significant portion of the traditional counterrevolution).
Having just published an article exhorting the troops to hold fast in the face of reports from multiple sources that Rome has prepared a declaration of excommunication, making the conflict seem authentic, and erasing concerns regarding an under the table deal, we are forced by current events to give pause once again.
A story on FSSPX.news reports that the same +Schneider has just visited a Society school in Poland, discussing his early life under communist rule. The fact that the mutual praise between +Schneider and the SSPX continues, and that the Society continues to insinuate conciliar bishops into the normal life of the SSPX apostolate (a thing which was exceedingly rare before 2012), +Schneider in particular, has caused a friend to caution me on my optimism in the last article, suggesting that the Kabuki Theatre is not only alive and well, but that the big surprise will be that not only will Leo permit the consecrations (despite all the noise about the preparation of a declaration of schism), but driving the final nail into the coffin of the Society, will declare that the primary consecrating bishop will not be Fellay or de Galarreta, but in this scenario, +Schneider will be made the head of a personal prelature, and perform the SSPX consecrations himself!
It will be a “miracle!”
Too outlandish? Nobody will sit still for this? A conciliar bishop consecrating SSPX bishops would throw the Society into turmoil and internal conflict, and produce a schism?
Think again.
Bishops and regularization, all in one deft move.
The Society has been preparing the terrain -wittingly or unwittingly- since at least 2017, with the advent of +Vitus Huonder to an SSPX school in Switzerland. At first, the SSPX said he was only there to live out his retirement in quiet seclusion, with no official apostolate, and the faithful bought it. Soon he was saying public Masses, and the faithful tolerated it. He heard confessions, and there was no objection. Soon the SSPX would take the plunge, and have him consecrate holy oils. There were a few ripples, and +de Mallerais famously refused to use his oils for confirmation, but for the most part, the people swallowed it. When +Huonder died, he was entombed next to Lefebvre, and the people praised him.
In all this, Rome was paying attention. Mission accomplished.
Fast-forward to 2026: Schneider is marketed as traditional, and nobody objects. The SSPX has long since ceased to have any concerns regarding conciliar ordinations and consecrations (the Huonder consecration of holy oils was the final test).
It makes perfect sense.
The time is right.
The agreement struck behind closed doors will elicit Te Deums throughout the world as a miracle, and few will notice (or care) that Rome has consented to the final step in the long ralliement of the SSPX: The approval even for bishops and regularization.
It will not be the final break with the conciliar church, but the final capture of the SSPX.
We are most interested to hear your comments regarding this theory!
Important note regarding episcopal consecrations in the traditional rite:
Some have dismissed the threat inherent in assigning +Schneider the principal consecrator, supposing that so long as Fellay and/or de Gallareta assist, validity is certain.
But the primary purpose of having three bishops at episcopal consecrations, since the Council of Nicea, was not to ensure validity, but to demonstrate unity and liceity.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia:
“The part assigned by the Roman Pontifical in its present form to the assistant bishops is, after helping to place the book of the Gospels on the shoulders of the elect, to join the consecrator in laying hands on his head, and in saying over him the words Accipe Spiritum Sanctum. But it is the consecrator alone who, with extended hands, says the Eucharistic prayer, which constitutes the "essential form" of the rite.”
In other words, with only Schneider pronouncing the essential form, would doubt be injected into the July 1 SSPX consecrations (and subsequently, to all future priests they might ordain for the SSPX)? Or does the participation of the other two bishops, despite them not pronouncing the essential form, somehow suffice?
If so, how/why?
Update from subscriber Kev below clarifies the matter:
“The CE is from 1913. Pius XII in his Allocution of 1956, stated:
“We recall, in this connection, what We said in Our Apostolic Constitution Episcopalis Consecrationis, November 30, 1944. We there determined that in the consecration of a bishop, the two bishops who accompany the consecrating prelate should have the intention of consecrating the bishop-elect, and that consequently they should perform the exterior actions and pronounce the words by which the power and the grace to be transmitted are signified and given. It does not suffice, then, for them to unite their wills with the will of the principal consecrator and to declare that they make their own his words and his actions. They must, themselves, perform these actions and pronounce the essential words.”
So, whether Pius in his 1944 Constitution changed or clarified the role of the co-consecrators, from thenceforth they pronounce the essential rite.”
If it's Kabuki theater, then they will quickly need to throw in a novena for 'Pope' Leo to authorize the consecrations, which he then will 'miraculously' do. I used to think that Francis would authorize new consecrations and generously offer to perform them himself. ;-)
Under your hypothesis, the plan to invalidate the SSPX bishops would only work, however, if they were to find a way to exclude Bishops de Galarreta and Fellay from the consecrations altogether, since as co-consecrators they would make the consecration valid (even if they are not among the two *principal* co-consecrators), would they not?