"SSPX head says ‘catastrophic’ Pope Francis decisions would justify new bishops"

"Father Davide Pagliarani, superior general of the Society of St. Pius X, addressed questions surrounding episcopal consecrations and the Church’s present crisis during a December 13 talk in Friedrichshafen, Germany, urging prayer, patience, and what he called 'supernatural prudence.'

Speaking in French and translated at points into German, Pagliarani told those present that he would not offer 'dates or names' regarding future consecrations, instead asking the faithful to take the matter up as a serious prayer intention. The address was attended by senior SSPX figures, including former Superior Generals Bishop Bernard Fellay and Father Franz Schmidberger.

Pagliarani framed the discussion around the question of a 'state of necessity,' recalling that in 1988 Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre judged such a state to exist in the wake of the 1986 Assisi interreligious meeting. He argued that the situation has only intensified since then, particularly in light of the pontificate of Francis.

'After the pontificate of Pope Francis,' Pagliarani said, that period contained decisions that were 'epochal, catastrophic … and which remain.'

He added that 'his pontificate, from beginning to end, represents and expresses this state of necessity – which in general, independent of the consecrations, justifies the apostolate of the society.'

While noting that Francis has since died, he insisted that the effects of those decisions endure. In his assessment, the entire pontificate 'represents and expresses this state of necessity,' a condition that, he said, already justifies the society’s apostolate independently of any question of consecrations.

He defined the state of necessity in concrete terms:

When we enter a normal church, an ordinary, common parish, we unfortunately no longer find today the guarantees of finding the necessary means to work out our salvation: the preaching of truth, and the sacraments.

According to Pagliarani, this reality is 'much easier to observe' today than it was in 1988...

The 1988 episcopal consecrations resulted in a declaration of an automatic excommunication on the part of Lefebvre, his co-consecrator Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer, and the four men consecrated. The validity of this excommunication was always contested by the Society of St Pius X. In 2009, several years after the deaths of the consecrators, the Vatican declared that the excommunication of the remaining four men had been lifted. Since then, two of the bishops have died, leaving only Bishops Bernard Fellay and Alfonso de Galarreta."