In early July, the Vatican announced that members of the Society of St Pius X and their supporters had been excommunicated from the Catholic Church. The actions of the Society of St Pius X have now led to a schism. Bernd Hillebrand from the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Graz explains what this means for the future of the members and their supporters, and what the consequences are for members of the Society of St Pius X who receive the sacraments.
Why have the members of the Society of St Pius X and their supporters been excommunicated at this particular time?
They have now been excommunicated because the Society consecrated four bishops. These are unauthorised episcopal consecrations and, under canon law, the Society is thereby automatically subject to excommunication. This is, as it were, the final straw. The schism between the Society of St Pius X and the Catholic Church, however, essentially stems from the fact that the Society does not accept the teachings of the last Council, the Second Vatican Council. Essentially, they reject three points of the Council: religious freedom, ecumenism and the current development of the Church, in which laypeople and clergy shape the Church together. However, even more serious differences are at play here, for example, the fact that the Society espouses anti-Semitic and anti-democratic positions. Through its radical anti-modernist stance, it undermines human dignity itself.
The Vatican speaks of a schism. What does that mean? Is there now a new church?
A schism means that there is a split between the Catholic Church and the Society of St Pius X. As a result, they are excluded from the Catholic Church and from receiving the sacraments. They have excommunicated themselves – excluded from the community – through the unauthorised episcopal consecrations in Switzerland.
This does not yet make them a church in their own right. They are a Christian movement, but one which currently has no constitution or statutes of its own. Prior to the lifting of the excommunication by Pope Benedict, they were part of a movement within the Catholic Church, which they are no longer.
What does this mean for people who have received the sacraments from members of the Society of St Pius X, perhaps even without realising it?
As the Society was part of the Catholic Church up until the time of the unauthorised episcopal consecrations, the sacraments administered up to that point were valid and lawful. Following the excommunication – that is, at present and in future – sacraments administered by members of the Society of St Pius X are not permitted and are not formally valid. Anyone who receives them therefore excludes themselves from the Catholic Church, as they thereby place themselves within a different community and outside the community of the Catholic Church.