Taken from The Recusant #65 Epiphany 2026

Quote:“In addition to meeting the priests and brothers individually, the Superior gave two talks. One of the matters addressed in these conferences was the forthcoming consecration of new bishops. Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated four bishops in 1988 for the survival of Tradition, because the Pope and the bishops were openly acting to the detriment of the Faith and of the flock by hiding the Catholic Truth and, worse still, placing heresy and other errors on a level with this Truth. The situation forty years later is worse. … It is for this reason that, sooner or later, the current Superior General of the Society will have to imitate Archbishop Lefebvre’s prudent, courageous and fully justified decision to conse

SSPX head says ‘catastrophic’ Pope Francis decisions would justify new bishops
SSPX Superior General Fr. Pagliarani said the Francis pontificate embodied a lasting state of necessity, citing 'epochal,' 'catastrophic' decisions which remain on the books.



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Quote: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.

Quote:

Fr. Davide Pagliarani’s address

Translated with the help of AI and checked by a French speaker.

“The future belongs to God, and to Eternal Truth.”

It’s a million-dollar question, it’s a question… Of course, I risk disappointing most of you. I’m not here to give dates or names, but certainly to entrust you with this prayer intention.

So what can we say? First, the question of the state of necessity. Is there today a state of necessity, as in ’88? If you remember, Archbishop Lefebvre considered the ecumenical meeting of ’86 in Assisi somewhat a sign of providence.

Today, especially after the pontificate of Pope Francis, a pontificate that contains decisions which were… epochal, catastrophic… and which remain. Pope Francis has entered into eternity, but all these decisions remain. For my part, I believe 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.

This is very important to understand.

And this state of necessity, concretely – because we must always return to these principles – the state of necessity is the fact that 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. This, I would say, is much easier to observe, to demonstrate today than in ’88.

In this extremely delicate question, we would like as much as possible to follow the supernatural prudence of Archbishop Lefebvre. What Archbishop Lefebvre did in ’88 is an act of virtue. I would say more than that, it’s an act of supernatural prudence which shows, I would say, his docility to the Holy Spirit. It wasn’t so obvious: not everyone agreed in ’88 with this decision.

Archbishop Lefebvre knew how to wait, knew how to pray; the matter matured well, and when the moment came, he made his decision in a clear, noble, and public manner, explaining the reasons. And we would like, as much as possible, to imitate this supernatural prudence of Archbishop Lefebvre.

It’s an act by which Archbishop Lefebvre made it work (sic). The more time passes, the more… the camp of those who recognize them is wide, wider. It’s an act that was done, accomplished with the Spirit, to serve the Church. That’s what’s very important. That’s what must be well explained to all new faithful. Everything the society does, it is not a challenge to the Church. It’s a way to serve the Church, and I would say – to return to the consecrations – if one day we arrive there, we must not only prepare the ceremony, give the apologetic reasons, if I may say; we must prepare hearts.

It’s a grace, it’s a grace, and above all it’s something, once again, that we accomplish for the good of the Church herself. It’s something that goes beyond our immediate necessity. Why? Because the society itself is a work that exists to serve the Church, certainly with extraordinary means, but which are proportionate to the gravity of the crisis. It’s very important, I think, to prepare the heart in prayer.

And that’s it.

Certainly, when the time comes, the society will make its approaches to the Holy See to explain the situation, the reasons, to explain our spirit; and of course when the time comes, in the greatest transparency, everything will be explained to the faithful; what we say, what we do, and in what spirit.

But I would say the spirit; you already know it, I think, with what we’ve just said, you can already grasp that the spirit of the society is the same as always. Yes, and this rocket changes speed, changes altitude a bit, but it’s always the same rocket.

I think that’s the whole beauty of today, it’s really to feel that the society has remained faithful to the reasons for which it was founded. And the person of Father Schmidberger and Bishop Fellay in particular, was no less so.