No, The SSPX Are Not Schismatics

Consecrating bishops without Papal mandate is not a schismatic act. But the SSPX will need to make this case before the consecrations on July 1 to keep their leverage over Rome.

Now that the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) announced their decision to consecrate auxiliary bishops on July 1, 2026 with or without the approval of Rome, everyone from the 1958 sedevacantists to the Jesuits at America Magazine desperately want to label the SSPX as schismatics. Why?

Since Vatican II promotes Protestantism and schism by proclaiming Protestants (those who actually reject in principle the office of the Papacy and the Pope’s juridical authority) as a part of the People of God and in partial communion with the Church, when the Modernists use the term “schismatics,” they use it in a derogatory way. Like calling someone a “racist” or a “Nazi.” Using the term itself is designed to harm someone’s reputation without having to provide any additional detail to justify the attack. Would they ever admit that under their own erroneous standard imposed by Vatican II, the SSPX are actually People of God? Of course not.

Unfortunately, many Sedevacantists are using this lazy term as well as a backhanded way to insult the Society. Despite the fact the Sedes reject Vatican II, deny Leo maintains any authority whatsoever, and continue to consecrate their own bishops without any known Papal mandate, they feel it necessary to attack the Society because the Society has declined to publicly make the judgment as an organization that all the men who claimed the Chair of Peter since 1958 were antipopes despite their apparent claim to Apostolic Succession. There is no gray area or mercy according to the typical Sedevacantist when it comes the difficult problem of the crisis in the Church. If you reach a different conclusion when judging the Catholicity of individual members of the hierarchy, anything else you do and say is apparently wrong, not valid, and worthy of attack.

And so, it seems, the Society simply cannot win. But I suggest, that in fact, the Society is in a better position than most realize.

The Society is doing something the Modernist heretics refuse to do: consecrate bishops that actually believe in the doctrines of the Catholic faith.

They are also doing something the Sedevacantists cannot do: expose the crisis in the Church without first having to prove there has been no Pope since 1958.

This becomes a very dangerous situation for the Vatican’s Modernist hierarchy. It is dangerous because the Vatican II revolution thrives on the fact that it’s false teachings, especially religious liberty (indifferentism), ecumenism, and collegiality (synodality) are matters no longer subject to question among a super-majority of typical tithe paying Catholics attending the Novus Ordo. The Vatican II revolution is now almost fully implemented.

The last thing the hierarchy wants is for those Novus Ordo Catholics starting to ask questions about why Leo will not just give permission to these “strange,” but seemingly harmless, Catholics who have a lot of children that simply like to listen to the Mass in a language they do not understand.

Nor do the Modernists have any interest in exposing the fact that there are pious Catholics out there who can point to specific teachings contained in Vatican II documents that contradict prior Church magisterial teachings, and that those errors account for the fact that the religion they know today is not the same Catholic religion that their great-grandparents knew.

Such questions are not ones they want to answer. I know, from experience, that most Novus Ordo seminarian trained priests are not capable of defending Vatican II from traditionalist arguments in any persuasive way. Nor are there are not enough Larry Chapps to go around explaining to every parish how to fit a square peg into a circle hole.

So, while it may seem like the SSPX is caught between a rock and a hard place, I suggest it is the Modernist hierarchy that is in the pickle. They cannot ignore such a public action taken by a religious order with hundreds of priests and thousands of lay members who refuse to accept the Vatican II synodal agenda. At the same time, if they come down hard on the Society, they risk inviting Catholics who have up until this point remained completely aloof to traditional Catholic Church politics to not only start asking questions but start doing their own research.

Therefore, my recommendation to the Society would be to proceed with the consecration of the bishops as planned on July 1st. Do not invite any more discussions or meetings. There is no point now, if there ever was one.

But before the consecrations happen, take the opportunity to commence a public relations campaign designed to target all Catholics, not just traditionalists, to explain why there is a need to consecrate traditional bishops outside the normal channels. Make the consecrations as public and widely known as possible. Force the Vatican hierarchy to explain themselves! Trust me, they will have a much harder time than the Society will have when explaining their position.

As part of this public relations campaign, it will be necessary to explain why consecrating bishops without permission from Rome is not a schismatic act because that is going to be the propaganda pushed by their detractors. In this video below, I give a short presentation on why consecrating bishops without the permission of Rome is not schismatic.