The Society of Saint Pius X Superior General has urged the lay faithful attached to the society to remain steadfast as the society prepares for what is expected to be a prolonged canonical battle with the Holy See.

In a pastoral letter, Father Davide Pagliarani thanked supporters for their loyalty following the consecration of four bishops at Écône on 1 July. He also portrayed the Vatican’s response as an unjust humiliation borne for the sake of preserving what the Society describes as the Church’s tradition. The letter is the SSPX leadership’s first direct appeal to the laity since the Holy See declared that the bishops involved had incurred automatic excommunication.

Addressing the faithful directly, Father Pagliarani recalled the thousands who attended the consecrations at Écône where weather interrupted the liturgy. Quoting Psalm 17, the Superior General described the storm that swept across the ceremony as a moment that deepened rather than diminished his gratitude.

“I was the privileged witness to a liturgy of exceptional beauty,” Father Pagliarani wrote, before turning to what he described as an even more moving sight: “a vast crowd of faithful who remained in their places throughout the storm and prayed to Our Lady for the new bishops, for the Church, and for the Pope.”

The letter repeatedly returns to the role of the ordinary faithful, presenting them as the principal reason for the consecrations rather than the bishops themselves. “Ultimately, these consecrations were performed for each of you, dear faithful,” Father Pagliarani wrote. “Your souls are the true treasure entrusted to the Society.”

Father Pagliarani’s letter leaves little doubt that the Society rejects both the legal and theological basis of the Vatican’s conclusions.

“The consecrations have been condemned, and the severity of the sanctions imposed is unprecedented,” he wrote. While acknowledging that the bishops were the principal target of the decree, the Superior General argued that “even the faithful are affected.”

Father Pagliarani called the condemnation “utterly unjust”, and said it represented “an immense humiliation for people whose sole aim is to defend the true faith and work for the salvation of souls.”

The Superior General also suggested that the sanctions extend beyond individuals to the wider traditionalist cause itself. “Ultimately, it is Tradition itself, which we cherish above all else, that is excommunicated in all those who embody it,” the letter states. “It is obvious that, before God, such a condemnation cannot be valid.”

“If Providence allows a crisis such that the teaching of the faith is mysteriously obscured, that same faith must continue to live in souls,” Father Pagliarani wrote. The Superior General added that “the small candle that each of you received on the day of your baptism must remain lit in your heart and mind until the very last day.”

“The Fraternity will never abandon you,” Father Pagliarani concluded. “Your souls will never lose their value and worth in the eyes of its priests.”

AdVaticanum understands that the message was read to congregations across SSPX chapels on Sunday and had been circulated internally beforehand as part of an embargoed circular letter sent throughout the Society. According to information obtained by the publication, the accompanying internal circular letter by Fr Le Roux, Secretary General, also sought to prepare superiors and members for the next stage of the dispute following the Society’s preliminary canonical recourse against the Vatican decree, outlining the movement’s intentions as it navigates the post-consecration fallout.

Following the 1 July consecrations, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a decree on 2 July declaring that Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, Bishop Bernard Fellay as co-consecrator, and the four newly consecrated bishops had incurred latae sententiae excommunication under canons 1387 and 1364.

The accompanying explanatory note extended well beyond the declaration concerning the bishops. It stated that all sacred ministers of the Society are in schism and subject to the same penalty, described their sacramental ministry as illicit, asserted that confessions heard by SSPX priests and marriages celebrated by them are invalid, and warned clergy and faithful against formal adherence to the movement, citing the criteria established by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts in 1996.

The publication of the letter follows a series of increasingly detailed SSPX responses to the Vatican decree.

In in-house SSPX articles published after the sanctions, including Invalid Punishments, Valid Sacraments, followed by Nuclear Excommunication and Hundreds of Thousands of Catholics Purportedly Excommunicated: How Should We See This?, the Society maintained that the penalties are canonically null because a state of necessity excuses any alleged offence. It further argued that neither bishops, priests nor lay faithful had incurred excommunication and insisted that confessions and marriages remain valid through the Church’s principles governing supplied jurisdiction and matrimonial consent.

On 11 July, the SSPX General House lodged a preliminary recourse with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. In a communiqué published two days later, the Society stated that the appeal had been submitted under canon 1734 and the following canons, adding that it “has the effect of suspending the execution of the decree, in accordance with canon 1353.” The appeal, the communiqué said, had been presented “in a spirit of respect for ecclesiastical authority and of faithful attachment to justice, truth and the good of the Church.”

Whether that legal argument ultimately succeeds appears uncertain. In an interview published by AdVaticanum on 18 July, Archbishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, the former Secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, offered a detailed canonical assessment of the Holy See’s position. Archbishop Arrieta described the decree as “an act owed”, arguing that the dicastery merely declared a penalty that had already been incurred automatically under canon 1387.

The former Vatican official nevertheless distinguished between the declaration of excommunication and the faculties previously granted by Pope Francis. Regarding confessions, Archbishop Arrieta stated that the faculty had been granted by a pontifical act and therefore “an act of the same nature is required to revoke it.” Revocation, Archbishop Arrieta said, “requires direct authorisation from the Pope himself.”

On marriages, however, Archbishop Arrieta concluded that the present circumstances make it improbable that diocesan bishops could lawfully grant the necessary delegation, meaning marriages celebrated by SSPX clergy would be canonically null for lack of canonical form.

In the same article, a priest close to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith told AdVaticanum that the Society’s preliminary recourse was “unlikely to be granted”, arguing that the dicastery had not imposed a penalty but merely declared one already incurred for what was described as a well-known offence. Any lifting of the excommunications, the priest suggested, would require repentance by those involved.

With the preliminary recourse now before the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and internal correspondence indicating that the Society is preparing for the next phase of the confrontation, the pastoral appeal suggests that the SSPX expects the dispute to continue well beyond the coming months.