(7) SSPX not in schism - Testimonies

CARDINAL CASTILLO LARA,

President of the Pontifical Commission for the Authentic Interpretation of Canon Law, explained that, "The act of consecrating a bishop (without the Pope's permission) is not in itself a schismatic act"  (La Repubblica, October 7, 1988).

COUNT NERI CAPPONI, D.Cn.L., LL.D

The retired Professor of Canon Law at the University of Florence, well-known in Vatican legal circles and accredited to argue cases before Rome's highest juridical body, the Apostolic Signatura, explains that for a schismatic act, it is not enough to merely consecrate a bishop without papal permission. "He must do something more. For instance, had he set up a hierarchy of his own, then it would have been a schismatic act. The fact is that Msgr. Lefebvre said 'I am creating bishops in order that my priestly order can continue. They do not take the place of other bishops. I am not creating a parallel church.' Therefore this act was not, per se, schismatic"  (Latin Mass Magazine, May-June 1993)

PROFESSOR GERINGER,

Canon Lawyer at the University of Munich

"With the Episcopal consecrations, Archbishop Lefebvre was by no means creating a schism."

FR. GERALD E MURRAY of the Archdiocese of New York, working for his Canon Law doctorate, received his license in Canon Law at Rome's famous Gregorian University, probably the Church's most prestigious institution of higher learning, in June, 1995, with a lengthy thesis entitled, "The Canonical Status of the Lay Faithful Associated with the Late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and the Society of Saint Pius X: Are they Excommunicated as Schismatics?" In his interview with Latin Mass Magazine, he says: "I have received a license in canon law and I've studied this topic, the excommunication of Archbishop Lefebvre, for my license thesis ... They're not excommunicated as schismatics, as far as I can see, because the Vatican has never said they are ... I come to the conclusion that, canonically speaking, he's not guilty of a schismatic act punishable by canon law. He's guilty of an act of disobedience to the Pope, but he did it in such a way that he could avail himself of a provision of the law that would prevent him from being automatically excommunicated (latae sententiae) for this act." Therefore, neither Archbishop Lefebvre, nor any of the bishops he consecrated, is excommunicated.

"In the case of the Society of Saint Pius X lay people or the priests, the Vatican never declared any priest or lay person to have become a schismatic." Therefore the priests and faithful are not excommunicated. "As far as I can see, the Holy See has never stated that mere attendance at a Mass said by a priest in the Society of Saint Pius X constitutes a schismatic act ... Let's say that you knew that the priest at your parish was teaching things contrary to the moral law or Catholic doctrine. Let's say he denied the existence of hell, or taught that divorced and remarried people could receive Communion. Could you go to a Society of Saint Pius X chapel to receive good doctrine? That seems better to me than hearing truly heretical sermons." (Latin Mass Magazine, Fall, 1995).

FR.PATRICK VALDINI,

Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law at the Catholic Institute of Paris said that Archbishop Lefebvre did not commit a schismatic act by the consecrations, for he didn't deny the Pope's primacy. "It is not the consecration of a bishop which creates the schism. What makes the schism is to give the bishop an apostolic mission." Which is something Archbishop Lefebvre never did (Question de Droit ou de confiance, L'Homme Nouveau, Feb.17, 1988).