Archbishop Viganò to SSPX head: Your fidelity shows the failure of the Vatican II ‘revolution’
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò suggested that Pope Leo XIV himself is in ‘schism,’ along with a ‘conciliar-synodal church’ distinct from the Catholic Church.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò
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Mon Jul 6, 2026 - 12:14 pm EDT
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(LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has written an open letter to the superior general of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) declaring that the Society’s “fidelity” amid its announced excommunication shows the failure of the “revolution” of the Second Vatican Council.
Viganò offered his “full support” to the SSPX bishops, particularly those newly consecrated, as well as the entire Society amid the decree of excommunication issued by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The archbishop suggested that Pope Leo XIV himself is in “schism,” along with a “conciliar-synodal church” distinct from the Catholic Church.
“The ruthless decree and the note from the former Holy Office, with their harshness toward those who have the sole ‘fault’ of wanting to remain Catholic, once again reveal the schism underway between the pope and the papacy itself: the conciliar-synodal church that attempts to eclipse the Catholic Church,” Viganò wrote in a letter he posted to X on Sunday.
“While it shows indulgence, if not open complicity, toward true schisms and abuses of every kind, it reserves the stones for those who guard and transmit the faith,” continued Viganò, echoing the words of SSPX Superior General Father Davide Pagliarani, who lamented that the Society only received a “stone” from the Vatican after its requests for “a measure of understanding for a sincere case of conscience.”
“And it is precisely your fidelity that makes evident the failure of the conciliar revolution and the vitality of Tradition,” said Viganò, referring to the “revolution” of the Second Vatican Council, on which he has written often.
It is the SSPX’s reservations about ambiguous or seemingly erroneous portions of the Second Vatican Council that have posed a stumbling block to its “regularization” by the Vatican.
“To the priests, clerics, and lay faithful of the Fraternity founded by the Venerable Msgr. Marcel Lefebvre, allow me, dear Don Davide, to say with affection: Do not let yourselves be troubled. Remain steadfast in the faith, in the immutable doctrine, in the priesthood and in the eternal Holy Mass, faithful to Holy Roman Church, in the luminous witness to Christ the King and Pontiff,” Viganò concluded.
The scandal-plagued “Tucho” Fernández published a decree of excommunicationon July 2 declaring the six bishops of the Society of St. Pius X automatically excommunicated after the consecration of four new bishops without papal approval.
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Fernández’s office also published an explanatory note, labeling all SSPX priests as “schismatics” subject to excommunication and declaring that confessions heard by them and marriages they witness to be invalid. It also warns the faithful who “formally adhere to the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X” could face excommunication.
The SSPX has consistently maintained that the consecration of new bishops is necessary for the survival of its apostolic work amid the “state of necessity” in the Church and has rejected the validity of penalties imposed upon them.
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TAGGED AS
- Carlo Maria Viganò
- Davide Pagliarani
- Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith
- Excommunication
- Pope Leo XIV
- Schism
- Sspx
- SSPX consecrations
- SSPX excommunication
- Vatican
- Víctor Manuel Fernández
