Adrian: Right now, Bishop, there is the issue of the SSPX planning a consecration on July 1, 2026, of a new bishop. What is your assessment of the situation?
Bishop Schneider: Yes, I know the Society because Pope Francis sent me more than ten years ago, together with three other bishops, to be a visitator of the Society of Saint Pius X. So I had inside knowledge.
At that time, all four bishops who visited them wrote a basically positive report to Pope Francis, and I think because of this positive report, he granted to the Society of Pius X the faculties for confession, which remain valid until now, and also to assist at matrimony.
So then I read all the documents, the life of Archbishop Lefebvre, and his writings. More and more, I am convinced that the work of Archbishop Lefebvre is a great work for the entire Church and will go down in history.
Of course, every community here on earth has its own defects and limitations. This is normal. But that is not the issue. We must look at the essential elements of society. They simply do nothing else but teach and proclaim the same faith handed down by the saints, the same faith as the Church has always ordered to be taught. They invented nothing new. When they proclaim the same faith as the saints and the popes proclaimed, there is nothing wrong with that.
They also celebrate the same Holy Mass, the liturgy as it was celebrated for centuries. Saint Pius V codified this liturgy. He did not invent it, nor did he reform it. He simply took the traditional Roman Rite from the centuries before Trent and gave it to the entire Latin Church as the model, as the surest way of celebrating the Holy Mass. And this is what the Society of Pius X is doing.
The formation of seminarians is also observed and carried out exactly according to the norms that the Holy See gave over the centuries. They observe not their own norms, but what the Holy See commanded. They also use the same catechisms as our grandfathers used all over the world, the Catechism of Pius X and other catechisms.
Since the Catholic faith did not change before the council or after the council, they do the same. Therefore, from this point of view, we must be grateful to the Society of Pius X for simply handing over the faith of our forefathers, the faith of the popes of centuries, the liturgy of the saints, and the formation of priests and lay people. The problem is, of course, more a juridical problem, a legal problem. They do not have full juridical recognition from the Holy See.
But in this case, the juridical aspect is secondary because of the obvious confusion and emergency situation within the Church, where the Holy See is not fully guaranteeing the keeping of one hundred percent integrity of the Catholic faith.
The Holy See is demanding from the Society of Pius X, as a precondition for any recognition and permission for consecrations, that they accept some ambiguous affirmations of the council, accept ambiguous ecumenical methods, and accept ideas that relativize the uniqueness of our Lord. There is also the new idea of permanent collegiality of the episcopacy, which was not present in history as Vatican II established it.
Basically, in practice, the episcopacy is becoming subject to episcopal conferences, a democratic body that is suffocating the diocesan bishop, who by divine right is a successor of the Apostles. The bishops’ conference is not of divine right. It is an invention of our time.
These are the main problems between the Holy See and the Society. The Society says, “We cannot accept what is ambiguous,” and the Holy See says, “Yes, you must accept the new method of ecumenism, religious freedom, and also the new Mass, which contains some elements that are not so clear pragmatically.”
Therefore, I made an appeal to the Pope, “Please, Holy Father, be a good shepherd, a generous shepherd. These are also your children, half a million Catholics spread throughout the world in the Society of Pius X, more than eight hundred priests and religious seminarians who truly love you, who pray for you daily at Mass, who recognize you as Pope and as the local bishop.
Why can’t you give them an exception? At the same time, you are so generous with other confessions, receiving the Lady Archbishop of Canterbury, engaging with other religions, visiting mosques, and so on.
Why can you not show the same generous choice toward your own children and grant them, in an exceptional way, permission to consecrate bishops who will love you and pray for you? Later, you can find a solution with them. It takes time.”
And so I appeal again: Holy Father, do not go down in history, dear Pope Leo XIV, as the Pope who accepted or permitted there to be a schism, or new excommunications, and a wound opened again that was simply not necessary.
You could avoid this wound of excommunications and anathema. You can avoid it with a generous pastoral gesture. This is my appeal, and the appeal of so many children. Holy Father, be a father. Be a son of Augustine, to make peace. Speak from your heart, not from your entourage, who may influence you and counsel you to excommunicate them. Please do this as a good son of Augustine. Speak your heart and avoid this wound of separation. You can do it. You are the father of all.
Adrian: Amen.
Bishop Schneider: Thank you.
Adrian: Yes, we are praying for that also, Bishop, that it will happen. I saw that Cardinal Fernandez is preparing for excommunication if they push through on July 1. I hope the Holy Spirit will work through them.