Overview
- Superior Davide Pagliarani told Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández in a public letter that the society will not suspend the rite and rejects dialogue conditioned on a delay.
- Fernández invited Pagliarani to Rome on Feb. 12 for theological talks on Vatican II, contingent on halting the ceremony.
- The group cites irreconcilable differences over Vatican II and argues new bishops are needed for its pastoral survival.
- SSPX says it will consecrate four bishops on July 1; the Vatican previously ordered the plan suspended and has announced no further measures.
- The confrontation echoes Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre’s unauthorized 1988 consecrations and resulting excommunications later eased by Benedict XVI, as SSPX now oversees a sizable global network of clergy and institutions.