Diocese of Cubao Bishop Elias Ayuban Jr. has committed to pursue the path of charity and understanding in dealing with members of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) following Vatican’s decision to strip the conservative group of authority to perform sacraments and other religious rites of the Roman Catholic.

In a pastoral letter dated July 6, Ayuban said pastoral assistance will continue to be extended to SSPX followers, including celebrating the Holy Mass in Latin in churches under the Diocese of Cubao that are accessible to as many of its followers.

“To provide for the spiritual needs of those who follow the Society, we shall begin organizing a group of priests and lay faithful who will be able to competently and compassionately provide information, counseling, and pastoral assistance,” said Ayuban in the pastoral letter.

“We shall explore the possibility of providing additional Traditional Latin Masses accessible to a greater number of devotees in accordance with the prescriptions of Traditionis Custodes,” he added.

The Traditionis Custodes was issued by the late Pope Francis in a bid to restore unity of the Roman Catholic amid threats of undermining the Roman Catholic Church authority, including from the SSPX.

What went wrong

The Vatican’s decree against the SSPX stemmed from the decision of its leaders to consecrate four new bishops without the approval of the Pope, a direct violation of the existing rules that such solemn rite must have a go-signal of the leadership of Roman Catholic, currently under Pope Leo XIV.

The ceremony happened on July 1 in Switzerland and involved four new bishops—two from France, one from the United States and one from Switzerland— and presided by two bishops identified with the SSPX.

In response, all the six bishops were excommunicated by Vatican in a decree issued the following day. The order went further by asking those have been associated and continue to be associated with the SSPX to no longer participate in their liturgies.

According to Britannica, there are around 500,000 to 600,000 followers of SSPX worldwide, including in the Philippines.

What is SSPX

The SSPX is an ultra-conservative Catholic group founded by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970 in Ecône, Switzerland.

It is part of the movement in the Roman Catholic to restore many rituals and practices that were restricted by reforms initiated by the Second Vatican council in the early 1960s which include the use of vernacular languages in liturgies, including Filipino and other languages in the Philippines.

The SSPX, however, continues to hold the traditional Latin mass and this appeared to have been tolerated in the spirit of maintaining the unity of the Roman Catholic.

Not the first time

The group’s founder himself, Lefebvre, was excommunicated in 1988 exactly for the same offense, consecrating four bishops in the SSPX’s home in Ecône, Switzerland without the approval of then Pope John Paul II.

Lefebvre died in 1991 but according to Britannica, the SSPX remains active in various parts of the country and based on the SSPX website, it has 51 chapels in Asia, 25 of them are in the Philippines where Latin mass is held—including those under the Diocese of Cubao.

Almost 40 years later, the SSPX was placed again in the same spotlight for exactly the same offense—direct disobedience for a ceremony deemed as an act of schism.

According to Ayuban, “schism is not only a separation from the Successor of Peter, but also a refusal of being united with the Church. It is a wound to the unity of Christ’s body and goes against the very prayer of our Lord himself to the Father, that they may all be one.”

Ayuban explained that the such action by the SSPX have inflicted upon themselves a latae sententiae excommunication, which means that “by their very actions, the ministers of SSPX have willfully and deliberately chosen to exclude themselves from the communion of the Catholic Church.”

“This is not a punishment from the pope. This is a self-inflicted consequence of an action that attempts to break the unity of the Church,” he stressed.

Still God’s children

But for Ayuban, the entire SSPX community should not suffer from the “painful moment of discernment but also of being deprived of the sacraments.”

“You are also God’s children — our brothers and sisters who have genuinely loved the sacred liturgy and seriously devoted yourselves to Catholic tradition. I know that many of you never intended to reject what Mother Church teaches you or disobey the Holy Father,” he said.

“I want to assure you, that in these moments of great spiritual difficulty, you remain to be part of the Catholic Church and you will always have a place in the local church of Cubao,”Ayuban added.

He also urged the clergy and the faithful of the Diocese of Cubao to welcome SSPX followers with charity, understanding, and patience.

“Through preaching and catechism, may we avoid condemnation but approach the matter with pastoral tact and sensitivity. As we encourage the priests and lay faithful of the Society to seek reconciliation with the Church, we shall together collaborate and reflect on concrete opportunities and means for dialogue,” he said.