Vatican Reminder: SSPX ordinations are illegitimate

July 6, 2011 by  
Filed under Patrick's Blog

This tidbit was posted on the Vatican Radio website in early May, but I did not see it till recently:

The recent priestly ordinations celebrated by the Fraternity of Saint Pius X are to be considered “illegitimate”, confirmed Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican Press Office Director, responding to journalists’ questions on Tuesday.  Father Lombardi repeated what was affirmed by Pope Benedict XVI in his Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church of March 10, 2009:

“As long as the Society [of Saint Pius X] does not have a canonical status in the Church, its ministers do not exercise legitimate ministries in the Church (…). Until the doctrinal questions are clarified, the Society has no canonical status in the Church, and its ministers (…) do not legitimately exercise any ministry in the Church.”