Despite their controversy with the Second Vatican Council their priests and bishops are valid, but suspended since their nearby dioceses do not recognize them and are canonically irregular. In the late 1980s, Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated 4 bishops without the consent of the pope and broke Canon Law. In response to this, Pope John Paul II excommunicated him and the newly consecrated bishops. Pope Benedict even said in his letter concerning the consecrations of Lefebvre that “even though they have been freed of the canonical penalty, do not legitimately exercise any ministry in the Church.” However, about 20 years later, Pope Benedict XVI uplifted the canonical penalty of the SSPX, but this does not mean their Masses are fully licit yet. The Sacraments offered by the SSPX are typically valid, but illicit, or unlawful. The bishops whom Lefebvre consecrated are valid and contain the fullness of Holy Orders, and the priests of the SSPX retain the ability to validly say Mass. However, the Sacraments of Matrimony and Penance require the priests to enjoy proper faculties from a diocese or have proper delegation, and therefore were invalid in the SSPX. The priests of SSPX churches may be within the bounds or really close to the territory of a parish priest of the diocese, but according to Canon 1108 §1, they have no power to celebrate marriage, which means ordination alone is not sufficient.ĭiocesan bishops, according to Canon 515, must constitute parishes in the dioceses, and these churches erected by the Society will not show up in parish registry on the diocese’s website since it does not recognize them. Canon 966 §2 also states “a priest can be given this faculty either by the law itself or by a grant made by the competent authority according to the norm of can.
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