Swiss bishop revokes permission for SSPX to use diocesan churches

Bishop Charles Morerod said the SSPX consecrations showed 'they have no willingness to enter into any reconciliation process.'

FRIBOURG, Switzerland (LifeSiteNews) — A Swiss bishop said he would no longer allow the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) to use diocesan churches. On July 12, the Swiss news outlet Kath.ch published an interview with Bishop Charles Morerod of the Diocese of Lausanne-Geneva-Fribourg, who stated that his diocese would no longer approve any new requests from the SSPX to use churches in Fribourg. The move follows the Society’s episcopal consecrations without papal mandate on July 1, and the subsequent decree of excommunication with an explanatory note published by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández on July 2.

All permissions previously granted to the SSPX to celebrate Masses and other sacraments in diocesan sacred buildings were revoked. “I don’t see how it would be conceivable to respond to such a request if it were made today,” Morerod remarked. “If at that time I had agreed to the use of a diocesan church, it was in a spirit of good will, in a context in which a rapprochement of the SSPX with Rome was still possible.

But the episcopal consecrations of July 1 ... which were carried out after numerous warnings, outstretched hands and calls for dialogue on the part of the Vatican, show that they have no willingness to enter into any reconciliation process.” “The Church is always ready to enter into dialogue with everyone. It will certainly be necessary to engage in an ecumenical dialogue with the SSPX, similar to the one we have with other communities that are not united with Rome,” Morerod added.

The Swiss city of Fribourg is closely linked to the origins of the SSPX because, in 1969, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre obtained from François Charrière, then the city’s bishop, approval for the “International St. Pius X Convictus,” which would later give rise to the Seminary and, eventually, to the Priestly Society of St. Pius X. On October 5, 2019, the Society gathered in the St. Maurice Church in Fribourg to celebrate their 50th anniversary with Morerod’s permission, even if the parish made clear that the decision “in no way equates to an approval or support of this fundamentalist (sic) movement.”

On July 11, the SSPX filed a preliminary recourse against the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. According to canon law, once a recourse is lodged, the penalty and its effects are suspended until the case is resolved. For this reason, it is inaccurate to treat or label the Society as “schismatic” even from a juridical standpoint.

It has become increasingly common for dioceses and parishes across Europe to lend consecrated churches to Christian communities not in full communion with Rome — such as Orthodox or even evangelical groups — for liturgical celebrations or cultural events. In some cases, sacred spaces have been used for initiatives entirely unrelated to worship, even those with blasphemous and questionable taste, as illustrated by recent performances during Paris’s Nuit Blanche festival. Furthermore, the narrative that the Society of St. Pius X has been deaf to Vatican appeals is inaccurate.

In fact, the opposite appears true: the Vatican has repeatedly failed to respond to the Society’s own requests for dialogue. Since 2025, Superior General Fr. Davide Pagliarani had sought a personal audience with Pope Leo XIV to explain the Society’s situation and the urgent need for new bishops.

Only after the consecrations were announced did Cardinal Fernández intervene, arranging a meeting that ultimately led nowhere and threatened latae sententiae excommunication. Despite the profession of faith sent by the Society to all Roman cardinals and letters addressed directly to the Pope, Leo XIV never replied to Fr. Pagliarani.

It was only on the eve of the consecrations that the Pope issued a public letter urging the Society not to proceed, once again threatening excommunication. Moreover, the very notion of “ecumenical dialogue” applies to Christians who are not Catholic, with the aim of fostering eventual reunion with the Catholic Faith. In the case of the SSPX, there is no rejection of Catholic dogma — least of all of papal authority.

The Society has repeatedly affirmed its submission to the reigning Pontiff, as evidenced by the fact that its Masses are celebrated una cum Leone, explicitly naming Pope Leo XIV in the Canon. The Society’s tensions with the Vatican arise in part from purported difficulties in reconciling statements made in documents from the Second Vatican Council with the perennial Magisterium. Ultimately, the real obstacle lies not in the Society’s stance but in the Vatican’s reluctance to engage in a serious, in‐depth examination of its arguments.

The Holy See and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith have preferred to dismiss the Society as “fundamentalist,” “schismatic” or “fanatical,” rather than confront the theological and pastoral questions it raises — questions that continue to resonate among many Catholics seeking clarity and continuity within the Church’s apostolic tradition.