Popes Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis, and now Leo XIV. According to the Society of St. Pius X, all of them are mistaken.
The Popes accepted the teachings of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), affirmed human rights, embraced the liberal constitutional state, and adopted a renewed understanding of Judaism.
For more than 50 years, however, the Society has insisted that all of these are modern errors.
Most recently, it reaffirmed this position in a Declaration of Catholic Faith, sent by its Superior General, Father Davide Pagliarani, to Pope Leo XIV in May 2026, and again in greater detail in its Profession of Faith, published on June 24, 2026.
In practical terms, this means that a relatively small group—with roughly 700 priests worldwide despite its continued growth—claims to know better than the Pope what authentic Catholic faith and tradition truly are.
The logical conclusion is striking.
Around 200 cardinals, thousands of bishops, and countless priests and religious throughout the world are all, according to the Society, fundamentally mistaken because they follow the Church’s magisterium rather than the Society’s interpretation.
The Society believes it knows better. It rejects religious freedom and insists that salvation exists only within the Catholic Church.
According to its Profession of Faith, the subordination of institutions and nations to Jesus Christ is the only legitimate path, while “the secularism of institutions and nations is an implicit denial of Christ’s divinity.”
Taken seriously, this vision seeks not merely a different Catholic Church but, in key respects, a different kind of state—ultimately a Catholic confessional state.
The respectful language of disobedience
There is something almost unintentionally ironic about the Society’s description of the Pope in its Profession of Faith: “The Roman Pontiff, the Vicar of Christ, is the sole holder of supreme authority over the entire Church.”
Yet why, then, has the Society spent more than 50 years refusing to obey that very Pope?
Even Pope Leo XIV continued to seek dialogue until the day before the consecrations.
In a personal letter, he emphasized the path of dialogue while warning of the consequences of committing a “schismatic act.”
The Society’s Superior General promptly replied, expressing gratitude that the Pope had written to him personally. Yet he confirmed that the consecrations would proceed.
At the same time, he insisted: “It is far from our intention to separate ourselves from the Roman Church.”
But that is precisely what the Society has done through its first episcopal consecrations since 1988. The pattern is unmistakable.
Whether under John Paul II, Benedict XVI—who went extraordinarily far in lifting the previous excommunications of the Society’s bishops—or now Leo XIV, every papal effort at dialogue has ultimately met the same response: the Society refuses to follow the universal Church.
If the Pope truly possesses “supreme authority,” why refuse to obey him?
Where Peter Is
The Successor of Peter is the guardian of the Church’s unity, and every schism is painful.
Yet when a group has spent more than five decades openly resisting the Pope while simultaneously professing loyalty to him—including the loyalty oaths taken by the newly consecrated bishops—it may ultimately be more honest to recall the ancient words of St. Ambrose of Milan: “Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia,” meaning “Where Peter is, there is the Church.”
At present, the SSPX stands outside the full communion of the Roman Catholic Church, even though, under canon law, only the consecrating bishop and the newly consecrated bishops are directly affected by the excommunication.
There were many conversations and many opportunities to prevent matters from reaching this point.
Now it is up to SSPX to find its way back into full communion with the Church.
This is a translated and edited version of the column that first appeared on DOMRADIO.DE and has been republished with permission by Global Catholic.
