Condemning the Vatican’s decree of excommunication as “objectively unjust and invalid,” the superior general of the Society of Saint Pius X said in a letter to Pope Leo XIV that what the SSPX “has done, and will continue to do, is nothing other than an extraordinary initiative for the salvation of souls, amidst the doctrinal and moral confusion into which the Church is plunged.”
“We in no way claim to substitute ourselves for the Church, and we have no ambition other than to remain faithful to her,” Father Davide Pagliarani wrote in his July 3 letter. “In conscience, we did not believe we could evade the moral duty we owe to souls.”
“We are certain that one day You yourself, or one of Your successors, will wish to adopt the program of Saint Pius X: ‘To restore all things in Christ,’” Father Pagliarani added. “On that day, the Holy Father will discover, with great joy and profound consolation, authentically Catholic souls whose bond with the Church was never founded upon the shifting sands of an ambiguous dialogue, but upon the rock of the faith of Peter.”