The SSPX begs the authority it defied: “We want to do as we please - and remain in communion”

Vatican City — Canon 1734 of the Code of Canon Law gives anyone who considers themselves harmed by a decree the right to ask its author to revoke or amend it within ten useful days of receiving notification. This is the so-called remonstratio, the mandatory preliminary step before a hierarchical recourse can be lodged. It was under this canon that, on 11 July 2026, the Society of Saint Pius X submitted a petition to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith against the decree of 2 July declaring the latae sententiae excommunication of the consecrating bishop, the co-consecrator and the four priests consecrated at Écône on 1 July. The communiqué issued by the General House in Menzingen on 13 July states that the request “has the effect of suspending the execution of the decree, in accordance with canon 1353” and that the Society intends to act “in a spirit of respect for ecclesiastical authority”. Those words have caused considerable irritation not only within the former Holy Office, …