The Pillar Catholic portal reports on May 28, 2026, that “Pope” Leo XIV (Robert Prevost) faces a “test of resolve” regarding the Switzerland-based Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) and their plan to consecrate bishops without papal permission. The article frames this as a matter of “obedience and authority in a hierarchical Church,” while also discussing potential amendments to *Traditionis custodes*, the 2021 motu proprio by “Pope” Francis restricting the preconciliar liturgy. JD Flynn, the author, explores various “options” for Leo XIV, including rescinding the restrictions, granting generous permissions, or establishing personal ordinariates for “traditionalist” Catholics. The article explicitly states that any recognition of the SSPX would require them to “acknowledge Church doctrine in its entirety, including the decrees of the Second Vatican Council,” a council whose very legitimacy is denied by sedevacantists. This entire discourse, however, unfolds within the framework of the conciliar sect, treating its novelties as normative and its usurpers as legitimate authorities, thereby obscuring the fundamental crisis of faith.
The Chimera of “Ecclesial Communion” in a Heretical Structure
The article’s central premise, echoing the conciliar mentality, is the “constant search for ecclesial communion” as the stated aim of *Traditionis custodes*. This phrase, however, is a modernist euphemism for enforcing adherence to the post-conciliar revolution, which itself is a rupture with immutable Catholic doctrine. True ecclesial communion, as understood by the Church for two millennia, is founded on the una, sancta, catholica et apostolica – one, holy, catholic, and apostolic – profession of faith, not on submission to novelties introduced by a heretical pseudo-magisterium. Leo XIII, in his encyclical Satis Cognitum (1896), affirmed that “the Church of Christ is one” and that “those who are not united to the visible head of the Church cannot be said to be in the Church.” The “communion” sought by the conciliar sect is not unity in truth, but uniformity in error, a forced conformity to the abomination of desolation that has taken hold of the Vatican structures since 1958.
The article’s concern for “obedience and authority” within this “hierarchical Church” is a profound irony. Obedience, in Catholic theology, is owed only to legitimate authority acting within its proper sphere and in accordance with divine law. As St. Robert Bellarmine taught, a manifest heretic ipso facto ceases to be Pope and head, losing all jurisdiction. The line of usurpers beginning with John XXIII, through Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis, and now Leo XIV, have all promulgated and enforced doctrines and practices that are either formally heretical or gravely suspect of heresy. Their “authority” is thus illegitimate, and obedience to their directives, especially those that contradict or undermine the faith, is not only unnecessary but sinful. The “test of resolve” for Leo XIV is not about upholding true Catholic doctrine, but about maintaining control over a dissenting faction within a heretical institution.
The “Extraordinary Form” as a Bargaining Chip in a Modernist Game
The article discusses the “growing popularity” of “preconciliar liturgical rites among younger Catholics in the West” and how *Traditionis custodes* has “done little to quell the phenomenon.” This observation, while factually noting a trend, completely misses the theological point. The Traditional Latin Mass, the Unbloody Sacrifice of Calvary, is not merely a “rite” or a “form” to be regulated or dispensed by a heretical antipope. It is the immutable expression of Catholic worship, codified by St. Pius V after the Council of Trent, and protected by his bull Quo Primum (1570), which declared its perpetual validity and forbade any changes. The “popularity” of this Mass is a testament to the enduring faith of some Catholics, a hunger for the transcendent and the sacred that the conciliar sect’s Novus Ordo Missae – a human-centered, Protestantized assembly – can never satisfy.
The various “options” presented for Leo XIV – rescinding *Traditionis custodes*, granting “generous permissions,” or establishing “personal ordinariates” – are all variations on a theme of managing dissent within a heretical system. They treat the Traditional Latin Mass as a concession, a privilege to be granted or revoked by the very authorities who have systematically dismantled the faith. This is an inversion of Catholic principle. The Mass is a divine institution, not a human invention to be regulated by ecclesiastical bureaucrats, especially those who have shown themselves to be enemies of the faith. The idea of a “personal ordinariate” for “traditionalist Catholics” is particularly insidious, as it seeks to create a parallel structure within the conciliar sect, isolating those who cling to the old faith and preventing them from being a leaven within the larger Catholic world. It is a ghettoization of true Catholicism, designed to neutralize its influence and maintain the hegemony of modernism.
The SSPX: A Schism Within a Schism, Yet Still Part of the Problem
The article correctly identifies the SSPX’s plan to consecrate bishops without papal permission as a canonical offense within the conciliar framework, leading to “excommunication.” However, it frames this as a “disobedience” to the “successor of St. Peter,” a title Leo XIV falsely claims. The SSPX, while rejecting many of the novelties of Vatican II, fundamentally errs by recognizing the legitimacy of the post-conciliar popes and the conciliar structures themselves. Their founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, though validly ordained, operated within a contradictory paradigm: he illicitly consecrated bishops, yet continued to acknowledge the authority of the very antipopes whose doctrines he opposed. This “schism within a schism” renders their position untenable from a rigorous Catholic perspective. They are, as the provided notes state, “a schism within a schism of the neo-church,” practicing “contradictions and theological errors, belonging to the neo-church of the Antichrist.”
The article’s suggestion that the SSPX might “renounce its current plans” and seek “corporate recognition… perhaps as a personal prelature” if it “acknowledges Church doctrine in its entirety, including the decrees of the Second Vatican Council,” reveals the true nature of the conciliar sect’s demands. This is not a call to genuine Catholic unity, but a demand for total submission to the modernist revolution. The decrees of Vatican II, particularly those on religious liberty (Dignitatis Humanae), ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio), and the Church’s relation to non-Christian religions (Nostra Aetate), are fundamentally incompatible with pre-conciliar Catholic doctrine, as articulated in Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors (errors 15, 18, 77, 78, 79, 80), Pope Gregory XVI’s Mirari Vos (1832), and Pope Leo XIII’s Immortale Dei (1885). To demand acceptance of these errors as a condition for “communion” is to demand apostasy.
The Silence on the Supernatural and the Primacy of God’s Law
A glaring omission in the article, symptomatic of the naturalistic and modernist mentality of the conciliar sect, is any mention of the supernatural purpose of the Mass, the state of grace, or the eternal destiny of souls. The discussion revolves entirely around canonical penalties, administrative structures, and “pastoral creativity” within a human institution. There is no consideration that the true Church, the City of God, is not subject to the whims of heretical usurpers, and that the faithful have a duty to seek out valid sacraments and true doctrine, regardless of the “official” structures. Pius XI, in his encyclical Quas Primas (1925), unequivocally declared that Christ the King reigns over all nations and societies, and that “rulers of states… fulfill this duty themselves and with their people, if they wish to maintain their authority inviolate and contribute to the increase of their homeland’s happiness.” The conciliar sect’s entire approach to liturgy and ecclesial governance is a direct contradiction of this royal dignity of Christ, reducing the Church to a human organization subject to democratic principles and secular “pastoral” concerns.
The article’s focus on “messy remnants” and “unwilling to simply go away” reveals a bureaucratic mindset, concerned with managing a problem rather than addressing a crisis of faith. The “problem” is not the existence of Catholics who cling to the Traditional Latin Mass, but the existence of a heretical pseudo-magisterium that seeks to suppress them. The solution is not “canonical and pastoral creativity” within the conciliar sect, but a return to the immutable Tradition of the Church, a rejection of the modernist apostasy, and a clear-eyed recognition that the structures occupying the Vatican are not the Catholic Church, but the synagogue of Satan (Rev 2:9, 3:9).
Conclusion: A Call to True Fidelity, Not Conciliar Compromise
The entire discourse presented in the article, from the “options” for Leo XIV to the SSPX’s “disobedience,” is a charade played out on the stage of the conciliar sect. It assumes the legitimacy of the post-conciliar popes, the validity of Vatican II, and the authority of the “neo-church” to define Catholic doctrine and practice. For the true Catholic, however, the only path is one of unwavering fidelity to the integral Catholic faith as professed and taught before 1958. This means rejecting the modernist novelties, seeking out valid sacraments from truly Catholic priests (those ordained before 1968 or by bishops with valid orders and true faith), and recognizing that the true Church endures, even if its visible structures have been usurped. The “test” for Leo XIV is not of his “resolve” but of his continued adherence to apostasy. The test for the faithful is to discern the signs of the times, to reject the abomination of desolation, and to hold fast to the deposit of faith (depositum fidei) once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3), regardless of the consequences imposed by a heretical and illegitimate authority.
Source:
Pope Leo’s ‘Traditionis’ options (pillarcatholic.com)
Date: 28.05.2026