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Don’t expect to win when negotiating with Rome. They only negotiate when they sense weakness. If you ever wondered how the N-SSPX would fare in negotiations with Masonic Rome, wonder no more. It’s hard to see how it could be worse.

I’m able to make that charge after reviewing the statement from the Office of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 27 March 2017, listed below, and Bishop Fellay’s April 2017 interview.

First, the statement from the CDF:

As you are aware, for some time various meetings and other initiatives have been ongoing in order to bring the Society of St. Pius X into full communion. Recently, the Holy Father decided, e.g., to grant all priests of said Society the faculty to validly administer the Sacrament of Penance to the faithful (Letter Misericordia et misera, n. 12), such as to ensure the validity and liceity of the Sacrament and allay any concerns on the part of the faithful.

Following the same pastoral outlook which seeks to reassure the conscience of the faithful, despite the objective persistence of the canonical irregularity in which for the time being the Society of St. Pius X finds itself, the Holy Father, following the proposal by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, has decided to authorize Local Ordinaries the possibility to grant faculties for the celebration of marriages of faithful who follow the pastoral activity of the Society, according to the following provisions.

Insofar as possible, the Local Ordinary is to grant the delegation to assist at the marriage to a priest of the Diocese (or in any event, to a fully regular priest), such that the priest may receive the consent of the parties during the marriage rite, followed, in keeping with the liturgy of the Vetus ordo, by the celebration of Mass, which may be celebrated by a priest of the Society.1

We must understand the following Points, to see Rome’s effort to control and establish a false need for this intervention:

God, please help us!

To lessen the pushback from priests and laymen on the above marriage indult—which is a big step towards giving Rome control over the Society—Bishop Fellay, in effect, interviewed himself. In April, the Society’s U.S. Communications Director asked him soft questions the bishop no-doubt supplied. (Do you think Bishop Fellay would let the Catholic Candle interview him? No, I don’t think so either.)

The interview supposedly justified the negotiations for recognition, and the need for conciliar interference with N-SSPX weddings. In the interview, Bishop Fellay pretends that he is still negotiating, such as if this or that bishop gives us a problem we will use “Plan B”. In this way Bishop Fellay tries to convince his followers that the N-SSPX is not backed into a corner and that the deal with Rome includes satisfactory workarounds. That is wishful thinking, because Rome is in control. Rome can sense weakness in the Society because the N-SSPX’s goal is obvious: obtaining Rome’s acceptance at any price.

Rome turned down a deal with the N-SSPX in 2012 because too many priests and laymen would have left the Society. Rome didn’t want to contend with a strong new resistance. That situation has now changed.

In the interview, Bishop Fellay states that Rome believes marriages by the SSPX are invalid, and if the couple wanted to end their marriage, they would have an “easy door,” meaning they’d have an easy way out. He used this baseless fear to justify the need for the marriage indult. (If a couple would have such a mindset, they could easily get an annulment on the usual flimsy conciliar grounds, which is even quicker and more inexpensive now that Pope Francis has made it so.)

Bishop Fellay stated he has been negotiating with Rome for ten years to become recognized. Rome is dictating the terms and the best the bishop can do is try to put the best face on it. Rome’s score for controlling former traditional communities after making a “deal” is: Rome 6 and Tradition 0. Bishop Fellay knows this, so he can only “interview” himself and try his best with ambiguous language to satisfy his supporters. Over ten years, his followers have been accepting more-and-more liberalism, so it is clear they will accept almost anything. Big mistake!

Bishop Fellay says that after a Novus Ordo “priest” marries the couple, the N-SSPX priest will say the Mass. He is implying how generous Rome is. What a weak, meaningless point to make after allowing an enemy’s representative (the Novus Ordo “priest”) into (what should be) their holy sanctuary “fortress.” That battle is lost, only his followers don’t know it yet. But Bishop Fellay knows it because he has agreed to it during the negotiations.

There are other examples of destructive compromises in the interview, in terms of souls and in terms of the future of the SSPX. Because the N-SSPX has given up Catholic Tradition in order to be recognized, they are racing toward disaster.

Why are hardly any N-SSPX priests and laymen concerned about what is happening, when so many souls are at stake? As our Lord asked: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth?”2

We must pray hard for the blind leaders of the liberal N-SSPX, who used to lead for tradition, but now follow Rome for liberalism.


  1. Emphasis added.
  2. Cf., St. Luke 18:8.