The SSPX, the German Bishops, and the Parable of the Two Sons, by Phil Lawler

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, May 05, 2026

Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is also the lead news analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.

This summer Pope Leo will face two serious challenges to his authority: one from the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), which has announced plans to consecrate new bishops without a papal mandate; the other from the German bishops’ conference, which is introducing a ritual for the blessing of illicit conjugal unions. On paper the two cases are quite different, involving distinct theological and canonical principles. But the Vatican’s treatment of the two wayward groups will surely invite comparisons, for two reasons. First because the disputes are coming to a head at roughly the same time. Second (and more important, from the perspective of public perceptions) because the two cases involve two opposite centrifugal forces within the Church: the progressive German hierarchy and the traditionalist SSPX.

The SSPX has been ordered not to proceed with the scheduled ordinations. (True, the order did not come directly from the Pope, but from Cardinal Fernandez. Still Pope Leo obviously could countermand it, and has not done so.) Yet the SSPX, which professes unswerving loyalty to papal authority, plans to ignore that order, claiming that a “state of necessity” justifies their defiance. ….

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