Society of St. Pius X appeals excommunication decree and plans documentary on consecrations
The Society of St. Pius X has filed a canonical appeal against the Vatican's July 2 excommunication decree and will release a documentary on November 1 about the four episcopal consecrations it carried out on July 1
The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), a traditionalist priestly society, has filed a preliminary canonical appeal against the Vatican's excommunication decree of July 2. Under canon law, the decree's force is suspended while the case proceeds. The society has also announced a documentary titled Salus Animarum (The Salvation of Souls), about the episcopal consecrations of July 1. It will premiere on November 1, the feast of All Saints, on the society's official YouTube channel.
What the documentary covers
FSSPX News reported that the film will include "exclusive testimony and previously unseen footage." It will cover the reasons the society went ahead with the consecrations, the preparations, the ceremony itself and the reactions that followed. The title refers to the principle the SSPX cites as the basis of its actions, "the salvation of souls is the supreme law," which the society says it wants to remain faithful to.
The excommunications and the society's position
The consecrations of four new SSPX bishops on July 1 prompted the Vatican's declaration of automatic excommunications, bringing to six the number of the society's bishops affected by the measure. The SSPX has said publicly that the consecrations were necessary to preserve the society's essential work for the salvation of souls.
The Vatican has refused to regularize the society canonically because the SSPX insists on clearly pointing out the apparent contradictions between the Second Vatican Council and the perennial teaching of the Church, among them the council's statement that "the human person has a right to religious freedom."
Legal questions and the pending case
Father Gerald Murray, a canon lawyer, has said the Vatican document declaring the excommunications has no legal force to excommunicate SSPX priests or lay faithful who attend their Masses. The society's own appeal against the July 2 decree suspends the decree's force under canon law while the case runs its course.
