Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, will be in charge of holding a direct meeting with the superior general of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX), Fr. Davide Pagliarani, at a particularly delicate moment in relations between Rome and the Fraternity, marked by the announcement of new episcopal consecrations without pontifical mandate.
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According to The Pillar, Cardinal Fernández himself confirmed that the meeting will take place next week at the dicastery’s headquarters and that its objective is “to find a fruitful path of dialogue”.
Tucho, the only interlocutor designated by Rome
One of the most significant elements of this new step is that the dialogue will be limited exclusively to the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the superior of the FSSPX, without the participation of other bishops from the Fraternity or other Vatican officials. Fernández himself specified that, unlike previous meetings, on this occasion neither other prelates from the FSSPX nor figures from the Curia who were part of the conversations in the past will intervene.
This detail marks a relevant change compared to previous stages, in which the dialogue included officials such as Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, or Msgr. Guido Pozzo, former secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. The designation of Fernández as the sole interlocutor places the process under the direct competence of the Holy See’s doctrinal body.
A letter from the Dicastery and an explicit refusal
Tucho also explained that the letter mentioned by Fr. Pagliarani—which he referred to as insufficient—was sent by his dicastery and that it expressly rejected the possibility of proceeding at this time with new episcopal consecrations. Nevertheless, he emphasized that there has been an exchange of correspondence in recent times and that the meeting seeks to keep a channel of communication open, “without haste”.
A dialogue with complex antecedents
The dialogue between Rome and the FSSPX has been dragging on for decades and has known phases of greater rapprochement, especially during the pontificates of Benedict XVI and Francis. In 2017, Vatican officials even proposed the possibility of a stable canonical structure, such as a personal prelature, while Pope Francis granted limited faculties in sacramental matters to attend to the spiritual good of the faithful linked to the Fraternity.
However, the canonical situation of the FSSPX remains irregular. The announcement of new consecrations without pontifical mandate has returned the conflict to its ecclesiological core, now under the direct responsibility of the doctrinal prefect.
A decisive moment
The decision to entrust the dialogue to Cardinal Fernández, in this specific context, turns the upcoming meeting into a point of special relevance for the future of relations between the Holy See and the FSSPX.