The Bishop of Regensburg, Rudolf Voderholzer, has prohibited the priestly ordinations that the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX) had planned to celebrate at the end of June in its seminary in Zaitzkofen, located within the boundaries of his diocese.
The prelate has reiterated a measure he had already adopted in previous years, arguing that the Fraternity does not meet the legal conditions required by the Church for the legitimate celebration of ordinations.
The decision comes at a particularly delicate moment for the fraternity founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, with the upcoming episcopal consecrations of four priests scheduled for July 1 in Écône (Switzerland).
Voderholzer cannot prevent the episcopal consecrations
In a statement released through the Catholic News Agency (KNA), the Bishop of Regensburg clarified that he does not have the authority to prevent the episcopal consecrations planned in Écône, as a measure of that nature would fall exclusively to Pope Leo XIV.
However, he does consider it within his competence to act within the territory of his diocese to prevent the priestly ordinations planned by the FSSPX in Zaitzkofen.
Voderholzer maintains that the fraternity continues to disregard the canonical provisions required for the legitimate administration of holy orders, which is why he deems it necessary to intervene to protect the Church’s legal order.
The Rector of the Zaitzkofen Seminary
One of the four prospective bishops to be consecrated in Écône, the Swiss priest Pascal Schreiber, has been the rector of the Seminary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Zaitzkofen since 2020.
Schreiber, born into a Catholic family in the Swiss canton of Aargau, entered the seminary of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X in 1992 and later completed his formation in Écône, where he was ordained a priest in 1998.
After several years of apostolate in Germany and Switzerland, he held various responsibilities within the fraternity, including directing educational centers, managing the congregation’s finances, and serving as district superior. For the past five years, he has led the Zaitzkofen seminary, one of the main formation centers of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X in Europe.
His selection as a candidate for the episcopate now places the Bavarian seminary—one of the fraternity’s principal international formation centers—at the center of ecclesial news, coinciding with the Bishop of Regensburg’s decision to prevent the Fraternity’s priestly ordinations within diocesan territory.