The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX) announced this week the names of the four priests who will receive episcopal consecration on July 1 in Écône. The decision is part of the succession plan presented by the fraternity to ensure the continuity of its apostolate and priestly formation in the coming decades.
Among the chosen priests is this 42-year-old Frenchman with a background in education, who currently heads the Benelux district, one of the FSSPX’s most important jurisdictions in Europe.
From teaching to leading the Benelux district
Michel Poinsinet de Sivry was born in France into a Catholic family of seven children. He completed his priestly studies first at the seminary in Flavigny and later in Écône, where he was ordained a priest in 2008.
His early years of ministry were spent in education. He began working at the Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes school in southern France before taking over as head of the Saint-Louis primary school in Paris in 2011. During that period he combined his academic responsibilities with pastoral care of a chapel in Seine-Saint-Denis and collaboration in the apostolate of the Parisian church of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet.
He later directed for six years the Saint-Jean-Baptiste-de-La-Salle college-high school in Camblain-l’Abbé, near Arras, one of the educational centers linked to the fraternity in France.
In 2022 he was appointed superior of the Benelux district, a position he continues to hold. In addition to French, he speaks English and continues to study German and Dutch.
A priest marked by formation and apostolate
Michel Poinsinet de Sivry’s public interventions reflect a constant concern for the transmission of the faith and the formation of new generations. Much of his priestly ministry has been linked to education, an area he considers inseparable from the Church’s evangelizing mission.
For the French priest, the Catholic school is not merely a place of academic instruction, but a tool intended to form minds capable of knowing the truth and living in accordance with it.
“The Catholic school does not produce scholars; it forms reflective men.”
His vision of education also places central importance on discipline, a sense of duty, responsibility, and the spirit of sacrifice—elements he considers essential for the integral formation of the person.
Interior life, perseverance, and the transmission of tradition
Alongside his dedication to education, Poinsinet de Sivry has repeatedly stressed the need to unite apostolic action with a solid spiritual life. He highlights prayer, the Mass, the Rosary, and the sacraments as the foundation of all authentic apostolate, making clear that external activity loses its effectiveness when it is not sustained by a deep interior life.
The importance of perseverance and fidelity to the tradition received. The figure of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre serves as a reference of doctrinal continuity and strength in the face of the difficulties the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X has faced since its foundation.
Another characteristic feature of his thought is the importance he places on perseverance and fidelity in the transmission of the faith. In this context, the figure of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre occupies a prominent place as a reference of doctrinal continuity and firmness in the face of the difficulties the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X has confronted since its foundation.
After more than a decade dedicated to teaching and the formation of young people, and after assuming governance responsibilities within the Fraternity, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry is now preparing to take the next step within the FSSPX with the episcopal consecrations scheduled for next July in Écône.
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