Archbishop Cordileone calls for ‘easier access’ to Latin Mass after SSPX consecrations

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said the Society of St. Pius X's consecration of four new bishops showed a 'growing lack of trust that has been simmering' within the Church 'for a very long time.'

(LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco last week called for wider access to the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in light of the Society of St. Pius X’s (SSPX) consecration of four bishops without a papal mandate and subsequent excommunication by the Vatican earlier this month. In a July 10 X post, Cordileone stressed that the Society’s decision to consecrate four new bishops shows a “growing lack of trust that has been simmering” within the Church “for a very long time.”

The archbishop called on the faithful to pray that a new effort toward “sincere and ardent” dialogue would soon begin and for those devoted to the TLM to be allowed “easier access” to the ancient liturgy so they won’t feel constrained “to seek spiritual nourishment outside of the family in union with Rome.” The recent consecration of four bishops by the Society of St. Pius X manifests a growing lack of trust that has been simmering for a very long time. Let us pray that an ardent effort toward sincere and honest dialogue will soon start up, and that easier access to the Traditional... —

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone (@ArchCordileone) July 10, 2026 In another post the same day, His Excellency added a call for an increase in reverent Masses “inspired by tradition” to be celebrated according to the Novus Ordo Missae. Cordileone joins Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, the prefect emeritus of the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF); Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who served as Pope Benedict XVI’s personal secretary; Cardinal Kurt Koch, the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity; and other prelates who have called for the loosening of restrictions on the Tridentine Mass after the consecrations.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Giornale published July 1, Cardinal Müller, while criticizing the Society’s consecrations, argued that the current restrictive approach to the Latin Mass under Traditionis Custodes has not produced ecclesial unity and should be reconsidered in light of the ongoing tensions. The German cardinal argued that “using an authoritarian approach to demand blind obedience is not ... the Christian way.” And he added, “Only in matters of dogma should there be no compromise; in concrete pastoral practice, a certain tolerance is possible.”

Müller further recalled that “Benedict XVI had found a good solution with Summorum Pontificum, fully embracing the ancient rite. That motu proprio brought great peace to the Church. Let us not forget that the Church has various rites, each with its own forms.

One cannot forbid the rite in its ancient form.” Gänswein, who is currently the apostolic nuncio to the Baltic States, in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published July 2 compared the SSPX with Protestants and lamented that the society did not respond more favorably to Pope Benedict’s outreach to the order in 2009 that included lifting the excommunications of the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1988. But, like Müller, the archbishop highlighted that many clergy and faithful have a strong devotion to the TLM and expressed his desire for the Vatican to now be more “flexible” and “generous” in allowing its celebration.

“There are faithful in the Church who celebrate using the (traditional) Latin rite — for example, the Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) — and they do so ‘cum Petro and sub Petro’: never against the pope,” he said. “Frankly speaking, I believe that Rome can now open up to the possibility of being more flexible, generous, and fatherly regarding the option of celebrating Mass in Latin.” Cardinal Koch, during a podcast for the German edition of the Catholic