SSPX files canonical appeal against Vatican’s excommunication decree

SSPX leaders submitted a canonical appeal to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on July 11, suspending the excommunication decree's force under canon law while the process proceeds.

MENZINGEN, Switzerland (LifeSiteNews) — The Priestly Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has filed a preliminary canonical appeal against the Vatican decree of excommunication issued on July 2, suspending its force under canon law. On July 13, the SSPX announced that it filed a preliminary administrative appeal with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on July 11 against the decree published by the same Vatican department declaring its six bishops “schismatic” and thus excommunicated. The decree also warned Society priests and lay faithful “not to adhere to the schism” or they, too, will be considered excommunicated.

According to the Society, the appeal was submitted in accordance with canons 1734 and following of the 1983 Code of Canon Law and, under canon 1353, has the effect of suspending the force of the decree while the canonical process proceeds. “By this recourse, the Society intends to exercise the right which the Church recognizes to any person who considers himself harmed by an administrative act to seek its correction, in a spirit of respect for ecclesiastical authority and of faithful attachment to justice, truth and the good of the Church,” the statement reads.

According to the statement, the Society submitted the preliminary recourse directly to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Before appealing to the competent superior (which in this case would be the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura), it is necessary to submit in writing a request for revocation or modification (petitio revocationis) to the