VATICAN CITY (OSV News) — The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has established a procedure for both priests and lay faithful connected to the Society of St. Pius X to return to Catholic communion, following the society’s schismatic act July 1.
The instructions are being transmitted through apostolic nunciatures, as previously announced in the Explanatory Note published by the dicastery on July 2.
Reconciliation for priests
The procedure set out by the DDF, beginning on July 1, 2026, provides that a priest who has decided to leave the Society of St. Pius X — and who is willing to accept the Second Vatican Council and the legitimacy of the new order of the Mass, while remaining attached to the ancient rite — must “find an Ordinary — a diocesan Bishop, a Major Superior of clerical religious institutes of pontifical right or of clerical societies of apostolic life of pontifical right, etc. — willing to receive him ad experimentum,” or temporarily, as his fit is tested.
The priest must then “write by hand a letter to the Holy Father in which he presents himself and asks for the remission of the censures incurred because of the ordination he received from an excommunicated or irregular Bishop, or because, having been validly and legitimately ordained, he subsequently became a member of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X,” also known as the Society of St. Pius X, or SSPX.
Profession of faith, Formula of adherence
The priest must also attach his certificate of priestly ordination and enclose, signed and dated, “the Professio fidei and the Formula adhaesionis.”
This refers to the Profession of Faith, which summarizes the content of the Catholic faith, and the Formula of Adherence, by which the priest promises fidelity to the Pope and commits himself not to attack him or his magisterium publicly.
He must accept the teaching of No. 25 of the conciliar Dogmatic Constitution “Lumen Gentium” on adherence to the Church’s magisterium. He must also declare that he considers the celebration of Mass according to the rites promulgated by Popes Paul VI and John Paul II to be valid, and that he adheres to the norms of the Code of Canon Law promulgated by Pope John Paul II.
The priest must have these documents — the letter with the certificate, the Profession and the Formula of Adherence — sent by the ordinary, “who will state in the accompanying letter his willingness to receive him ad experimentum in his Diocese or Institute.”
As soon as it receives the documents from the Ordinary, the DDF will draw up a rescript remitting the censures and authorizing the ordinary to receive the priest making the request “for a probationary period of at least one year and no more than three, at the end of which his incardination may proceed.”
Reconciliation for lay faithful
The procedure, the dicastery explained, “concerns the question of imputability, or the degree of subjective responsibility, of lay faithful who have formally adhered to, or who attend, the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X and who ask to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.”
It notes that the imposition of a penalty on lay people belonging to the SSPX, in fact, “cannot be presumed automatically, but must be assessed case by case.”
“Since imputability requires full awareness and deliberate consent,” the DDF document states, examples of proven imputability — or culpability — may include “lay people who belong to the Third Order of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X; lay people who habitually participate in celebrations of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X and formally share its doctrinal positions.”
The procedure to be followed
The procedure to be followed for lay people belonging to the SSPX on whom a penalty has been imposed, and who ask to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church, “implies a formal act of full adherence to Catholic doctrine and obedience to the Catholic hierarchy, under the jurisdiction of the local Ordinary, who is the guarantor of the unity of the particular Church.”
Therefore, a lay member of the faithful who has decided to leave the SSPX must present to his or her bishop the “Professio fidei” and the “Formula adhaesionis,” dated and signed.
“Once the documentation has been obtained, the local Ordinary will see to welcoming the lay member of the faithful at the times and in the manner he deems most appropriate,” the document states.
The document specifies that the following “are not to be considered imputable: lay people who have attended the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X only for liturgical or spiritual reasons; lay people who, while aware of the tensions with the Holy See, do not reject the Magisterium or the authority of the Roman Pontiff.”
As regards these latter cases, it will be sufficient for them to approach “a priest in full communion, with the decision not to attend the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X in the future.”
This story was originally published by Vatican News and is distributed through a partnership with OSV News.
