''Ecclesia Dei'' is the document

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

issued on 2 July 1988 in reaction to the Ecône consecrations, in which four priests of the

Society of Saint Pius X The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) ( la, Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X; FSSPX) is an international fraternity of traditionalist Catholic priests founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a leading traditionalist voice at the S ...

were ordained as

bishops A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

despite an express prohibition by the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

. The consecrating bishop and the four priests consecrated were excommunicated. John Paul called for unity and established the Pontifical Commission ''Ecclesia Dei'' to foster a dialogue with those associated with the consecrations who hoped to maintain both loyalty to the papacy and their attachment to traditional liturgical forms. As is customary for such a papal document, it takes its name from the opening words of its Latin text, ''Ecclesia Dei'', meaning "God's Church". ''Ecclesia Dei'' is also the name an italian traditionalist weekly published by the

and later founded in the 1990s.

Excommunications of those involved

The

SSPX The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) ( la, Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X; FSSPX) is an international fraternity of traditionalist Catholic priests founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a leading traditionalist voice at the Secon ...

is an association of priests that

Marcel Lefebvre Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre (; 29 November 1905 – 25 March 1991) was a French Catholic archbishop who greatly influenced modern traditional Catholicism. In 1970, he founded the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a community to tra ...

founded in 1970. Its members distrusted the changes then taking place in the Church in the years following the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

. On 30 June 1988, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and Bishop

Antônio de Castro Mayer Antônio de Castro Mayer (20 June 1904 – 25 April 1991) was a Brazilian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. A Traditionalist Catholic and ally of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, he was Bishop of Campos from 1949 until his resignation in 1 ...

consecrated four priests as bishops at the seminary of the

Society of St. Pius X The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) ( la, Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X; FSSPX) is an international fraternity of traditionalist Catholic priests founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a leading traditionalist voice at the Seco ...

(SSPX) in

Écône Écône is an area in the municipality of Riddes, district of Martigny, in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It is the location of the International Seminary of Saint Pius X The International Seminary of Saint Pius X in Écône, Valais, Switz ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Referring to these consecrations, the Pope wrote in ''Ecclesia Dei'':

"In itself, this act was one of ''disobedience'' to the Roman Pontiff in a very grave matter and of supreme importance for the unity of the Church, such as is the ordination of bishops whereby the apostolic succession is sacramentally perpetuated. Hence such disobedience – which implies in practice the rejection of the
Roman primacy Papal primacy, also known as the primacy of the bishop of Rome, is a Roman Catholic ecclesiological doctrine concerning the respect and authority that is due to the pope from other bishops and their episcopal sees. The doctrine is accepted ...
– constitutes a '' schismatic'' act (cf. '' Code of Canon Law'', can. 751). In performing such an act, notwithstanding the formal ''canonical warning'' sent to them by the Cardinal Prefect of the
Congregation for Bishops The Dicastery for Bishops, formerly named Congregation for Bishops (), is the department of the Roman Curia that oversees the selection of most new bishops. Its proposals require papal approval to take effect, but are usually followed. The Dic ...
on 17 June last, Mons. Lefebvre and the priests
Bernard Fellay Bernard Fellay (born 12 April 1958) is a Swiss bishop and former superior general of the Traditionalist Catholic priestly fraternity Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX). In 1988, Pope John Paul II announced that Fellay and three others were automatic ...
,
Bernard Tissier de Mallerais Bernard Tissier de Mallerais (born 14 September 1945) is a French Traditionalist bishop of the Society of Saint Pius X. Pope John Paul II declared that Tissier had incurred an automatic excommunication ''latae sententiae'' after he received e ...
, Richard Williamson and Alfonso de Galarreta have incurred the grave penalty of
excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
envisaged by ecclesiastical law (cf. ''Code of Canon Law'', can. 1382)."

According to the 1983 ''Code of Canon Law'', can. 1382: "A bishop who consecrates some one a bishop without a pontifical mandate and the person who receives the consecration from him incur a ''

latae sententiae (Latin meaning "of a/the sentence lreadypassed") and (Latin meaning "sentence to be passed") are ways sentences are imposed in the Catholic Church in its canon law. A penalty is a penalty that is inflicted , automatically, by force of the ...

'' excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See" (the phrase ''latae sententiae'' means automatically by force of the law itself, at the very moment a law is broken). The reservation indicates that only the Pope can lift it. Pope John Paul II went on to make

"an appeal both solemn and heartfelt, paternal and fraternal, to all those who until now have been linked in various ways to the movement of Archbishop Lefebvre, that they may fulfil the grave duty of remaining united to the Vicar of Christ in the unity of the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
, and of ceasing their support in any way for that movement. Everyone should be aware that formal adherence to the
schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...
is a grave offence against God and carries the penalty of excommunication decreed by the Church's law (cf. ''Code of Canon Law'', can. 1364)."

Canon 1364 specifies that the same excommunication ''latae sententiae'' excommunication applies to an apostate, a

heretic Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important relig ...

, or a schismatic.

Pontifical Commission

The Pope instituted the Pontifical Commission ''Ecclesia Dei'' to assist those who had been associated with Archbishop Lefebvre but who wished "to remain united to the Successor of Peter in the Catholic Church, while preserving their spiritual and liturgical traditions, in the light of the Protocol signed on 5 May last by Cardinal Ratzinger and Mons. Lefebvre", a protocol that Archbishop Lefebvre later repudiated.

Use of the Tridentine Mass

The Pope stated: "Respect must everywhere be shown for the feelings of all those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition, by a wide and generous application of the directives already issued some time ago by the

Apostolic See An apostolic see is an episcopal see whose foundation is attributed to one or more of the apostles of Jesus or to one of their close associates. In Catholicism the phrase, preceded by the definite article and usually capitalized, refers to the ...

for the use of the

Roman Missal The Roman Missal ( la, Missale Romanum) is the title of several missals used in the celebration of the Roman Rite. Along with other liturgical books of the Roman Rite, the Roman Missal contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of th ...

according to the typical edition of 1962". In this the Pope expanded the scope of permission already granted under the 1984 special indult ''

Quattuor Abhinc Annos ''Quattuor abhinc annos'' (Latin for "four years ago") is the incipit of a letter that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments sent on 3 October 1984 to presidents of episcopal conferences concerning celebration of ...

''.

Further regulations

The conditions indicated in the document to which Pope John Paul referred were replaced on 7 July 2007 by those indicated in the ''motu proprio'' ''

Summorum Pontificum ''Summorum Pontificum'' (English: "Of the Supreme Pontiffs") is an apostolic letter of Pope Benedict XVI, issued in July 2007. This letter specifies the circumstances in which priests of the Latin Church could celebrate mass according to what Be ...

,'' which Pope Francis in turn replaced with the far more restrictive ''Traditionis Custodes''.

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...

gave the Commission additional functions with respect to the use of Tridentine liturgy in ''

'' on 7 July 2007. On 8 July 2009, in ''

Ecclesiae unitatem The Pontifical Commission ''Ecclesia Dei'' () was a commission of the Catholic Church established by Pope John Paul II's '' motu proprio'' ''Ecclesia Dei'' of 2 July 1988 for the care of those former followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre who ...

'', he modified its position within the Roman Curia by making the Prefect of the

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from heresy and is the body responsib ...

(CDF) the ''ex officio'' head of the Commission. On 17 January 2019,

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013 ...

abolished the Commission and transferred its responsibilities to a "special section" within the CDF.

References

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