Who's Really Excommunicated? The SSPX Crisis Explained | Prayerful Posse

The Vatican excommunicates six SSPX bishops within hours of their ordination, but what effect does this have on the laity and the priests involved in SSPX? The document has some surprising answers for us, [music] and so does the Prayerful Possie, up next. >> [music] [music] >> Welcome to an important Prayerful Possie. Be sure to subscribe to the

show. It's a wonderful [music] way to support our work, totally free, and you can visit RaymondArroyo.com if you'd like to contribute. There's a button at the bottom of the webpage there. And now, let's convene the Prayerful Possie. I'm joined by canon lawyer, priest of the Archdiocese of New York, Father Gerald Murray, and

editor-in-chief of TheCatholicThing.org, Robert Royal. Gentlemen, I've been dying to talk to you all. On July 1st, the Society of Saint Pius the X went ahead with those illicit ordinations of four bishops, defying Pope Leo's direct personal appeal issued the day before, in which he begged them, in his own words, to please turn back in the name

of communion. The Vatican's response came within hours, a formal decree of excommunication, naming names. And they named Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, uh the four new bishops, and Bishop Bernard Fellay for co-consecrating. Father, why did Rome move so swiftly and with this specificity? >> Well, they did so because uh it's the declaration of a penalty. It's not the

imposition. In canon law, there are two things. You declare an automatic penalty when it's been incurred in the judgment of the authority. A dec- uh an imposition of a penalty is you have a process, judicial, administrative. You have a hearing, then you make a judgment. In this case, there's was excommunication attached to it.