SSPX Excommunicated: History, Pope Leo and why it all goes back to Vatican II

Schisms don’t happen often in the Catholic Church. Which makes Pope Leo’s recent excommunication of the Society of Saint Pius X big news. This week on Jesuitical, hosts Zac and Ashley speak to Shaun Blanchard, Senior Lecturer in Theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia, about the history of the SSPX, their illicit decision to ordain new bishops, and what their excommunication means for more traditional groups within the Catholic Church.

Chapters:

00:00 Why we're talking about the SSPX

01:42 Why the SSPX was excommunicated

04:55 Why Archbishop Lefebvre rejected Vatican II

9:38 Lefebvre's problem with religious liberty

14:20 Was this a debate over liturgy?

18:00 Ordaining bishops crosses a line

21:33 How 17th c. Jansenism illuminates the crisis

28:45 Restricting the traditional Latin Mass

35:05 How excommunication works

38:52 Implications for the traditional Latin Mass