German Bishop forbids the traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X from consecrating four men as bishops

Regensburg Bishop forbids Pius X members from planned Episcopal consecrations

Protecting Church order

Pascal Schreiber, rector of the Society of St. Pius X seminary in Regensburg, is slated to be consecrated a bishop along with three other members of the Society. Diocesan Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer has objected.

Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg has forbidden the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X from consecrating four men as bishops. The ordination is scheduled to take place on July 1st in Écône, Valais, Switzerland. The "Mittelbayerische Zeitung" was the first to report this.

One of the candidates is 53-year-old Pascal Schreiber. The Swiss priest has been the rector of the Sacred Heart Seminary of the Society of St. Pius X, located in Zaitzkofen in the Diocese of Regensburg, since 2020.

Since Pope Leo XIV already refused to permit the ordination due to doctrinal differences with the Society of St. Pius X, the candidates and the ordaining bishop face automatic excommunication under canon law, meaning exclusion from communion with the Church.

In a statement obtained by the Catholic News Agency (KNA), Bishop Voderholzer clarifies that the Society of St. Pius X is disregarding the necessary legal requirements of the Roman Catholic Church for ordination.

This behavior compels him once again "to protect the order of the Church and, as Ordinary of the diocese, to prohibit the unauthorized ordinations, as he has done in previous years within the Diocese of Regensburg."

Hoping for sincere effort

The bishop expressed his hope that the Society of Saint Pius X will make a sincere effort in the future to return to full communion with the Catholic Church. This, he said, is also demonstrated by respecting the norms of Church law.

According to the Society's website, Schreiber comes from a Catholic family of five children in the Swiss canton of Aargau. In 1992, he entered the seminary in Zaitzkofen and later continued his studies in Écône, where he was ordained a priest in the summer of 1998.

After five years of pastoral work in Germany and western Switzerland, Schreiber was reportedly entrusted first with the leadership of a school for boys, and then of a school for girls. From 2014 he was the treasurer of the Society of St. Pius X, and later district superior. According to the Society, over 50 prospective priests and brothers from 16 countries are trained in Zaitzkofen.

Source