"Reconciliation": FSSPX Priests Must Accept “Legitimacy of Novus Ordo”
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published today the procedure for the “reconciliation” with the Vatican of former clergy of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX), together with a separate procedure for lay faithful. (Full Italian document below).
The procedure, effective July 1, 2026, provides that a priest who has decided to leave the FSSPX must be willing to accept the Second Vatican Council and the “legitimacy of the Novus Ordo Missae,” while remaining attached to the usus antiquior (traditional Roman rite).
The priest must:
- Find an Ordinary (a diocesan bishop, a major superior of a clerical pontifical institute of consecrated life, a clerical pontifical society of apostolic life, etc.) who is willing to receive him ad experimentum.
- Write, in his own hand, a letter to the Holy Father introducing himself and requesting the remission of the censures incurred either because he received priestly …