One of the main objections to the situation and work of the Society of Saint Pius X is
the problem of jurisdiction.
Do priests of the Society of Saint Pius X have jurisdiction?
This is the question we are going to answer in this video.
The crisis currently affecting the Church really justifies and even necessitates traditional
priests to fulfill their duties even without ordinary jurisdiction.
Every member of the Church has the right to receive from it the doctrine and the sacraments
necessary for salvation.
If the normal hierarchy - pastor, bishop, etc. - do not fulfill its duty, the faithful
find themselves in a state of necessity that allows them to have recourse to any Catholic
priest.
Because of the necessity, this priest then receives from the Church what is called supplied
jurisdiction, in order to minister to the faithful.
In the current crisis, supplied jurisdiction empowers traditional priests to hear the confessions
of penitents, to marry those who request it, etc.
These are often Catholics who otherwise would not depend on these priests.
That is why there is no doubt about the validity of such confessions or marriages: Canon Law
allows for such emergency measures.
By virtue of his ordination, a priest can bless all things and even consecrate bread
and wine so that they become the very Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
But whenever in his ministry he has to deal authoritatively with people, he needs, over
and above the power of Orders, that of Jurisdiction, which empowers him to judge and rule his flock.
Jurisdiction is, moreover, necessary for the validity itself of the sacraments of the penance
and matrimony.
Now, the sacraments were given by Our Lord as the ordinary and principal means of salvation
and sanctification.
The Church, therefore, whose supreme law is the salvation of souls wants the ready availability
of these sacraments, especially penance.
The Church wants priests and empowers them liberally to hear confessions.
This jurisdiction to hear confessions is to be revoked only for a grave reason.
Jurisdiction is ordinarily given by a mandate from the Pope or diocesan bishop, or perhaps
delegated by the parish priest.
The priests of the Society of Saint Pius X do not have jurisdiction in this way.
Extraordinarily, however, the Church supplies jurisdiction without passing by the constituted
authorities.
This is foreseen in the Code of Canon Law.
Therefore, the Church, wanting the ready availability of penance, extraordinarily supplies jurisdiction
in view of the needs of her children, and it is granted all the more liberally the greater
their need.
Now, the nature of the present crisis in the Church is such that the faithful can on good
grounds feel it a moral impossibility to approach priests having ordinary jurisdiction.
And so, whenever the faithful need the graces of penance and want to receive them from priests
whose judgment and advice they can trust, they can do so, even if the priests do not
ordinarily have jurisdiction.
Even a suspended or excommunicated priest can do this for the faithful who ask “for
any just cause whatsoever” in the words of Canon Law.
This is even more the case if a faithful Catholic can foresee his being deprived of the true
sacrament of penance from priests with ordinary jurisdiction until he dies.
Only God knows when this crisis will end.
The extraordinary form for marriages is foreseen in canon 1116, paragraph 1.
If a man and woman cannot approach their parish priest “without serious inconvenience”
and they may consider as such his insistence on having the Novus Ordo Missae for the wedding,
or their apprehensions concerning his moral teaching in marriage instructions - and if
they foresee these circumstances to last for at least a month, then they can marry before
another priest (e.g., a priest of the Society of Saint Pius X) if possible.
Even if one were to consider the above arguments as only probable, then jurisdiction would
still be certainly supplied by the Church (Canon 144).
And so we must answer affirmatively: Traditional priests do have a jurisdiction that is neither
territorial nor personal but supplied in view of the needs of the faithful in a state of
necessity.
This interesting question, so important in the present crisis in the church, deserves
a complete episode in another series.
For further understanding and insight on this question, we recommend watching the DVD: Archbishop
Lefebvre—A Documentary, which can be found at Angeluspress.org
Another great source we recommend is “Supplied Jurisdiction” by Bishop Tissier de Mallerais
and “Validity of Confessions and Marriages in the SSPX” a canonical study by Father
Ramon Angles, also available at Angeluspress.org
To learn more, go to sspx.org and subscribe to our email list.