Editor’s note: His Excellency Bishop Schneider has finally spoken about the SSPX excommunications. In a statement published at Miss Diane Montagna’s Substack, the bishop asserts that the SSPX is rendering a service to the Church by insisting on doctrinal and liturgical clarity, even in the face of ecclesiastical penalties.
The Dilemma Between Preserving the Unambiguous Integrity of the Catholic Faith
and Being Canonically Recognized by the Pope
by Bishop Athanasius Schneider
It is helpful to recall a case in history where a great saint was faced with the following dilemma: the choice between preserving the unambiguous integrity of the Catholic Faith and being canonically recognized by the Pope. That saint was the fourth-century Church Father, St. Athanasius of Alexandria. In 357, Pope Liberius, after signing an ambiguous formula of faith (omitting the crucial doctrinal term “consubstantial”), commanded St. Athanasius to enter into communion with Arian and semi-Arian bishops — bishops with whom the Pope himself, under pressure from the Emperor, had unfortunately entered into communion. St. Athanasius refused to obey the Pope, whereupon the Pope, according to the witness of St. Hilary of Poitiers and other historical sources, excommunicated him, accusing him of troubling the peace of the Church. Despite being excommunicated by the Pope, St. Athanasius continued to govern his diocese in Alexandria and even showed understanding for the regrettable conduct of Pope Liberius. However, Pope St. Damasus, the successor of Pope Liberius, thanked St. Athanasius and consulted him on the affairs of the oriental bishops. Pope Liberius was the first pope not to be canonized, whereas Athanasius was not only canonized but declared a Doctor of the Church.
Today St. Athanasius would be considered a schismatic according to the definition of “schism” in the current Code of Canon Law, since he refused to be in communion with members of the Church (heretic and semi-heretic bishops) who were canonically recognized and thus subject to the Pope.
