Leo XIV: The challenges of unity

Leo XIV has made unity his guiding principle, so dealing with a schism will not be easy, but schism is what came to face the pope last week

Leo found himself confronted with the schism of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, when the breakaway traditionalist group illicitly ordained four bishops on July 1, without a papal mandate and in defiance of repeated warnings.

Leo inherited an internally divided Church, torn among factions at the mercy of a so-called “papal will,” and a pope — Francis – who had a personalist style of governance.

Leo came face-to-face with the SSPX schism just as he was seeking to restore a sense of collegiality among the bishops of the world and among his closest collaborators, the cardinals.

Over the last weekend of June, the pope effectively abolished the Council of Cardinals and reoriented the Synod to a consultative assembly.

He also began restoring order to the Roman Curia, after a year of long-awaited appointments.

And so, after appointing the new prefect of communications, Montse Alvarado, Leo XIV appointed another woman, Sister Alessandra Smerilli, to lead a major curial department: The Dicastery for Integral Human Development.

Sister Smerilli is supported by Cardinal Fabio Baggio as pro-prefect, as is already the case in the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life, where Sister Simona Brambilla is supported by Cardinal Ángel Artime as pro-prefect.

This detail alone suggests that Francis’s legacy remains, at least in its formal and institutional inaccuracies.

The title of pro- was, in fact, given to bishops who ended up in a cardinalatial role during the period before they had received the red hat.

Only, why does either dicastery – for religious or for development – need a pro-prefect at all?

The short answer is that the governing power of Holy Orders is needed to resolve certain disputes – at least in the dicastery for religious – and therefore Artime could not simply be co-prefect; he requires an additional title.

The Francis-era imprecision is evident throughout the reform of the Curia, where the idea of a dual mandate – that of Holy Orders and that of the “canonical mandate” conferred by the pope – has created no small amount of confusion.

Sister Smerilli and Cardinal Baggio represent a choice in complete continuity with Pope Francis, while Cardinal Michael Czerny, who is turning 80, is set to retire. But there will be no changes in the dicastery, which will maintain its current structure. Those who expected reform, or a new prophetic thrust on issues of Social Doctrine, have been somewhat disappointed.

The pope also strengthened the Office of Papal Charities, appointing Monsignor Lucio Ruiz as secretary, currently number two at the Dicastery for Communication. The appointment is interesting because, after choosing a new prefect, Leo XIV will need someone to support Montse Alvarado in initiating the long-term reform of the Vatican media, which is especially needed to relieve the Holy See’s coffers.

Even in this case, however, it remains to be seen how the new leaders will understand and maintain the institution’s language and history, and how they will reform it without necessarily applying corporate criteria.

And this is where the major issue comes in, which ultimately touches on the Lefebvrian schism.

While incorrect titles, such as pro-prefect, continue to be used, there is also institutional uncertainty in addressing the schism.

After the illicit ordination of four new bishops in Econe, a decree was required to certify the excommunication. The excommunication would be latae sententiae, meaning simply for having committed the act, but the Lefebvrites maintain that this excommunication cannot occur because a canon states that there can be no excommunication if the excommunicable act was committed in the face of a perceived grave danger to the Church.

And they say exactly that.

In 1988, Cardinal Gantin, then prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, issued the document defining newly ordained bishops as schismatic. But this time the document came from Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. In practice, the issue of schism was treated as a sin against the faith.

Indeed, an explanatory note states that the Society’s sacraments, including confession and marriage, are invalid, even though the ministers are the spouses. This is a broad interpretation of the issue because, in fact, until now, the sacraments administered by the SSPX have been considered valid, even though they were administered by illegitimate bishops or priests who formally belonged to a schismatic group.

What do these facts say about Leo XIV?

First of all, Leo XIV is not a man for great revolutions. He began with the consistory, and with a rather insistent call for unity. For the rest, he maintained Pope Francis’s structure, and did not concern himself with the question of women in the Church; in fact, he gave them more space.

Then, Leo XIV still faces the problems with a team that is still Pope Francis’s, with all the limitations that this team has in institutional, canonical terms and also in terms of dialogue with the traditionalist world – Pope Francis did not like them, and had practically eliminated any residual liberalization of the ancient rite.

Third,  Leo XIV doesn’t yet have his own government team and is relying primarily on continuity. Continuity isn’t a bad thing in itself, nor is it a good thing. In fact, however, some problems and issues that could have been addressed earlier will remain.

The major themes of previous pontificates will be absorbed, eventually, but it will take longer than expected.

There will be time for revolutions in the Curia, while the SSPX schism and its development will demonstrate how Leo XIV intends to exercise his government.