I see no good reason for a statement like this, without any details. My opinion is that they just did it to see how people react. Be it Leo, be it their faithful. If the reactions are very bad, they might just pretend it has never happened.

On February 2 Archbishop Lefebvre confirmed the news: “I am resolved to consecrate at least three bishops on June 30, and I hope to have the approval of John Paul II. But if he were not to give it to me, I would do without it for the good of the Church and for the continuance of Tradition.”

The decision of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X to consecrate new Bishops on July 1 demonstrates the impossibility of any dialogue with the Holy See. The Vatican’s refusal to comply with the Society’s requests confirms a double standard: On the one hand, synodality opens the way to schism without this constituting a problem either for those who impose it from above or for those who suffer it from below.

On the other hand, a Priestly Fraternity of assured orthodoxy is denied permission to consecrate new Bishops precisely because it has not compromised with the conciliar revolution, the highest expression of which is synodality.

When the Hierarchy becomes complicit in the demolition of the Church, the only solution is to appeal to the state of necessity and guarantee that Apostolic Succession continues for the good of souls. Nothing has changed since 1988, and we can even say that the situation has dramatically worsened. I therefore express my full support for the decision taken by the Society of Saint Pius X.