CathInfo.com

The French Resistance forum is reporting that the SSPX house in Montgardin (which depends directly on the General House in Menzingen) is distributing a leaflet declaring that:

"...in 1988, its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (1905-1991) consecrated four bishops without the approval of Rome, in order to ensure the continuity of the Catholic priesthood.  For this, he was excommunicated.  It took 21 years for Pope Benedict XVI to declare this 'excommunication' invalid by decree on January 21, 2009."
https://resistance.vraiforum.com/t1538-Excommunications-de-1988-invalides.htm

It is not the first time the SSPX has made this claim.  Three years ago, on FSSPX.news website published (in French) this surprising claim (DeepL translation):

"It was in his capacity as prefect of bishops that Cardinal Re had signed the decree dated January 21, 2009 raising the unjust excommunications which had been brought against the founder of the Fraternity Saint-Pie X, Mgr Marcel Lefebvre ( 1905-1991 ) and the four sacred bishops by him, without forgetting Mgr Antonio de Castro Mayer, co-consecrator bishop of the sacred episcopals of June 30, 1988."
https://fsspx.news/fr/le-sacre-college-nouveau-doyen-54990 

Confused by this claim, I wrote to His Eminence, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re (i.e., the author of the Jan. 21, 2009 Decree remitting the excommunications of the four SSPX bishops).  A copy of my letter is pasted here:



Four months later, I received the following response from His Eminence (envelope and letter pasted here):





There can be no doubt, therefore, that whatever Menzingen may wish to say on the matter, the 2009 Decree neither "lifted" nor annulled the 1988 "excommunications" of Archbishop Lefebvre and Bishop de Castro Mayer.

As the SSPX surely understands this, the only question is why they are saying otherwise.

Please also post a copy or link to Cardinal Re's 2009 decree for this thread, thanks.

https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cbishops/docuмents/rc_con_cbishops_doc_20090121_remissione-scomunica_en.html

Note: CI doesn’t allow the word “docuмents,” so you’ll have to manually type this address into your browser (or simply Google “Cardinal Re January 21 2009 Decree”).

As the SSPX surely understands this, the only question is why they are saying otherwise.

Propaganda.  The whole purpose of the new-sspx's leadership (not the many good priests still there) is to "soften" the layfolk/priests to accept new-rome's deal, when a formal offer is given.  So anything which makes new-rome seem "nicer" and "kinder" to the new-sspx/Tradition will "warm up" the laity to "join the ecuмenical club".