Cubao bishop offers to provide spiritual guidance to excommunicated group

The Diocese of Cubao proposed to organize a group of priests and lay people who will provide the spiritual needs of the members of Society of Saint Pius X, which was excommunicated by Pope Leo XIV after they ordained of bishops without his approval.

Cubao Bishop Elias Ayuban Jr., in a pastoral letter, said the members of this group are tasked to "competently and compassionately provide information, counseling, and pastoral assistance."

Ayuban's letter was issued after the Vatican excommunicated six bishops from the ultraconservative group Society of Saint Pius X.

In a Reuters report, the Vatican also warned that any lay believers who "formally adhere" to the breakaway Catholic group would suffer the same fate.

Bishop Ayuban, in his pastoral letter clarified that "The Catholic Church has always affirmed that an ordination of a bishop performed without the mandate and authorization of the Holy Father and in direct disobedience to his expressed will is an act of schism which is not only a serious sin, but also brings with it certain consequences."

"As it stands," Ayuban continues, "the recent actions of SSPX have directly contradicted the communion that is present in the Catholic Church."

"Those who have carried out the schismatic actions have inflicted upon themselves a latae sententiae excommunication. This means that by their very actions, the ministers of SSPX have willfully and deliberately chosen to exclude themselves from the communion of the Catholic Church (ex communio)," he said.

"From this moment on, Sacraments being celebrated by all the bishops and priests of SSPX become illicit, while the Sacraments of Confession and Marriage to be celebrated are invalid. This is not a punishment from the pope. This is a self-inflicted consequence of an action that attempts to break the unity of the Church," he added.

Ayuban said the members of the group may still be reconciled with the Catholic Church.

"While the lay faithful who follow the SSPX do not automatically suffer the same irregular situation, they must discern and decide not to take part anymore in the liturgies celebrated by the ministers of SSPX, otherwise, they are in danger of not only participating in illicit and invalid sacraments but also of incurring for themselves the pain of excommunication," he added.

The prelate offers the members of the Society, spiritual guidance and he also proposed that more Latin Masses be celebrated in the diocese.

"To provide for the spiritual needs of those who follow the Society, we shall begin organizing a group of priests and lay faithful who will be able to competently and compassionately provide information, counseling, and pastoral assistance," he said.

"While the Mass of the 1962 Roman Missal (Traditional Latin Mass) will continue to be celebrated in the Diocese of Cubao, we shall explore the possibility of providing additional Traditional Latin Masses accessible to a greater number of devotees in accordance with the prescriptions of Traditionis Custodes," he added. — BAP, GMA News