The Code of Canon Law (#1382) stipulates that a bishop who consecrates a new bishop without a papal mandate, and any bishop so consecrated, will “incur a latae sententiae excommunication.” That language is clear.

However Canon #1752— literally the last word in the Code— reminds us to focus on “the salvation of souls, which in the Church must always be the supreme law.”

The challenge facing the Vatican is to find a way, between now and July 1, to reconcile these two provisions.

The SSPX, in response to the latest Vatican offer of dialogue, emphasized its desire to “continue to operate in its current situation— exceptional and temporary— for the good of the souls who turn to it.” Whatever its shortcomings, the SSPX currently provides pastoral care for many thousands of Catholics, who could be separated from the Church by a complete rupture.

This is no longer a tiny pocket of resistance. The SSPX now boasts nearly 1,000 priests and seminarians. By contrast the New York archdiocese counts fewer than 700 of its own priests; the Los Angeles archdiocese about 450; Chicago about 500.

And notice something else: The number of priests in those archdioceses today is, very roughly, one-half of what it was in 1988. Since that time, the number of SSPX priests has more than tripled.