Declaration of
Catholic Faith addressed to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV by Fr. Davide Pagliarani
Superior General of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X
Most Holy
Father,
For more than
fifty years, the Society of Saint Pius X has endeavoured to set before the Holy
See a matter of conscience in the face of the errors that are destroying
Catholic faith and morals. Regrettably, all the discussions entered into have
remained without result, and none of the concerns expressed have received any
truly satisfactory response.
For more than
fifty years, the only solution truly considered by the Holy See has appeared to
be that of canonical sanctions. To our great regret, it seems to us that canon
law is thus being used, not to confirm in the faith, but to lead away from it.
In the text
that follows, the Society of Saint Pius X is glad to express to You, filially
and sincerely, its devotion to the Catholic faith, concealing nothing, either
from Your Holiness or from the universal Church.
The Society
places this simple Declaration of Faith in Your hands. It seems to us to
correspond to the minimum indispensable to be in communion with the Church, and
to truly call ourselves Catholics and, consequently, your sons.
We have no
other desire than that of living and being confirmed in the Roman Catholic
Faith.
“Thus,
remaining firmly rooted and established in the true Catholic Faith, strive
always to be worthy ministers of the divine Sacrifice and of the Church of God,
which is the Body of Christ.
For, as the
Apostle says: ‘all that is not of faith is sin’,1 schismatic and outside the
unity of the Church.”2
DECLARATION OF
CATHOLIC FAITH
In the Name of
Our Lord Jesus Christ, divine Wisdom, the Word Incarnate, Who willed one sole
religion, Who rendered the Old Covenant definitively null and void, Who founded
one sole Church, Who triumphed over Satan, Who conquered the world, Who remains
with us until the end of time and Who shall come again to judge the living and
the dead.
He, the perfect
Image of the Father, the Son of God made man, was appointed the sole Redeemer
and Saviour of the world through the Incarnation and the voluntary offering of
the Sacrifice of the Cross. Our Lord satisfied divine justice by shedding His
Most Precious Blood, and it is in that Blood that He established the New and
Eternal Covenant, abolishing the Old. He is therefore the sole Mediator between
God and men and the sole way to come to the Father. Only he who knows Him knows
the Father.
By divine
decree, the Most Holy Virgin Mary has been directly and intimately associated
with the entire work of Redemption; to deny this association — in the terms
received from Tradition — is therefore to alter the very notion of Redemption
as willed by divine Providence.
There is only
one Faith and one Church by which we may be saved. Outside the Roman Catholic
Church, and without the profession of Faith that she has always taught, there
is neither salvation nor remission of sins.
Consequently,
every man must be a member of the Catholic Church in order to save his soul,
and there is but one baptism as the means of being incorporated into her. This
necessity concerns the whole of humanity without exception and embraces without
distinction Christians, Jews, Muslims, pagans, and atheists.
The mandate
received by the Apostles, to preach the Gospel to every man and to convert
every man to the Catholic faith, remains binding until the end of time and
responds to the most absolute and most pressing necessity in the world. “He
that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall
be condemned.”3 Therefore, to renounce the fulfilment of this mandate
constitutes the gravest of crimes against humanity.
The Roman
Church alone possesses simultaneously the four marks that characterize the
Church founded by Jesus Christ: Unity, Holiness, Catholicity, and Apostolicity.
Her unity flows
essentially from the adherence of all her members to the one true Faith,
faithfully preserved, taught, and handed down by the Catholic hierarchy
throughout the centuries.
The denial of
even a single truth of faith destroys faith itself and renders radically
impossible all communion with the Catholic Church.
The only
possible path to restoring unity among Christians of different confessions
consists in the urgent and charitable appeal addressed to non-Catholics to
profess the one true Faith within the one true Church.
The Catholic
Church can in no way be regarded or treated on an equal footing with a false
form of worship or a false church.
The Roman
Pontiff, the Vicar of Christ, is the sole possessor of supreme authority over
the whole Church. He alone directly confers on the other members of the
Catholic hierarchy jurisdiction over souls.
“The Holy Ghost
was not promised to the successors of Peter that they might make known, by His
revelation, a new doctrine, but that, by His assistance, they might inviolably
keep and faithfully expound the revelation transmitted by the Apostles, that
is, the Deposit of the Faith.”4
To a unique
Faith there corresponds a unique form of worship, the supreme, authentic, and
perfect expression of that same Faith.
The Holy Mass
is the perpetuation in time of the Sacrifice of the Cross, offered for many and
renewed upon the altar. Although offered in an unbloody manner, the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass is essentially expiatory and propitiatory. No other form
of worship offers perfect adoration. No other form of worship that is not
ordered to it is pleasing to God. No other means is sufficient for the
sanctification of souls.
Consequently,
the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass can in no way be reduced to a mere
commemoration, to a spiritual meal, to a sacred assembly celebrated by the
people, to the celebration of the Paschal mystery without sacrifice, without
satisfaction of divine justice, without expiation of sins, without
propitiation, and without the Cross.
The help
afforded to souls by the Sacraments of the Catholic Church is sufficient in
every circumstance and in every age to enable the faithful to live in a state
of grace.
The moral law
contained in the Decalogue and perfected in the Sermon on the Mount is the only
one practicable for obtaining the salvation of souls. Every other moral code —
founded, for example, on respect for creation or on the rights of the human
person — is radically insufficient to sanctify and save souls. In no way can it
replace the one true moral law.
Following the
example of Saint John the Baptist, true charity obliges us to warn sinners and
never to renounce the means necessary to save their souls.
He who eats the
Body of Our Lord and drinks His Blood whilst in a state of sin eats and drinks
his own condemnation, and no authority can alter this law contained in the
teaching of Saint Paul and in Tradition.
Sins of
impurity that are against nature are of such gravity that they always and in
every circumstance cry to God for vengeance, and are radically incompatible
with every form of authentic Christian love. Such a ‘lifestyle’ can therefore
in no way be recognized as a gift from God. A couple practising this vice must
be helped to free themselves from it, and can in no way be blessed — formally
or informally — by ministers of the Church.
The submission
of institutions and nations, as such, to the authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ
flows directly from the Incarnation and the Redemption. Therefore, secularism
of institutions and nations constitutes an implicit denial of the divinity and
universal kingship of Our Lord.
Christendom is
not a mere historical phenomenon, but the only order willed by God among men.
It is not for
the Church to conform herself to the world, but for the world to be transformed
by the Church.
It is in this
Faith and in these principles that we ask to be instructed and confirmed by Him
Who has received the charism to do so. With the help of Our Lord, we would
rather die than renounce them. It is in this immutable Faith that we desire to
live and die, in the hope that it may give way to the direct vision of the
immutable eternal Truth.
Menzingen, 14
May 2026,
on the Feast of
the Ascension of Our Lord
Davide
Pagliarani