Cardinal Robert Sarah has issued a forceful warning: the SSPX’s planned episcopal consecrations without papal mandate threaten Church unity, and “disobedience to the Pope cannot be the ordinary path of salvation for souls.” His intervention, published in Le Journal du Dimanche, insists that fidelity to the successor of Peter remains essential even amid crisis—that rebellion cannot save the Church.

John-Henry Westen responds with an open letter questioning why the cardinal’s public clarity on SSPX disobedience was not matched by similar force regarding controversial developments under Pope Francis and Pope Leo. The response examines a painful tension: when obedience to Rome means compliance with liturgical suppression, ambiguous doctrine, and bishops who abandoned their flocks during COVID while the SSPX kept the sacraments accessible. Was unity preserved then by silence? Is it preserved now by condemnation?

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February 23, 2026