Archbishop Gänswein says ‘radical fringe’ prevailed in SSPX, calls for repeal of Traditionis Custodes

July 04, 2026

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CWN Editor's Note: Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the private secretary of the late Pope Benedict, decried the illicit consecration of four new SSPX bishops and said that “the story of the Lefebvrists is not a liturgical question,” as “their understanding of tradition is not tradition.”

“Rather, they cement the Catholic tradition up to Pius XII,” explained Archbishop Gänswein, now apostolic nuncio to three Baltic nations. “After that everything was over for them, that’s it, from that moment there were only mistakes.”

In remitting the excommunications of the four bishops illicitly consecrated in 1988, Pope Benedict was “like a father who tries to create peace—an outstretched hand that, unfortunately, they did not accept,” Archbishop Gänswein continued. “There was a radical fringe that prevailed.”

The prelate called for the repeal of Traditionis Custodes, Pope Francis’s 2021 apostolic letter restricting the extraordinary form of the Mass: “a wrong decision can and must be corrected ... I believe that Pope Francis has made a mistake, without realizing it.”

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• Posted by: feedback - Jul. 04, 2026 2:28 PM ET USA

  This is one of the highest ranking voices calling to remedy the division and confusion caused by Pope Francis. I hope someone high-ranking will also openly ask Pope Leo to repeal the Secret China Deal, Amoris Letitia, and Fiducia Supplicans. And I hope that Pope Leo gives them due consideration. Things that somehow made sense to Francis didn't make a whole lot of sense to other Bishops.

• Posted by: frjimt.stjudes7938 - Jul. 04, 2026 11:51 AM ET USA

  From his pen to God's ears & Leo XIV heart!