Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei

Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei

The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei is a commission of the Catholic Church established by Pope John Paul II's motu proprio Ecclesia Dei of 2 July 1988 for the care of those former followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre who broke with him as a result of his consecration of four priests of his Society of St. Pius X as bishops on 30 June 1988, an act that the Holy See deemed illicit and schismatic.

It has the additional tasks of trying to return to full communion with the Holy See those traditionalist Catholics who are in a state of separation, of whom the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) is foremost, and of helping to satisfy just aspirations of people unconnected with these groups who want to keep alive the pre-1970 Roman Rite liturgy.

The Pontifical Commission was given additional functions by the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, issued by Pope Benedict XVI on 7 July 2007, to exercise the authority of the Holy See, supervising the observance and application of the dispositions of that motu proprio, as described below.

In his letter of 10 March 2009 concerning his remission of the excommunication of the four bishops of the Society of St Pius X, Pope Benedict XVI announced his intention to join the Commission to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.