Alfonso de Galarreta | |
|---|---|
| Auxiliary Bishop of theSociety of Saint Pius X | |
 Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, circa 2011. | |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 24 August 1980 by Marcel Lefebvre |
| Consecration | 30 June 1988 by Marcel Lefebvre |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1957-01-14)14 January 1957 (age 69) |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Denomination | Catholic Church |
| Alma mater | The International Seminary of Saint Pius X |
| Motto | Omnia per Mariam (All by Mary) |
| Coat of arms |  |
Ordination history of Alfonso de Galarreta | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Alfonso de Galarreta Genua,FSSPX (born 14 January 1957), is a Spanish-born Argentinetraditionalist Catholic bishop of theSociety of Saint Pius X. Bishop de Galarreta has served as the First Assistant of the Society of Saint Pius X, working under the direction of the Superior General Fr.Davide Pagliarani, since 2018.[1] In addition to this, Bishop de Galaretta has been the President of theSSPX—Vatican Commission since 2009, which directs the Society's correspondence with theHoly See.[2]
Born inCantabria in northernSpain, he migrated toArgentina as a child. Alfonso de Galarreta underwent priestly formation at theInternational Seminary of Saint Pius X atÉcône,Switzerland, before being ordained a priest by ArchbishopMarcel Lefebvre atBuenos Aires in 1980. The Society represented atraditional Catholic pushback against the liberalising implications of theSecond Vatican Council. Alfonso de Galarreta was one of four SSPX priests (along with Frs.Bernard Fellay,Bernard Tissier de Mallerais andRichard Williamson) who were consecrated as Bishops during theÉcône consecrations in 1988. The consecrations were carried out by two bishops of theCatholic Church, Archbishop Lefebvre and BishopAntônio de Castro Mayer, as an "emergency measure" due toModernism in the Catholic Church, but without the permission of Rome, and thusPope John Paul II claimed in hisEcclesia Deimotu proprio that the men had incurredlatae sententiae excommunication on account of disobedience.[3]
The SSPX denied the legal validity of the excommunication, saying that the consecrations were necessary due to a moral and theological crisis in the Catholic Church and thus continued to operate regardless.[4][5][6] After the consecrations, Bishop de Galarreta became the Rector of the Our Lady Co-Redemptrix Seminary at La Reja in Argentina, which servesLatin America. He became the Superior of the SSPX District of Spain and Portugal in 1994, before becoming the Second Assistant of the Society of Saint Pius X in 2002. During the pontificate ofPope Benedict XVI in 2009, the Holy See officially declared the remission of the SSPX's contested automatic excommunications.[7]
In June 1988,ArchbishopMarcel Lefebvre announced his intention to consecrate de Galarreta and three other priests (Bernard Fellay,Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, andRichard Williamson) asbishops. Lefebvre did not have a pontifical mandate for these consecrations (i.e. permission from thepope), normally required by Canon 1382 of theCode of Canon Law. On June 17, 1988CardinalBernardin Gantin,prefect of theCongregation for Bishops sent the four priests a formal canonical warning that he would automatically incur the penalty ofexcommunication if they were to be consecrated by Lefebvre without papal permission.
On June 30, 1988 de Galarreta and the three other priests were consecrated bishop by Archbishop Lefebvre and BishopAntônio de Castro Mayer. On July 1, 1988 Cardinal Gantin issued a declaration stating that Lefebvre, de Castro Mayer, de Galarreta, and the three other newly-ordained bishops "have incurredipso facto theexcommunicationlatae sententiae reserved to theApostolic See".
On July 2, 1988,Pope John Paul II issued themotu proprioEcclesia Dei, in which he reaffirmed the excommunication, and described the consecration as an act of "disobedience to theRoman pontiff in a very grave matter and of supreme importance for the unity of the Church", and that "such disobedience — which implies in practice the rejection of theRoman primacy — constitutes a schismatic act".[8]CardinalDarío Castrillón Hoyos, head of the commission responsible for implementingEcclesia Dei, has said this resulted in a "situation of separation, even if it was not a formal schism."[9]
The SSPX denied the validity of the excommunications, saying that the consecrations were necessary due to a moral and theological crisis in the Catholic Church.[10][5][11]
In 2009, the excommunications were remitted by Pope Benedict XVI.[12]
The canonical situation of the four bishops thus became the same as that of the other clergy of the Society, who aresuspendeda divinis.[13]
