There have been several controversies surrounding the Society of St. Pius X, many of which concern political support for non-democratic regimes, alleged antisemitism, and the occupation of church buildings.
In the French context, such positions include: Archbishop Lefebvre's first biographer, the English traditionalist writer Michael Davies, wrote in the first volume of his Apologia Pro Marcel Lefebvre: In 1977, a group of SSPX priests and laypeople led by Monsignor François Ducaud-Bourget entered the parish Church of Saint Nicolas du Chardonnet in central Paris and celebrated Mass.
Franz Schmidberger, stated that Williamson's views represented his own personal opinions;[22] and Bishop Fellay, as superior general of the Society, "prohibited him, pending any new orders, from taking any public positions on political or historical questions.
"[23] Although the SSPX authorities have thus distinguished Williamson's views from those of the Society, the Anti-Defamation League has accused the Society of St. Pius X of being "mired in anti-Semitism",[24] and journalist John L. Allen Jr., has said it would be misleading to consider Williamson an isolated case: Father Florian Abrahamowicz, who after being the superior in Italy has since been expelled from the Society also said he was not sure the Nazis had used gas chambers for anything other than disinfection, seemed to cast doubt on the number of six million Jews killed, complained that the Jews had exalted the Holocaust above other genocides, and called the Jews first "the people of God" and then the "people of deicide", to be converted to Jesus Christ at the end times.
[26] During a radio interview on 28 December 2013, the then-Superior General Bishop Bernard Fellay said "Who, during that time, was the most opposed that the Church would recognize the Society?
The Vatican chief spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi SJ, said that it was "meaningless" and "unacceptable" to label Jews as "enemies" of the Catholic Church.
[30] On his death in 1996, a Requiem Mass for the repose of Touvier's soul was offered by Father Philippe Laguérie,[31] an SSPX priest who was then the Rector of the Parisian church of St Nicolas du Chardonnet.
Abbe Beauvais, who served as the SSPX priest and pastor of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet from 2003 to 2014, publicly praises Catholic Rexist Party founder and Waffen-SS officer Leon Degrelle.
[33][34] Leon Degrelle had a lengthy post-war career in Spain under Francisco Franco where he was allowed to promote Nazi ideology, Catholic integrism, and Holocaust denial.
[35] Abbe Beauvais also quotes approvingly from Degrell's book Burning Souls as an inspirational source in an editorial found in the SSPX publication Le Chardonnet.
[36] The SSPX was also accused of antisemitism in a 2006 report on Traditionalist Catholicism published by the legal advocacy organization Southern Poverty Law Center.
[38] The website of the SSPX in the United States carried a 1997 The Angelus article titled "The Mystery of the Jewish People in History"[39] which the Overland Express of Melbourne said "methodically repeats every slur of medieval anti-Semitism.
[41] The Angelus Press also sells a book published by the Society of St. Pius X entitled Christian Warfare, which recommends under the heading of "Good Reading Material" the works of Fr.
Cottard, the SSPX priest responsible for the children, had subjected them to a harsh disciplinary regimen, forcing them to spend the night before their deaths sleeping on a pebbled beach.
Cottard had also failed to call the emergency services for almost 8 hours, and did not take basic safety precautions such as properly checking the weather forecast.
[47] On 5 April 2017 Uppdrag Granskning, a Swedish investigative journalism television program, reported that four different clerics of the SSPX – three priests and a former seminarian – had molested at least a dozen young people in several different countries.
[52] In January 2023, The KBI’s four-year inquiry into alleged child sexual abuse in four Catholic dioceses and the SSPX therein in the US state of Kansas resulted in referral of 30 cases to county prosecutors targeting 14 members of the clergy.