(LifeSiteNews) — Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) priests and accompanying lay pilgrims were barred from entering the church of the Shrine of the Canadian Martyrs and venerating the relics there by an order from the Archdiocese of Toronto.
The pilgrims were forced to offer Mass in a field near the shrine, in Midland, Ontario.
BREAKING: Today an SSPX pilgrimage of about 200 — many of them families with young children — walked all day to the Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland for the feast of the North American Martyrs. They were barred from venerating the relics by order of the Archdiocese of Toronto. They… pic.twitter.com/8SkA7fDdS1
— John-Henry Westen (@JhWesten) September 26, 2026
One observer commented on X that if the SSPX “were Muslim or Hindu they’d have been welcomed with open arms.”
The SSPX holds an annual pilgrimage to the shrine close to the traditional feast day of the Canadian Martyrs, September 26. However, this year, since the Vatican’s declared excommunication of SSPX bishops following the Society’s episcopal consecrations in July, many Catholic clergy and laymen have considered the SSPX to be in schism.
For example, Cardinal Gérald Lacroix, the Archbishop of Quebec, in a July 20 letter lay faithful, maintained that any “allowances” granted to the SSPX “in the hope of full, effective and emotional communion … no longer have any reason to exist.” He declared that SSPX priests and faithful cannot offer Masses or perform any liturgical function in archdiocesan churches or chapels.
READ: SSPX superior: ‘We told the truth to the Pope’ before consecrations
Canon lawyer Father Gerald Murray has pointed out that the Vatican’s document pronouncing the excommunications does not have legal effect in excommunicating any SSPX priests or laypeople attending their Masses.
In addition, the SSPX has filed a preliminary canonical appeal against the Vatican decree of excommunication issued on July 2, suspending its force under canon law.
The prohibition on the SSPX’s access to the Martyrs’ shrine is the latest in a recent series of acts to exclude the Society from diocesan-run churches. Earlier this year, Bishop Daniele Salera of the Diocese of Ivrea in Italy barred a pilgrimage group led by SSPX priests from the Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows outside Turin.
In August, Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes notably banned the SSPX from celebrating Masses, sacraments, and public prayers within the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes. The bishop has also openly welcomed Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. Last year, a joint Muslim-Catholic pilgrimage to Lourdes was organized by an ecumenical group called “Together with Mary.”
An SSPX pilgrimage group was also denied permission this month to pray publicly in St. Francis Basilica in Assisi, even as Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Protestants, and other non-Catholics will be permitted to enter the same basilica to commemorate the infamous 1986 Assisi meeting.
Earlier this month, the pro-LGBT Bishop Wilhelm Krautwaschl of Graz-Seckau likewise barred the SSPX from the Basilica of Mariazell for its annual public Rosary this fall despite a much more accommodating history with homosexual and Muslim groups.