(LifeSiteNews) — In light of the recent episcopal consecrations, we’ve heard it all: the SSPX is schismatic, disobedient, and its founder defied the Pope to create his own sect.
But is any of it true?
I decided to go to Ecône to see for myself.
July 1, 2026, 6 a.m.
The long-awaited day finally dawns. After a seven-hour overnight bus ride from my home in France, I arrive in Ecône, a quiet oasis surrounded by misty Swiss mountains.
With three hours to go before the beginning of Mass, my group is among the first on site. We are ushered by young, smiling volunteers in fluorescent vests, who check our registration and give us bracelets with QR codes, a surprising touch of modernity in an otherwise very traditionally minded event.
We make our way to the main field and sit down on a picnic blanket, a few hundred yards behind the tent where the Mass will take place.
The air is heavy with anticipation. Around me, I hear French, English, German, Spanish, and Polish.
Hours pass.
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I see more and more families from around the world, pregnant women, sleepy toddlers in their fathers’ arms, and young, beaming nuns.
Priests and seminarians in cassocks hurry by with headphones over their ears, assuring the final preparations are done in time, and young Girl Scouts in uniform distribute bottles of water.
On large screens, we see the first installment of the Society’s recent three-part documentary, and though I have already viewed it, I’m again awed by the talent of the film students who created it.
Shortly before the beginning of Mass, a gentle rain begins to fall, but it does nothing to dampen the general feeling of expectation at being witnesses to this historic event in the history of the Church.
At 9 a.m., the entry procession begins to wind its way to the field, where 16,500 faithful have gathered. It takes over 20 minutes for all the clergy and seminarians to arrive at the large tent in which the consecrations will take place.
During the Mass, Jesus’ words come to my mind, and I’m struck by their relevance, especially when the Superior General uses them during his homily to encourage the newly ordained bishops in their difficult mission: “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in Heaven.” (Mt 5:11-12)
Right before the consecration, I hear a peal of thunder. Moments later, a voice rings out over the loudspeakers, telling us that a storm is imminent and that we can take shelter in the food tents above the field.
The sky darkens noticeably.
Within minutes, everyone is caught in a torrential downpour, and chaos reigns as thousands of people hastily assemble their belongings and rush for shelter.
By the time I reach a tent that isn’t full, I’m already soaked to the skin. Beside me, a young boy, equally soaked, trembles with cold. We’re all shocked by the suddenness of the storm, and yet not a murmur of complaint do I hear from anyone.
Outside the tents, someone intones the Rosary, and we raise our voices in song, trying to forget about our cold, wet clothes that cling to our skin.
For half an hour, we stay huddled together, singing Hail Marys as we try to stay out of the storm.
We come from the four corners of the world, and many of us do not speak the same language. Yet we are all here in Ecône together, soaked, sleep-deprived from our long travels the night before, facing the same challenges and united in our love for our Faith.
The final decade of the Rosary is offered for the Holy Father and the Church, a touching reminder that the Society’s fidelity to the Roman Catholic Church has never wavered.
As we finish the Rosary, the rain slows, and we make our way back to the field for Holy Communion and the end of Mass.
WATCH: Inside SSPX’s historic consecrations: 4 bishops, thousands of faithful & a thunderstorm
As the procession of clergy winds its way back up to the seminary, I find myself within a few yards of the newly consecrated bishops, who bless the crowd under a now-magnificent sky.
After Mass, which lasts over five-and-a-half hours, the rain clouds disperse, making way for a warm sun that dries our soaked clothes and boosts our spirits.
Going to Ecône in person gave me a radically different perspective on the Society than what the media wants us to think.
Rarely have I seen such piety, charity, and concern for souls as I have witnessed within the SSPX.
When its members speak of the Pope, they speak of him with the greatest respect, much as one would speak of a beloved father who asks his child to do what is wrong and therefore cannot be obeyed.
In the words of the Superior General: “We are accused of not loving the Pope, of not respecting him. But it is because we love the Pope sincerely, as Vicar of Christ, as head of the Church, that we no longer wish to see the Pope humiliated alongside false pastors, representatives of false religions. … A humiliation that falls upon the whole Church, which is treated on an equal footing with false religions.”
I come away from the episcopal consecrations convinced that in the troubled times in which we live, the Society’s decision, as incomprehensible as it may seem to some, was motivated by nothing other than their deep love for the Catholic Church and their mission to preserve the Faith for the salvation of souls.