Seemingly jumping from the frying pan into the fire, the former district superior of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg (Benelux), Fr. Patrick Duverger has joined the ranks of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP).
His defection from the SSPX, allegedly the third such case since the July 1 consecrations, was announced on the website of the FSSP community in Viry-Châtillon, France, where Fr. Duverger will henceforth serve.
“Good news for our community in Viry-Châtillon! Bishop Michel Pansard has officially accepted the arrival of a new priest to serve our community. This is Father Patrick Duverger, who will arrive on Sunday, October 25, 2026. After Mass, we will gather on the church steps for a light reception, giving us a chance to get to know each other,” the short announcement on the website reads.
Duverger, 58, led the Society’s Benelux district until 2022, when the now-bishop, Fr. Michel de Sivry, took over from him.
Duverger is the brother of another prominent SSPX priest, Fr. Pierre Duverger, who in recent years has been accused of misbehavior and other improprieties.
That Fr. Patrick Duverger has joined the FSSP, which has been widely criticized in Traditionalist circles for toeing the Synodal line and “zipping it” on the rupture that occurred at Vatican II in exchange for crumbs from the conciliar hierarchy, is ironic given statements he made during a 2017 interview.
In his interview with SSPX News, Duverger said the charism of the SSPX exists to “manifest the vitality of the Tradition of the Church, to defend it against those — whoever they may be — who question it or relativize it.” He also said the Society “does not adhere to the ‘aggiornamento’ … implemented at the Second Vatican Council and in the post-conciliar reforms, which have been the cause of an ambiguous profession of faith, deficient teachings, an equivocal and desacralizing liturgy, and a questionable discipline.”
The Dispatch
Of course, it can easily be argued that Duverger’s new fraternity both “relativizes” Catholic Tradition through its compromise with the Synodal Church and that it adheres to its “aggiornamento.”
In the same 2017 interview, Duverger argued that “the Priestly Society of St. Pius X is truly a part of the Roman Catholic Church,” something he seems to no longer believe.
SSPX, FSSP, and the Vatican
On July 1, Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta and Bishop Bernard Fellay — the last remaining bishops consecrated by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1988 — consecrated Bishop Pascal Schreiber, Bishop Michael Goldade, Bishop Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Bishop Marc Hanappier in Ecône, Switzerland.
The development divided the Traditionalist Catholic movement, with many influencers in the United States taking vastly different stances on it. On July 2, Rome issued an excommunication decree, which the SSPX has since appealed.
Duverger’s decision will no doubt be seen as a betrayal of the Society and will do little to mend the bitter division that exists between the two priestly fraternities. At the same time, the Society had been seeking “canonical regulation” with the Vatican for many years under previous Superior General Bishop Bernard Fellay. Perhaps Duverger became convinced that such an arrangement is necessary.
Since its founding in 1988, the FSSP has become little more than an enclave for Latin Mass-onlyism, where it is unable to criticize Rome publicly and is obliged to adhere to Vatican II and the consequent errors flowing from it.
The SSPX has yet to comment on Duverger’s decision, and it remains unclear whether it will.
