While I was busy responding to Fr. Raymond De Souza (see here), I was unable to catch up with some of the more recent news on social media. And lo and behold! I happened to catch up with John Henry Westen who through his Sign of the Cross Media & LifeSite News posted a blistering and scathing response to Cardinal Sarah’s take on the SSPX saga.

Such is the state of Catholicism, that it has now left all and sundry divided on the stance of the SSPX. With Cardinal Müller, recently responding to the SSPX’s Fr. Pagliarani quoting him on his role as the prefect of the CDF, in his handling of their requests for consecration of bishops, Cardinal Robert Sarah, the Guinean prelate, followed suite on the 23rd February, 2026, issuing a criticism of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).

However, the CEO and co-founder of LifeSite News, who is no stranger to controversy himself over all that ensued last year after his removal and miraculous reinstatement at the helm of the leadership of LifeSite News, came to the defense of the SSPX with a scintillating and scathing response to the Guinean Cardinal.

Here are a few excerpts that I found extremely notable

“Where have you been these past nine months, as the Church has been engulfed in flames under Pope Leo’s reign? The whole edifice seems to be burning down, and your silence has been the loudest thing on earth. You wear the red of martyrdom, a symbol of willingness to shed blood for the faith. Yet under the grave dangers facing the faithful today, you and your brother cardinals have been conspicuously absent.”

After listing down several of the key highlights of the papacy of Leo XIV in the last nine months, he again asks:

“Where was your voice, Cardinal? Why no public outcry against these outrages that endanger souls far more than any SSPX consecrations?”

He bluntly asks Sarah a speculative and loaded question about what the motivation for his austere silence was:

“Are you and your fellow cardinals seeking favor with Leo to advance some particular agendas?”

Westen cites the courageous stand taken by the SSPX during the Covid fiasco, saying:

“[…] the SSPX did not obey during the COVID crisis, when Francis gave the example for the unprecedented shutdown of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass worldwide. Dioceses complied en masse, locking churches, denying the Eucharist to the laity, and even refusing last rites to the dying in their hour of greatest need. The SSPX, however, kept the Mass alive, preserving access to grace and the Real Presence when it was needed most urgently.”

Further asking Cdl. Sarah the rather obvious hard questions:

“Was that not true obedience to Christ Himself, prioritizing the supreme law of salus animarum—the salvation of souls—over blind submission to bishops mandating depriving the faithful of the Holy Sacrifice, which arguably contradicted divine law?”

He reiterated the SSPX’s courage

“History vindicates them: countless faithful were sustained spiritually because of their courage.”

The question in the next paragraph was the equivalent of a respectful slap across the face of the eminent Cardinal:

“You preach obedience now, but I must ask: Where is your own obedience to Francis—and his magisterium now furthered by Leo? You urge unwavering fidelity to the Pope, yet have you personally blessed homosexual couples as Fiducia Supplicans explicitly encourages?”

Westen didn’t pipe down and continues his highly valid outrage against Cdl. Sarah by highlighting the obvious favouritism demonstrated by the last two pontificates for a notorious Jesuit.

The spirit of Fiducia Supplicans is amply demonstrated by both Francis and Leo with their support for James Martin, SJ and his embrace of homosexuality.

And finally! finally! someone dares to ask out aloud what has been known or suspected for some time now, whether sedevacantist or rad-trad. This, IMHO, was one of the most important bombshell moment, second only after Diane Montagna gave us the leaked information that Traditionis Custodes was unilaterally decided by Pope Francis regardless of what the survey of Bishops had to say on the question of the TLM.

“Finally, dear Cardinal Sarah, we must confront a painful but unavoidable possibility—one that echoes through Church history with its some 30 documented anti-popes who illegitimately claimed the throne and led souls astray. What if Francis and Leo are such figures—anti-popes whose elections or actions render their authority null?”

Before he closed his letter, Westen took one last shot at Cdl. Sarah on a personal note:

“As a father of eight children who are mostly in their twenties and have lived all their adult lives under two disastrous pontificates, I beseech your understanding. These two men – Francis and Leo – have harmed the faith of my little ones […]”

I highly recommend reading his letter in entirety and also watching his video (see below)

John-Henry Westen: An open letter to Cardinal Sarah on the SSPX

(YouTube Video) John-Henry Westen OPEN LETTER to Cardinal Sarah RE:SSPX

Dear John Henry,

If you are reading this, thank YOU for your courageous stand. I am indeed happy to see this bold a stand AT LAST, from at least one of the voices who was as outspoken during the Francis pontificate. As the pontificate of Leo XIV has treaded the same path carved by Francis, many Trads were left aghast and dismayed over the about-turn by many “defenders” of the faith – Cardinal Sarah being one of them. For in their silence, they acknowledge and support the actions and words of a Pope you allude to as being a likely “anti-pope”.

You are absolutely correct in all that you pointed out, and I am more than surprised in the tone of your letter – which is spot on in my humble opinion. The time for pleasantries is now past us. For he that is not for us, is against us (paraphrasing Mark 9:39 in the Douay-Rheims Bible).

My prayers are towards you and your family, now especially with all due consideration that the absolute-papists, the popesplainers, and the conservative faction who hate the SSPX are likely to now train their hateful and bitter torrent of comments towards your brave and courageous stand in defending, not only the SSPX, but in reality the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Faith.

May Our Lady bless and protect you and your family, and may Our Lord and Saviour restore the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Faith.

Yours in Christ,

Glenn Braganza

(Originally published on Substack on 25th February 2026)