(OSV News) — The 44th annual traditional pilgrimage from Paris to Chartres will bring together some 20,000 pilgrims over the Pentecost weekend May 23-25 for a 60-mile walk centered on the theme of “the mission.”

On May 25, a public holiday in France, U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke will celebrate the closing Mass in the thousand-year-old Chartres Cathedral. 

Organized by the association Notre-Dame de Chrétienté, the pilgrimage dates back to 1983. It is led by priests and religious from institutes committed to celebrating the traditional Latin Mass. The 2026 pilgrimage will take place amid renewed tensions between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X.

Pilgrimage chaplain is FSSP priest

The chaplain of the pilgrimage, Father Jean de Massia, is a priest of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, or FSSP — founded to welcome priests and seminarians attached to the “Vetus Ordo,” or Tridentine rite, but who wished to remain in communion with the pope. 

They have since distinguished themselves from those who followed French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the Society of St. Pius X, known by its acronym SSPX.

Archbishop Lefebvre and the four priests he ordained as bishops without the permission from the pope were excommunicated, with St. John Paul II in his “Ecclesia Dei” ruling out that such disobedience “constitutes a schismatic act.”

Now, SSPX is proceeding with similar plans, which would be considered “a schismatic act,” the head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office said.

Adherence to schism a ‘grave offense’

In a statement released May 13 by the Vatican press office, Cardinal Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the society did “not have the requisite pontifical mandate” and that “formal adherence to the schism constitutes a grave offense against God and entails the excommunication established under Church law.”

Philippe Darantière, president of Notre-Dame de Chrétienté, described as “painful” the announcement by SSPX of the upcoming episcopal ordinations without a mandate from the pope and scheduled for July 1 in Ecône, at the very same location where the previous ones had taken place in 1988. 

“This prospect reopens old wounds for us,” Darantière said. “Our pilgrimage to Chartres itself had split in two” years ago — following the first ordinations, he said. “We chose to remain faithful to the pope, but some of the organizers then left us.”

“Today, the pilgrims who followed Archbishop Lefebvre walk in the opposite direction from us, from Chartres to Paris, over the Pentecost weekend,” Darantière said. “And divisions still exist within some families. We therefore pray that the Holy Spirit may enlighten hearts and that the Holy Father may fully exercise his ministry of unity to prevent a new schism.”

The Pentecost pilgrimage comes at a time when the French bishops reflect on how best to integrate the faithful attached to the traditional Latin Mass.

French bishops’ assembly at Lourdes

During their assembly in Lourdes in March, Pope Leo XIV encouraged them to seek “concrete solutions enabling the generous inclusion of those sincerely attached to the Vetus Ordo, while respecting the orientations desired by the Second Vatican Council regarding the liturgy.”

For Darantière, the letter was a “a very positive sign.” 

Pope Leo, he told OSV News, “is showing interest in those attached to the traditional liturgy.”

“It is encouraging that he highlighted the vitality of these communities and invited the bishops to welcome them generously. I hope that the question of communion between Catholics will be addressed in a new way toward us.”

Darantière noted that “the situation has been difficult in recent years between bishops and traditionalist priests.” He said that “in 2021, Pope Francis’ motu proprio ‘Traditionis Custodes’ led French bishops to restrict the celebration of Tridentine Mass and other sacraments. Some have even asked the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter to leave their dioceses. The atmosphere was tense.”

Darantière hopes “that this difficult period of misunderstanding will come to an end.” 

Supporters of traditional Latin Mass

“Things have been calming down recently,” he said. “I hope we can take advantage of that so that we can work to get to know one another better on both sides. For now, we know very little about one another,” he told OSV News, admitting that “contacts are fairly rare” between supporters of the traditional Latin Mass and French bishops.

“There is also the fact that attachment to the traditional liturgy can give the impression that traditionalists still harbor mistrust of the reforms of Vatican II,” Darantière admitted. “This does not help to ease our relations. In light of this, we must make an effort to better distinguish the question of the liturgy from the teachings of the Council.

“We must therefore clarify that our attachment to the Tridentine rite is accompanied by the reception of Vatican II, in light of the Church’s Tradition. That is where the difficulty lies — and perhaps also the solution,” the organizer of the traditional pilgrimage stressed.

In the meantime, the growing number of pilgrims walking toward Chartres — many of whom are young people — has led the organizers to create new pilgrimage routes that converge there. 

New ‘Jerusalem route’ for annual event

In 2026, the new “Jerusalem route,” which is shorter — 43 miles long — will be established, president of Notre-Dame de Chrétienté told OSV News. “It is intended for former pilgrims who had stopped coming in recent years because the physical demands of covering 100 km (60 miles) in three days had become too exhausting for them. This shorter route will allow them to return, while maintaining a slightly more relaxed pace.”

In France, a growing number of local pilgrimages have been developing over the past seven years, modeled after the Chartres pilgrimage, like in Brittany, Provence or Normandy. 

“They focus on the province’s cultural roots,” Darantière explained. “In France, we are seeing a resurgence of interest in popular devotions, which Pope Francis has welcomed. People who had drifted away from the faith can find their way back to it through this approach, which is rooted in their local cultural heritage.”

Participants spend the nights camping at their daily destination in the Paris-Chartres pilgrimage. Luggage is driven from one place to another by trucks organized by volunteers. 

Caroline de Sury writes for OSV News from Paris.

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