A dramatic breach with Rome widened on Thursday as the Vatican excommunicated six bishops linked to the ultraconservative Society of St Pius X, warning that lay Catholics who “formally adhere” to the movement would face the same punishment.
The decree landed a day after the traditionalist splinter group went ahead with the consecration of four new bishops, ignoring a direct appeal from Pope Leo XIV to stop.
The Vatican described the ceremony as “an act of schismatic nature”.
Under Church law, only the pope can authorise the consecration of new bishops, a safeguard meant to preserve the line of succession to the 12 apostles, who are recognised as the first priests and bishops.
The excommunications apply to the four newly consecrated bishops as well as the two bishops who oversaw the ceremony in Econe, in southwest Switzerland.
Thousands of worshippers from across the world attended the rite.
The Society of Saint Pius X dates back to 1970
In his homily, the society’s Superior General Davide Pagliarani hailed the moment as “historic”.
“Are we breaking with the Church in order to keep the faith? That is a false dilemma. We belong to the Church first through faith, through the integral profession of the Church’s faith,” he said.
The Society of Saint Pius X, with around 600,000 followers, is made up of fundamentalist Catholics who fiercely reject the liberalising reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.
The movement was founded in 1970 by the controversial French bishop Marcel Lefebvre, and it opened a deep rift with the Vatican in 1988 when he consecrated four bishops without the approval of Pope John Paul II.
Its current leadership said in February that it intended to ordain new bishops in July without Vatican consent, arguing that the society needed more prelates to guide its ranks.
“I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!” Pope Leo wrote to the society on Monday, calling the planned move a “schismatic act”.
“To tear the seamless garment of Christ is a sin of extreme gravity,” the pontiff said.
The Vatican’s number two, Pietro Parolin, said the Church felt “deep sorrow” over the ordinations.
“An act of this kind deeply wounds the unity of the Church,” he told reporters.
In March last year, the Bishop of Derry warned parishioners that a man posing as an ordained priest was celebrating illicit Masses in the diocese.
A defrocked priest believed to be operating in Derry was reportedly linked to SSPX Resistance Ireland, a breakaway faction associated with the SSPX.
