ROME — The Vatican announced Thursday that priests and members of a breakaway ultra-traditionalist Catholic group are in schism and excommunicated, after they ordained four new bishops in direct defiance of Pope Leo XIV. According to Antigua News Room, the Society of Saint Pius X proceeded with the ordinations on Wednesday without papal approval, despite repeated appeals from the pontiff to reverse course.
The Vatican's doctrinal office responded swiftly, publishing a decree on Thursday stating that the four newly ordained bishops are excommunicated, along with the two bishops who participated in the ceremony. Excommunication bars individuals from receiving the sacraments of the Church.
The decree extended further, noting that priests belonging to the society and lay members who formally adhere to the group are also in schism and excommunicated. It warned all clerics and lay faithful not to formally follow the society, as doing so would automatically incur the penalty of excommunication.
In a final appeal issued Monday, Leo had described the planned ordinations as a "schismatic" act and a "sin of extreme gravity." The Vatican's ruling represents a sweeping crackdown on the group, going significantly further than the sanctions imposed in 1988, which were limited to the bishops involved at that time.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, expressed his "deep sorrow" on Wednesday over the ordinations, stating they "break the unity of the Church and incur very specific sanctions — fundamentally, excommunication." Pope Leo XIV has not commented publicly since the ordinations were carried out.
The ruling also reverses a key allowance previously granted by Pope Francis, who had permitted the society to administer the sacraments of marriage and confession. Under the new Vatican decree, any marriage or confession offered by the group will be considered invalid. The decree does, however, leave the door open for reconciliation, stating that "the Church, as a caring mother, will welcome with sincere affection and active care all those who wish to return to full communion."
The Society of Saint Pius X, commonly known as the SSPX, was founded in Switzerland in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a French prelate. It was officially suppressed by the Bishop of Fribourg five years later. The group first ordained four bishops without papal approval in 1988, an act that also resulted in excommunication.
The roots of the schism lie in the group's opposition to reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. The so-called Lefebvrists reject the council's teachings on religious freedom, ecumenism, and reforms to Catholic worship — including the celebration of Mass in languages other than Latin. Among the landmark reforms of that council was a formal condemnation of all forms of antisemitism.
Church unity has been a defining priority of Leo XIV's pontificate, with the bond between the pope and bishops serving as a cornerstone of that vision. On June 16, the pope told journalists that the Lefebvrists "refuse to accept certain fundamental elements of the Church, beginning with several points of the Second Vatican Council." Regarding the planned ordinations, he said: "If that is the choice they make, I am sorry, but we must move forward."
The SSPX maintains an active presence in the United States, with a headquarters in Missouri and a seminary in Dillwyn, Virginia. One of the bishops ordained on Wednesday is Father Michael Goldade, who leads that seminary. Speaking at a service following the ordinations, Goldade declared: "The 'modernist church' is a desert that kills everything that it touches."
