Vatican Declares SSPX in Schism, Excommunicates All Its Clergy
The decree also bars priests and lay faithful who formally adhere to the group from the sacraments, citing 1988-style excommunications.
- On July 1, the Society of Saint Pius X consecrated four new bishops in Écône, Switzerland, without papal authorization; the Vatican responded Thursday by declaring the group in schism and excommunicating all participants.
- Founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the SSPX opposes Second Vatican Council reforms it views as promoting modernism and justifies its actions citing a "state of necessity" to preserve traditional Catholic doctrine.
- Approximately 15,500 faithful attended the ceremony, where SSPX leaders defended the act as a sacred duty; the Vatican's decree invalidated confessions and marriages administered by the society's priests, reversing previous concessions.
- Superior General Father Davide Pagliarani insisted the group remains "neither schismatic nor hostile to the Church," framing the ordinations as necessary for soul salvation, though Vatican officials maintain these sacraments are illicit.
- Pope Leo XIV faces a significant challenge as these harsh sanctions suggest the Holy See has abandoned decades of attempted reconciliation, treating the group as a parallel church structure rather than a movement within the church.
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ANALYSIS | Pope Leo draws hard line on breakaway traditionalists, but it could get messy
As the Vatican excommunicated four bishops of the ultra-traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X this week, notice was also served that the society’s priests and lay Catholics who formally adhere to it are also considered cut off from the Roman Catholic Church — a move that raises the spiritual stakes for thousands of followers worldwide.
Conservatives who defied the Pope were excommunicated.
Catholic group that defied pope and caused schism defends its actions and casts itself as the victim
ROME (AP) — The traditionalist Catholics who defied Pope Leo XIV and caused a schism defended their actions Friday, insisting they were merely saving souls and were victim of an unjust sanction by the Holy See. The head of the Society of St. Pius X wrote to Leo a day after the Vatican excommunicated the group’s bishops and priests and warned its faithful they too could be excommunicated for participating in the schism, or rupture in church unity…
ROME.- Under the shadow of the painful new schism provoked by the Lefebvrist rebels, who were automatically excommunicated by the unlawful consecration of four new bishops, the lesser-known Redemptorists Transalpines—another ultra-conservative traditionalist group, linked in their origin to the Priestly Fraternity St. Pius X (FSSPX), but more extreme because they are “sedevacantist” (i.e., they maintain that the See of Peter is vacant)—are prepa…
Happy July Fourth! U.S.-Born Pope Excommunicates Right-Wing Weirdos
It’s not often in the 21st century that we get a good old fashioned religious schism. But this week, the lord above (I’ll leave the specifics of that lord up to you—Jezebel is strictly nondenominational) granted us a long-brewing showdown between the Vatican and the Catholic sect known as the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), ending with Pope Leo XIV’s excommunication of roughly 1,000 to 200,000 people, depending on how you count it. SSPX has bee…
Why Pope Leo has excommunicated a group of conservative Catholics
The decision by Pope Leo XIV to excommunicate members of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) is the latest twist in a long-running saga between the Vatican and this contentious traditionalist group. It is yet more evidence of the deep polarisation between conservatives and progressives within the Catholic church. The Vatican issued a statement on July 2 to the effect that SSPX had “committed an act of a schismatic nature” by ordaining four bishop…
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