The Vatican on Thursday imposed some of the highest penalties available under the Catholic Church’s canon law on a breakaway group that consecrated four bishops in defiance of the Pope.
The Catholic oversight authority, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, announced that the four newly appointed bishops, as well as two other bishops, would be expelled or excommunicated from the church.
It also warned that the faithful who “formally adhere to the group”, the Society of St. Pius
The term schism indicates a serious, formal rupture within the Catholic community, while excommunication excludes a person from, among other things, receiving the sacraments, marrying according to Catholic rites, or holding church office.
The move undoes concessions the Vatican has made in the past to bring the group, which has long had strained relations with Rome, back into the official Catholic fold.
What did SSPX do?
On Wednesday, the SSPX appointed four bishops in a ceremony near its seminary in Icon, Switzerland, attended by about 15,500 people and their children, despite being requested not to do so by Pope Leo XIV.
According to the strict rules of the Catholic Church, only the Pope can authorize the consecration of new bishops, and anyone doing so has committed a “schismatic act”.
Thursday’s order said the two bishops who led the unauthorized ordination, as well as four priests who became new bishops, were all excommunicated, thus losing all their ecclesiastical offices and dignity.
In an even more serious move, it said that they and all formal followers of the group are in schism with the Catholic Church.
SSPX, an ultra-traditionalist Catholic group
The SSPX was founded in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and other Catholics who opposed the reforms initiated by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.
Those reforms included holding masses in languages other than Latin and developing relations with other Christian denominations and other religions, a practice known as ecumenism.
Edited by: Carl Sexton
Don’t let algorithms hide news. If you rely on our team for reliable reporting, please take a moment Choose us as your preferred source on Google by clicking here And press the “Star” or “Favorite” button, so you always see our verified news first.