The Vatican has excommunicated a traditionalist Catholic group that directly defied Pope Leo XIV’s orders and consecrated four new bishops on Wednesday. It has also declared that the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) is officially in schism.
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The move marks the first major schism for the Roman Catholic Church this century, according to the New York Times. A schism is defined by Canon Law — the Catholic church’s internal governing system — as “the withdrawal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or from communion with the members of the Church subject to him.”
‘A sin of extreme gravity’
Pope Leo sent a letter to the Society of St. Pius X on Monday, urging them not to go through with the consecrations, saying it would be “a sin of extreme gravity.” The group went through with the ritual anyway, elevating four priests to the position of bishops.
The pope excommunicated the bishops who performed the consecrations, Alfonso de Galarreta and Bernard Fellay, and the newly consecrated bishops Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, and Marc Hanappier, but the Vatican went a step further — saying SSPX’s followers will also be considered excommunicated, as well.
“Finally, the holy People of God are warned that the sacred ministers of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X administer the sacraments illicitly, and that the sacrament of penance administered by them and marriages assisted by them are invalid,” the Vatican’s decree reads.
A history of defiance
Defying the Vatican is nothing new to SSPX. The group, founded by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, distanced itself from the Pontificate since its founding in 1970 in protest of the Second Vatican Council, which sought to modernize the Catholic church.
The “Lefebvrists” do not accept the council’s decisions regarding things like religious freedom, teaching on other Christian denominations and religions and reforms to Catholic worship, like not requiring Mass to be celebrated in Latin.
In 1988, the society consecrated four bishops, leading then-Pope John Paul II to excommunicate the bishops and Lefebvre. Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications of the surviving bishops in 2009 in a gesture of outreach to Catholics who adhere to traditionalist ways, according to the Times.
The group recognizes the authority of the Pope and his bishops, and has long maintained that it does not seek to create its own church, the Times reports. SSPX also argues that its consecrations should not be considered schismatic because the bishops will not have jurisdiction over a territory.
The group says Wednesday’s consecrations were necessary because the two bishops who had been consecrated by Lefebvre are aging and can’t keep up with the church’s growth.
SSPX says it currently has 751 priests, nearly 400 nuns and monks and 264 seminarians. It operates five global seminaries and runs churches in 77 countries, with about 100 of those churches in the United States.
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