Vatican excommunicates – The Vatican has declared priests and members of the Society of Saint Pius X in schism after the group ordained four new bishops without papal approval, excommunicating the bishops involved and warning that clergy and lay followers who formally adhere will auto
Rome felt like it was holding its breath on Thursday. The ordinations had already happened—on Wednesday, without approval from Pope Leo XIV—and the Vatican’s response came with a single, heavy word: excommunicated.
The Society of Saint Pius X, an ultra-traditionalist breakaway Catholic group, went ahead with ordaining four new bishops despite appeals from Leo to reverse the decision. The Vatican said the priests and members of the society involved are now in schism and excommunicated.
In a decree published by the Vatican’s doctrinal office on Thursday. the four bishops are excommunicated. along with the two bishops who participated in the ordination ceremony. The Vatican explained what the punishment means in practice: excommunication excludes people from the sacraments of the Church.
The decree’s reach went beyond the altar. It added that priests belonging to the society and lay members who “formally adhere” to the group are also in schism and excommunicated. The warning was direct to both clerics and lay faithful: “clerics and the lay faithful” who formally follow the society will automatically incur the penalty.
Leo’s appeal came earlier, and the language carried the weight of a final warning. On Monday, in an appeal to the group, he said the ordinations would be a “schismatic” act and a “sin of extreme gravity.” After that, he did not comment publicly.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, addressed the ordinations on Wednesday with what sounded like personal disappointment. He expressed “deep sorrow,” saying the ordinations “break the unity of the Church and incur very specific sanctions – fundamentally, excommunication.”
This latest punishment goes further than the last time the SSPX carried out ordinations without papal approval. In 1988, the group ordained four bishops without papal approval, which led to their excommunication. But the Vatican said Thursday that the new action expands the sanctions beyond the bishops alone.
There is also a sharper consequence for ordinary believers. The decree states that any marriage or confession offered by the society will be considered “invalid.” That marks a clear change from an earlier approach under Pope Francis. who had allowed the society to administer the sacraments of marriage and confession.
The Vatican did not close every door in the same breath. The explanatory note said that “the Church, as a caring mother, will welcome with sincere affection and active care all those who wish to return to full communion.”
At the center of the conflict is a split that predates Leo XIV’s pontificate. The SSPX was founded in 1970 in Switzerland by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a French prelate. Five years later, it was officially suppressed by the Bishop of Fribourg. The break then deepened in 1988 when Lefebvre and followers ordained four bishops without papal approval.
The Vatican points to the group’s refusal to accept what the Second Vatican Council taught. Lefebvre and his followers opposed church reforms introduced in the 1960s by the Second Vatican Council. The “Lefebvrists” do not accept teachings on religious freedom. ecumenism. and reforms to Catholic worship—including celebrating Mass in languages other than Latin. One major reform at the Council was a condemnation of all forms of antisemitism, which the group also rejects.
During Leo XIV’s tenure. unity within the Church has been described as a priority built on the link between the pope and bishop. 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.” He added about the planned ordinations: “If that is the choice they make. I am sorry. but we must move forward.”.
The story does not end in Rome. The SSPX has an active presence in the United States, with a headquarters in Missouri and a seminary for training priests in Dillwyn, Virginia. One of the bishops newly ordained on Wednesday is Father Michael Goldade, who leads that seminary.
After the ordinations, Goldade spoke at a service, saying: “The ‘modernist church’ is a desert that kills everything that it touches.”
With Thursday’s decree, the Vatican has made the consequences unmistakable and widened them beyond the individuals at the center of the ceremony—turning a dispute about authority and worship into a direct warning to clerics and lay Catholics about what formal adherence could cost.
Vatican Pope Leo XIV SSPX Society of Saint Pius X excommunication schism unauthorised ordinations bishops Cardinal Pietro Parolin Marcel Lefebvre Second Vatican Council