The Vatican says priests and lay Catholics tied to the Society of St. Pius X are now in schism and excommunicated after bishops were ordained in Switzerland on July 1 without Pope Leo’s approval. The decree also warned that the group can’t validly celebrate sa
VATICAN CITY — On July 1, two bishops were ordained in Switzerland without Pope Leo’s approval. By July 2. the Vatican was already treating the fallout as a break meant to be permanent: priests and lay Catholics tied to the Society of St. Pius X were declared in schism with the wider Church and excommunicated.
The decree came from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s top watchdog authority. It did not speak in softer terms. It warned Catholics globally that the Swiss-based Society now celebrated sacraments illicitly.
The consequences were laid out with clinical clarity. The Vatican said the ultra-traditionalist group—known for denying key Church teachings—cannot officiate marriages or hear confessions validly.
At the center of the dispute is the Church’s insistence that only the pope can authorize the consecration of new bishops. The Vatican tied that rule to continuity with the faith’s earliest leadership. describing the apostles—considered the first priests and bishops—as the spiritual line the Church seeks to protect.
The decree also accused the Society of pushing past that line. It said the unauthorized ordination automatically placed those involved out of communion with the wider Church, making them unable to receive sacraments until they repent and ask forgiveness.
Two bishops, four priests—then the wider net
The July 2 decree said the two bishops leading the unauthorized ordination in Switzerland on July 1 were excommunicated, along with the four priests who had become new bishops.
But the Vatican went further than many expected. It said that all priests of the Society of St. Pius X and all Catholics who “adhere formally” to the group were now in schism and excommunicated.
A schism, the Vatican’s ruling implies, is not just disagreement. It signals a severe, formal rupture within the Catholic community.
The Society disputed the timing before the decree
The Society of St. Pius X was not available for immediate comment on the Vatican decree. But on July 1, it said it had to go forward with the ordinations without papal approval “owing to exceptional circumstances.”
That defense helps explain why the Vatican described the situation as more than a single ceremony. The Vatican framed the act as defiance of a rule it treats as foundational, and it applied the punishment broadly enough to reach both clergy and formally aligned lay Catholics.
For Pope Leo, the issue is tied to the reforms of Vatican II
The conflict isn’t only procedural. The Society denies the central teachings associated with the Second Vatican Council, the landmark gathering of bishops in the 1960s that pursued reforms across the global Church.
The council also allowed Mass to be celebrated in local languages, after a period when the Mass was said only in Latin. The Society rejected that shift, saying it wanted to preserve what it describes as the Latin rite’s sense of mystery and formality.
Massimo Faggioli. a professor at Villanova University. told Reuters that Pope Leo believed firmly in the reforms of the Council. often called “Vatican II.” Faggioli said the pope has “no regrets. no doubts about the fact that this is the Church of Vatican II. ” and that he “doesn’t want to compromise on that.”.
In June, Pope Leo told journalists that divisions with the Society were “painful” and described the reforms of Vatican II as “fundamental elements” of Church teaching, saying, “We must move forward.”
The broader history hangs over the latest rupture
The Society’s internal numbers also underscore why the Vatican sees the ordinations as a strategic challenge. The group says it counts 733 priests worldwide.
Its leadership, long in tense relations with the Vatican, has said it needed to ordain new bishops to have enough prelates to lead the group.
The dispute traces back decades. The founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, was excommunicated in 1988 after ordaining four bishops without permission from then-Pope John Paul II. John Paul II’s successor, Benedict XVI, later sought to renew dialogue and lifted four remaining excommunications.
By July 2. the Vatican’s decree effectively closed the window on ordinary negotiation—at least through the lens it used for these ordinations. It declared the Society’s sacraments illicit. barred it from validly administering marriages and confessions. and—most consequentially for ordinary Catholics choosing where to belong—said clergy and formally aligned lay members were now in schism and excommunicated.
In one decisive sweep, the Vatican turned a dispute about ordination into a question of access to sacramental life, with the Church insisting that repentance and forgiveness are the path back into communion.
Vatican Society of St. Pius X excommunication schism bishops ordination Pope Leo Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith Vatican II Lefebvrists