The ultra-conservative Catholic Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), contrary to the position of Pope Leo XIV, has consecrated four new bishops without papal approval.
According to canon law, all participants in the consecration are automatically excommunicated from the Church, and the Vatican called this step a "schismatic act." This is reported by The Guardian, according to UNN.
Details
The ceremony took place in Ecône, Switzerland, where the SSPX seminary is located.
The new bishops – one from Switzerland, one from France, and two from the United States – were consecrated by Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, who himself was consecrated without papal permission back in 1988.
Before the start of the service, representatives of the society read a statement in which they called their actions a "sacred duty" to the Church and stated that they do not recognize any penalties for this decision.
The day before, Pope Leo XIV tried to persuade the society to abandon the consecrations, calling them a "schismatic act" and a "sin of extreme gravity."
According to the canon law of the Catholic Church, all five bishops who participated in the ceremony are automatically excommunicated from the Church.
The Society of Saint Pius X was founded in 1970 in protest against the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
The organization opposes a number of changes in the Catholic Church, including the permission to celebrate Mass in national languages instead of Latin.
Despite the fact that the society is considered a schismatic structure, it has a broad international network, especially in the United States, France, Argentina, and a number of other countries.
It includes nearly 1,500 priests, seminarians, and other members.
The Guardian notes that this could become the first serious crisis of the pontificate of Leo XIV, who, after his election, made the restoration of the unity of the Catholic Church one of his main priorities.
The publication also recalls that the last time a similar conflict between the Vatican and the SSPX occurred was in 1988, when the founder of the society, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, consecrated four bishops without papal permission.
At that time, he and the newly consecrated bishops were excommunicated from the Church, but in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI lifted this excommunication.