The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), an ultra-conservative Catholic group, has defied Pope Leo by ordaining four bishops without his approval, an act that triggers automatic excommunication and risks deepening a schism within the Catholic Church.
In a ceremony on Wednesday in the Swiss village of Ecône, the SSPX consecrated bishops from Switzerland, France, and the United States. The ordinations were streamed live and drew hundreds of attendees, including members of the Italian neofascist party Forza Nuova and the far-right group Futuro Nazionale.
Automatic excommunication and papal response
Under Catholic canon law, all five bishops involved—the four new bishops and Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, who performed the consecration—face automatic excommunication. Pope Leo had called the ordinations a “schismatic act” and a “sin of extreme gravity,” urging the SSPX to halt the ceremony.
During the mass, a priest read a statement defending the consecrations as a “sacred duty toward holy church and toward souls,” adding that “every punishment and censure brought to bear against this step will have no validity.”
Background and reach of the SSPX
The SSPX was founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre to oppose liberalizing changes from the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), which allowed Mass to be celebrated in local languages instead of Latin. The group rejects these reforms and maintains a traditionalist stance.
Despite being a splinter group, the SSPX has a significant following, particularly in the United States (with a large base in Kansas), France, and Argentina. The order reports nearly 1,500 priests, seminarians, and other vocational members.
Notably, the live-streamed ceremony, conducted in French, was translated into English, German, Italian, and Polish. A QR code appeared during the offertory for remote donations.
Historical context and potential crisis for Pope Leo
This clash is the first between the Vatican and the SSPX since 1988, when Lefebvre and four bishops he ordained without papal permission were excommunicated. One of those bishops, Richard Williamson, later caused controversy by denying the Holocaust. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications.
Pope Leo, elected in May last year as the first North American pope, has prioritized church unity and worked to heal rifts with traditionalists. The SSPX ordinations represent his first major crisis, as they provoke an intentional rupture of church unity.
The ordinations underscore the ongoing tension between the Vatican and traditionalist factions, with the SSPX continuing to operate as a parallel Catholic hierarchy.
