Picture: Pope Leo XIV
By AFP/Reuters
The Vatican has formally declared priests and lay members of the breakaway Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) to be in schism with the Roman Catholic Church following the group’s unauthorized ordination of four bishops in Switzerland.
In a decree issued on Thursday, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith announced that members who formally adhere to the ultraconservative group are excommunicated and warned that the society is celebrating the sacraments illicitly.
The decision came a day after the Swiss-based group ignored a direct appeal from Pope Leo XIV and proceeded with the consecration of four new bishops without papal approval.
According to Catholic Church law, only the pope has the authority to authorize the consecration of bishops, a practice intended to preserve apostolic succession tracing back to Jesus Christ’s original apostles.
The Vatican said the two bishops who presided over the ordinations, along with the four priests consecrated during the ceremony, incurred automatic excommunication. It also extended the penalty to all priests of the Society of St. Pius X and Catholics who formally align themselves with the group, declaring them to be in schism from the Church.
The decree further stated that the society’s priests cannot validly officiate marriages or hear confessions because they lack the necessary canonical authority.
Before the ordinations, Pope Leo had appealed to the group in a letter, warning that “to tear the seamless garment of Christ is a sin of extreme gravity.”
“I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!” the pope wrote.
Speaking on Wednesday, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin described the unauthorized ordinations as a source of “deep sorrow” for the Church.
“An act of this kind deeply wounds the unity of the Church,” he said.
Under Catholic canon law, participation in unauthorized episcopal ordinations results in automatic excommunication, barring those involved from receiving the sacraments until they repent and are reconciled with the Church.
The Society of St. Pius X defended its actions, saying it proceeded with the ordinations because of what it described as “exceptional circumstances.”
Founded in opposition to the reforms introduced after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, the Society of St. Pius X has about 600,000 followers worldwide and has long rejected several key teachings and reforms of the modern Catholic Church.
Tags: Vatican, Pope Leo XIV, Society of St. Pius X, SSPX, Catholic Church, Excommunication
