Vatican excommunicates Society of St. Pius X after the group ordains four bishops without Pope Leo’s approval
The Vatican declared the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X in schism and excommunicated six bishops on Thursday, one day after the Swiss-based group ordained four new bishops against Pope Leo XIV’s will.
The decree and its consequences
The Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a decree on 2 July 2026 stating that the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) is now in schism. The six bishops involved (consecrators Alfonso de Galarreta and Bernard Fellay, plus newly ordained Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Marc Hanappier) incurred automatic excommunication for "an act of a schismatic nature". Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández signed the decree, which also warned that lay Catholics who formally adhere to the fraternity are excommunicated. The Vatican underlined that SSPX priests now celebrate the sacraments illicitly, and that marriages celebrated by them and confessions heard by them are invalid.
The excommunication newly separates the bishops and priests of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X from the Church of Rome.
SSPX remains unrepentant
In Écône, Switzerland, priests and lay members of the society said they would carry on as before. A Mexican deacon, speaking after an open-air Mass, described the atmosphere as peaceful. Father Benedict, an SSPX priest, said the group had tried to meet Pope Leo for more than a year and felt the Vatican "shut the door in our face". The society’s superior general, Davide Pagliarani, said during the ordination ceremony that Roman institutions had been animated since the Second Vatican Council by a spirit contrary to the true tradition of the Church.
It hurts to be punished by your dad, because you know you didn’t do anything wrong.
Pope Leo’s firm line
Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S. pope, had sent a last-ditch letter pleading with the group not to proceed with the ordinations, warning it would lead to schism. The swift excommunication decree showed he is willing to take firm decisions when dialogue fails, according to experts. Biographer Elise Allen said the pope "does not work in blurred lines" and is not afraid to be extremely clear when needed. Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin expressed pain that the unity of the Church had been deeply wounded.
First of all, I feel great pain, because here the unity of the Church is deeply wounded.
Decades of attempted reconciliation collapse
The SSPX was founded in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in opposition to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, including the use of local languages in the Mass. A first schism occurred in 1988 when Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without a papal mandate, leading to excommunications that Pope Benedict XVI lifted in 2009. Pope Francis later allowed SSPX priests to celebrate marriages under certain circumstances. Thursday’s decree effectively reverses that path, stating that all attempts to bring the group back into full communion had been in vain.
- Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrates four bishops without papal mandate; Pope John Paul II declares excommunication.
- Pope Benedict XVI lifts the excommunication of the four bishops consecrated in 1988.
- SSPX ordains four new bishops in Écône, Switzerland, despite Pope Leo XIV’s appeal not to do so.
- The Vatican issues decree excommunicating the six bishops involved and declaring the society in schism.
What the break means for the faithful
The Vatican stressed that not everyone who occasionally attends SSPX activities is automatically excommunicated; each case will be judged individually, in line with a 1996 document cited in the decree. The Church said it would welcome back with sincere affection all those who wish to return to full communion. The SSPX, which denies key teachings of Vatican II, remains focused on preserving the Latin rite and what it sees as authentic tradition.
