Vatican Warns SSPX of Excommunication for Bishop Consecrations

The Vatican issued a final warning on Wednesday to the Society of St. Pius X, a traditionalist Catholic group, stating that its planned consecrations of four new bishops on July 1 without papal approval would constitute a schismatic act resulting in automatic excommunication.

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, conveyed the message in a statement. "Pope Leo XIV is praying for enlightenment so that the leaders of the Society of St. Pius X may reconsider the extremely grave decision they have made," the statement said. Vatican officials invited the group's superior general, Rev. Davide Pagliarani, for talks, but longstanding theological and practical differences persisted.

The Society of St. Pius X, founded in 1970 in Écône, Switzerland, by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, opposes certain reforms of the Second Vatican Council, including the allowance of Mass in local languages rather than Latin. The group exclusively celebrates the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass. It separated from full communion with Rome in 1988 when Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without permission from Pope John Paul II, leading to the excommunication of Lefebvre...