A breakaway ultra-traditionalist Catholic group has deepened its decades-long rift with the Vatican by consecrating four new bishops without papal approval, despite a last-minute plea from Pope Leo XIV to abandon what he described as a “schismatic act.”
The ordination ceremony, held on Wednesday in Econe, southwest Switzerland, drew thousands of worshippers from across the world as the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) proceeded with the consecration in open defiance of the Holy See.
The four new bishops are two French priests, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Marc Hanappier, American priest Michael Goldade, and Swiss priest Pascal Schreiber. They were ordained by the society’s two remaining bishops during a five-and-a-half-hour Latin Mass held at the SSPX seminary in Econe.
The event marks the most significant escalation in relations between the Vatican and the traditionalist movement since 1988, when the society’s founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, consecrated four bishops without papal approval, triggering a formal split from Rome.
According to Catholic Church law, bishops who participate in episcopal consecrations without the Pope’s mandate incur automatic excommunication. The latest ceremony therefore places all six bishops involved outside full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.
However, SSPX leaders rejected the Vatican’s position. Opening the ceremony, the society’s Secretary General, Foucault Leroux, declared that any penalties imposed by the Church were “null and void.”
In his homily, the Superior General of the society, Davide Pagliarani, insisted the group remained faithful to the Catholic Church despite the dispute with Rome.
“Are we breaking with the Church in order to keep the faith? That is a false dilemma. We belong to the Church first through faith, through the integral profession of the Church’s faith,” he said.
The Vatican had made a final attempt to prevent the ordinations. In a letter released on Monday, Pope Leo XIV appealed directly to the society to reconsider its plans.
“I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!” the Pope wrote, warning that the consecrations constituted a “schismatic act.”
“To tear the seamless garment of Christ is a sin of extreme gravity,” he added.
The Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, described the development as a painful blow to Church unity.
“An act of this kind deeply wounds the unity of the Church,” Parolin told reporters, expressing hope that dialogue could eventually resolve the dispute.
Founded in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the Society of Saint Pius X rejects several reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, including the widespread use of local languages in the Mass. The group continues to celebrate services exclusively in Latin, with priests facing the altar rather than the congregation.
The society says it has about 600,000 followers, more than 750 priests and operates in over 75 countries across six continents.
SSPX officials defended the latest ordinations as essential for the group’s future, noting that it previously had only two ageing bishops.
“We were very worried because our bishops were getting old and so it’s a question of our survival,” American priest Paul Robinson told reporters.
“Now we have six bishops and the two old bishops can now take a rest.”
During the ceremony, attended by hundreds of priests and nuns, the four candidates lay prostrate as the Litany of the Saints was chanted before receiving the laying on of hands—the central rite of episcopal ordination.
Many faithful described the occasion as deeply emotional. Swiss worshipper Marie Borgeat said she was moved to tears as the newly consecrated bishops emerged to bless the congregation.
Despite the Vatican’s condemnation, the Society of Saint Pius X maintains that its actions are not schismatic, insisting it remains committed to preserving what it considers the authentic traditions of the Catholic faith.
