The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) has defied Pope Leo by ordaining four bishops without his consent, an act that brings automatic excommunication and threatens a schism within the Catholic Church. The consecrations took place on Wednesday in a ritual-filled ceremony streamed live from the Swiss village of Ecône, with the society declaring it a "sacred duty" despite the consequences.
Ceremony details and participants
The four new bishops include one from Switzerland, one from France, and two from the United States. Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, who himself was consecrated without papal consent in 1988, performed the laying of hands on the new bishops, a ritual that Catholics believe confers the Holy Spirit. Under Catholic church law, all five now face automatic excommunication.
The SSPX, founded in 1970 in Ecône to oppose liberalizing changes in the Catholic church, is considered a threat to Pope Leo's leadership as it represents a parallel, ultra-Catholic church. The pontiff had made a last-ditch effort to persuade the society to halt the ordinations, calling them a "schismatic act" and a "sin of extreme gravity."
Defiant statement and crowd
As the mass began, a priest read a statement defending the consecrations: "Therefore before God we consider it a sacred duty toward holy church and toward souls to proceed with the consecration of bishops who are entirely faithful to her holy tradition and to her constant magisterium. We consider every punishment and censure brought to bear against this step will have no validity."
Organ music played as hundreds of priests processed through the mountain village towards the society's seminary. Among the crowd were members of the Italian neofascist party Forza Nuova and Futuro Nazionale, a new far-right force threatening Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's chances of winning a second mandate in general elections next year.
SSPX reach and background
Despite being a splinter group, the SSPX has a wide reach, with significant followings in the US (where it has a large operations base in Kansas), France, Argentina, and other countries. The order has nearly 1,500 priests, seminarians, and other vocational members. The society rejects central changes from the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), including allowing mass to be celebrated in local languages instead of Latin. However, Wednesday's ceremony was conducted in French and streamed live with translations into English, German, Italian, and Polish, and a QR code appeared during the offertory for donations.
Impact on Pope Leo's papacy
The ordinations could prove to be the first significant crisis for Pope Leo, who was elected in May last year as the first North American pope. He has made church unity a priority and worked especially hard to heal rifts with traditionalists that deepened during the papacy of his predecessor, Francis. The clash is the first between the Vatican and the SSPX since 1988, when Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the society's founder, and four bishops he had ordained without Pope John Paul II's permission were excommunicated, including British bishop Richard Williamson. In 2009, Pope Benedict lifted the excommunications, shortly before Williamson caused uproar by denying the Holocaust.
