VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Thursday declared the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) in schism and excommunicated its bishops and priests after the group consecrated four new bishops without papal approval.
The decree from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith states that the unauthorized ordinations on July 1 at the SSPX seminary in Écône, Switzerland, constituted a schismatic act. It excommunicated the two SSPX bishops who performed the rite — Alfonso de Galarreta and Bernard Fellay — along with the four newly ordained bishops: Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, and Marc Hanappier.
The Vatican warned that priests belonging to the SSPX and lay faithful who formally adhere to the group also face excommunication. Sacraments celebrated by SSPX clergy are now considered illicit.
The move follows repeated Vatican warnings and a personal appeal from Pope Leo XIV urging the society not to proceed. SSPX leaders described the consecrations as a “sacred duty” to preserve apostolic succession amid what they view as a crisis in the Church.
The SSPX, founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, has long been in an irregular canonical situation with Rome. Similar unauthorized episcopal consecrations in 1988 led to automatic excommunications that were later lifted for some individuals, but the underlying tensions persisted.
Details on the full scope of the sanctions and their immediate impact on SSPX communities worldwide remain under review as the situation develops. The Vatican has outlined possible paths for priests and laypeople to return to full communion.
