The Vatican has formally excommunicated the leaders and members of a breakaway Catholic group after it ordained four bishops without papal approval, despite repeated warnings from Pope Leo XIV.
In a decree issued on Thursday, July 2, the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith declared that the four newly ordained bishops, along with the two bishops who conducted the ordinations, are in schism and have been excommunicated.
The ordinations took place on Wednesday after the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), an ultra-traditionalist Catholic group, ignored appeals from Pope Leo XIV to cancel the ceremony.
Excommunication bars individuals from receiving the sacraments of the Catholic Church. The Vatican also said priests belonging to the SSPX and lay members who formally align themselves with the group are considered to be in schism and are subject to excommunication.
The decree warned clergy and lay Catholics against formally joining the society, stating that doing so would result in automatic excommunication. A day before the ordinations, Pope Leo described the planned ceremony as a schismatic act and "a sin of extreme gravity."
Later on Thursday, the Vatican outlined the conditions under which excommunicated priests could return to full communion with the Church. According to Vatican News, priests seeking reinstatement must write personally to the pope requesting that the penalty be lifted, sign a profession of faith, and pledge not to publicly oppose the pope or Church teachings.
Pope Leo has not commented publicly since the ordinations took place.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, said the unauthorized ordinations had broken the unity of the Church and carried the penalty of excommunication.
The SSPX was founded in 1970 in Switzerland by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. The group was officially suppressed by the Bishop of Fribourg in 1975. In 1988, Lefebvre also ordained four bishops without papal approval, leading to their excommunication.
The latest sanctions are broader than those imposed in 1988. While the earlier penalties applied only to the bishops involved, the new decree extends to priests and lay members who formally adhere to the society.
The Vatican also said that marriages and confessions performed by SSPX priests will no longer be recognized as valid. Under Pope Francis, the society had been permitted to administer those sacraments under certain conditions.
Despite the disciplinary measures, the Vatican said it remains open to reconciliation, stating that the Church would welcome anyone wishing to return to full communion.
The dispute between the Vatican and the SSPX stems from the group's rejection of key teachings of the Second Vatican Council, including reforms on religious freedom, ecumenism, and the use of local languages instead of Latin during Mass. The council also condemned all forms of antisemitism.
Since becoming pope, Leo XIV has emphasized Church unity and the importance of maintaining communion with the papacy. Speaking to journalists on June 16, he said the SSPX continued to reject fundamental teachings of the Second Vatican Council. Referring to the planned ordinations, he said he regretted the group's decision but insisted that "the Church must move forward."
The SSPX maintains a significant presence in the United States, with its headquarters in Missouri and a seminary in Dillwyn, Virginia. One of the newly ordained bishops, Father Michael Goldade, leads the Virginia seminary. Following the ordinations, Goldade criticized the modern Catholic Church, describing it as "a desert that kills everything that it touches."
