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Society of St. Pius X Plans to Consecrate Four Bishops on Wednesday
Pope Leo XIV urged the group to halt the consecrations without Vatican approval, warning of excommunication and loss of sacramental validity. The Society of St. Pius X said it would proceed at its Swiss seminary.
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The Society of St. Pius X plans to consecrate four bishops on Wednesday at its seminary in Econe, Switzerland. Pope Leo XIV sent a letter on Tuesday to Rev. Davide Pagliarani, the group's superior, urging the society to abandon the plans.
The letter stated that the consecrations would place the bishops outside the Church’s communion and would deprive the faithful of the licit, and in some cases valid, reception of the sacraments. It added that the planned act would constitute a schismatic move under church law, carrying automatic excommunication for the bishops involved and the one performing the ceremony.
Marc-André Mabillard, the group’s media manager, said the society would not alter its plans.
“We are changing absolutely nothing in our plans,” Mabillard stated. He added that the group felt “great sadness to not be understood by our leader” and that it did not fear excommunication. The Society of St.
Pius X justified the consecrations by citing a state of necessity to provide bishops for its faithful. It currently counts two bishops, 751 priests, 264 seminarians, 145 religious brothers, 88 oblates, and 250 religious sisters representing 50 nationalities. In 1988, SSPX founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without papal approval.
The Vatican excommunicated Lefebvre and the four bishops at the time; those excommunications were lifted in 2009. The society remains outside the Catholic Church’s formal structure.
