Vatican Warns Traditionalist Group Against Consecrating Bishops Without Consent

The Vatican on Wednesday issued a final warning to the Society of St. Pius X stating that the group's planned consecrations of bishops without papal consent would constitute a schismatic act incurring automatic excommunication. A statement from the Vatican's doctrine office said Pope Leo XIV is praying for enlightenment so that the leaders of the Society of St.

Pius X may reconsider the decision they have made. The statement appeared to be a last-ditch effort to prevent the group from proceeding with the consecrations of four new bishops scheduled for July 1. If carried out, the consecrations would represent the most significant challenge to Pope Leo XIV's authority since he took office as he works to address divisions with traditionalist Catholics that grew during the pontificate of Pope Francis.

Background of the Society of St. Pius X The Society of St.

Pius X was founded in Écône, Switzerland in 1970 in opposition to the modernizing reforms of the 1960s Second Vatican Council. Those reforms included allowing Mass to be celebrated in local languages rather than Latin. The group, which celebrates the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass, first broke with Rome in 1988 after its founder consecrated four bishops without papal consent.

The Vatican excommunicated the founder and the four bishops at that time, and the group has had no legal status in the Catholic Church since then. Despite its irregular status, the Society of St. Pius X has grown over the decades. It operates schools, seminaries and parishes around the world along with branches of priests, nuns and lay Catholics attached to the traditional Latin Mass.

The group currently has two bishops, 733 priests, 264 seminarians, 145 religious brothers, 88 oblates and 250 religious sisters representing 50 nationalities according to its own statistics. Its superior announced earlier this year that new bishops would be consecrated on July 1 because the two existing bishops can no longer serve the group's global needs.

The Vatican invited the superior for talks, but the sides remained at an impasse over longstanding theological and practical differences. In recent comments on the group's website, the superior reiterated the need for additional bishops and expressed satisfaction that the announcement had prompted debate about issues the group views as a crisis in the church.

" — Rev. Davide Pagliarani (Abc News) The planned consecrations have drawn attention from other Catholic traditionalists who remain loyal to Rome but are attached to the old Latin Mass and are monitoring how Pope Leo XIV responds. The Society of St.

Pius X counts no legal standing with the Holy See but has established a parallel structure that some see as a threat to church unity.