Vatican Declares SSPX in Schism, Excommunicates All Its Clergy
The decree extends excommunication to priests and lay members who formally adhere to the breakaway group and says its sacraments are illicit or invalid.
- On July 1, the Society of Saint Pius X consecrated four new bishops in Écône, Switzerland, without papal authorization; the Vatican responded Thursday by declaring the group in schism and excommunicating all participants.
- Founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the SSPX opposes Second Vatican Council reforms it views as promoting modernism and justifies its actions citing a "state of necessity" to preserve traditional Catholic doctrine.
- Approximately 15,500 faithful attended the ceremony, where SSPX leaders defended the act as a sacred duty; the Vatican's decree invalidated confessions and marriages administered by the society's priests, reversing previous concessions.
- Superior General Father Davide Pagliarani insisted the group remains "neither schismatic nor hostile to the Church," framing the ordinations as necessary for soul salvation, though Vatican officials maintain these sacraments are illicit.
- Pope Leo XIV faces a significant challenge as these harsh sanctions suggest the Holy See has abandoned decades of attempted reconciliation, treating the group as a parallel church structure rather than a movement within the church.
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Pope cuts off conservative group
Pope Leo XIV excommunicated at least 750 priests belonging to the ultraconservative Society of St. Pius X on Thursday, a rare measure that produced the church’s largest schism in 150 years. Formed in opposition to 20th-century reforms, SSPX has long maintained ties to Europe’s far right, and has grown its US footprint in recent years. Its excommunication, coming after it ordained four bishops in defiance of the Vatican, delivers a “blow to [Leo’…
In a decree, the Vatican excommunicated four new bishops and two existing bishops of the SSPX who participated in the ceremony.
Dnevni list Danas
n1info.rsThe Vatican announced today that a traditionalist group had ordained bishops without the Pope's consent, that the Society of Saint Pius X had formally broken with the Catholic Church, excommunicated its bishops and other priests, and warned the Catholic faithful that they too face the harshest sanctions of the Church, if they approach that society.
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