Vatican declares Society of St. Pius X in schism

The Vatican moved forcefully Thursday against the Society of St. Pius X, declaring the traditionalist Catholic group in schism and excommunicating bishops and priests after it consecrated four new bishops in Switzerland without Pope Leo’s approval.

The decree from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s top doctrinal authority, went beyond the minimum sanctions foreseen by church law. It said the unauthorized consecrations amounted to a “schismatic act” and warned Catholics worldwide that those who “adhere formally” to the society are themselves considered schismatic and excommunicated.

The move followed a five-hour Mass on Wednesday at the society’s seminary in Econe, Switzerland, attended by about 15,500 people and their children, during which the Society of St. Pius X, known as SSPX, consecrated four new bishops. The ceremony directly defied Leo, who had urged the group to hold off for the sake of church unity.

The Vatican excommunicated the four new bishops and the two bishops who participated in the ceremony. It also declared SSPX priests to be schismatic and excommunicated, and said the group cannot validly administer the sacraments of confession or marriage. Al Jazeera reported that the decree warned the Swiss-based group is now celebrating the sacraments illicitly.

The Vatican stressed that only the pope may authorize the consecration of bishops, a policy meant to preserve the church’s apostolic ties to Jesus’s original disciples, who are considered the first priests and bishops.

The Society of St. Pius X did not immediately respond to the excommunications Thursday, Al Jazeera reported. On Wednesday, it said it had to proceed without papal approval “owing to exceptional circumstances.” The group has also justified the consecrations by citing a “state of necessity” to minister to its faithful.

In his homily during Wednesday’s ceremony, the Rev. Davide Pagliarani, the SSPX superior, said the consecrations served both Leo and the church.

“We are accused of not respecting the pope,” Pagliarani said. “But it is precisely because we love the pope as the vicar of Christ, as the head of the church, that we don’t want to see the pope humiliated anymore, on the side of false shepherds representing false religions.”

French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the SSPX in 1970 in opposition to the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The 1960s council changed the Catholic Church’s relations with other Christians, Jews and people of other faiths, and allowed Mass to be celebrated in local languages rather than Latin.

The SSPX celebrates the ancient Latin Mass and opposes the reforms of Vatican II, which it has accused of introducing errors such as modernism and liberalism. It says it is upholding the true faith of Christ.

The standoff echoes a 1988 rupture, when Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without papal consent. The Vatican excommunicated him and the four bishops and declared those consecrations a “schismatic act.” Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications in 2009 as part of an effort to bring the group closer to Rome, but the SSPX has had no legal standing in the Catholic Church.

The latest decree reverses concessions granted in recent years during Vatican outreach to the group. According to SSPX statistics cited by NPR, the society now has six bishops, 751 priests, 264 seminarians in five seminaries, 145 religious brothers, 88 oblates and 250 religious sisters representing 50 nationalities.