VATICAN CITY — The Vatican issued a sweeping declaration Thursday, announcing that members of a breakaway right-wing Catholic organization are officially in schism and excommunicated after the group ordained new bishops without the blessing of Pope Leo.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith — the highest doctrinal watchdog for the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church — issued the stern decree, warning Catholics around the world that the Switzerland-based Society of St. Pius X is now performing sacraments unlawfully.
According to the decree, the ultra-traditionalist organization, which rejects core Church teachings, does not have the authority to perform valid marriages or hear confessions.
Catholic Church doctrine holds that only the pope can authorize the consecration of new bishops, a requirement rooted in the Church’s belief in maintaining an unbroken line back to Jesus’ 12 apostles, who are regarded as the original priests and bishops.
When bishops are ordained without papal approval, Church law considers it so grave an offense that all participants are automatically excommunicated — meaning they are cut off from the broader Church community and barred from receiving sacraments unless they repent and seek forgiveness.
Thursday’s decree confirmed that the two bishops who led the unauthorized ordination ceremony, which took place in Switzerland on Wednesday, were excommunicated, as were the four priests who were elevated to bishop — an outcome that had been widely anticipated.
But the Vatican’s response went further than many observers expected. The decree stated that every priest within the Society of St. Pius X, as well as any Catholic who “adhere formally” to the group, is now considered to be in schism and excommunicated.
A schism refers to a serious and formal break within the Catholic community.
The Society of St. Pius X has long rejected the central conclusions of the Second Vatican Council, a major gathering of bishops held in the 1960s that introduced sweeping reforms to the global Church, including efforts to improve the Church’s relationship with Jewish people and other Christian denominations.
That Council also permitted Mass to be celebrated in local languages rather than exclusively in Latin. The Society rejected that shift, arguing that the Latin rite carries a unique sense of reverence and tradition.
The group — whose members are sometimes called Lefebvrists, after founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre — reports having 733 priests worldwide. Its leadership, which has long been at odds with the Vatican, argued that ordaining new bishops was necessary to ensure enough church leaders to guide the organization.
