Ordination without Vatican Consent

The four candidates for bishop prostrated themselves before an altar, their heads buried in red velvet pillows; Ceremonial organ music played, and the ordination vows were taken in Latin. The ordination was part of the Priestly Fraternity of St; Pius X (SSPX), an ultra-conservative group founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre — According to BBC, the last time the Society ordained new bishops, in 1988, they were immediately excommunicated.

Pope Benedict XVI repealed the excommunication in 2009 in an unsuccessful attempt to heal the rift, and Pope Leo is also expected to exclude the new bishops from the Catholic Church. According to El Mundo America. The Vatican has issued threats of automatic excommunication for the new bishops; the four newly ordained bishops are the French Marc Hanappier and Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, the Swiss Pascal Schreiber, and the American Michael Goldade.

Historical and Doctrinal Disputes

The split is not just about SSPX’s desire to conduct Mass only in Latin. The Society has consistently defied the Vatican over multiple policies designed to make the Church more accessible and egalitarian, including establishing ties with other religions, recognizing the right to religious freedom, and participating in debates over big social and political questions. According to BBC. The Society prefers the medieval practice of facing the altar during Mass, with their backs to the congregants, instead of the Vatican’s decision to have priests face the congregation.

Lefebvre’s followers have not only opted for a rupture but also sought to lead the first schism in the Church in this century, with the added notoriety that social media provides today. According to El Mundo America, the current leaders of the schismatic movement believed it was urgent to ensure the episcopal succession. Of the four bishops consecrated by Lefebvre in 1988 without Rome’s approval, only two remain: the Spanish Alfonso de Galarreta and the French Bernard Tissier de Mallerais.

Efforts to Maintain Unity

On Monday, Pope Leo made a final appeal to the SSPX through a letter urging its current leaders not to ‘tear the tunic of Christ.’ Despite these efforts and threats of automatic excommunication, the SSPX proceeded with the ordination. The ceremony lasted four hours and was held outdoors in Écône, Switzerland. According to El Mundo America, this is the first major problem within the Catholic Church that Leo XIV has faced since being appointed Pontiff, following the death of Francis last spring.

The Vatican views ordaining bishops without papal consent as a serious violation of the unity of the Church. The Society, founded by controversial French archbishop Marcel Lefebre, has always wanted to preserve a kind of medieval mystique in which priests, bishops, cardinals, and the Mass itself are seen as somehow closer to God and therefore separate from ordinary people, according to BBC.