Particle.news
Download on the App Store
23 ARTICLES
·
last mo.

SSPX Consecrates Four Bishops in Defiance of Pope Leo XIV

The illicit ordinations trigger automatic excommunication under canon law, leaving the Vatican to decide whether to impose penalties or reopen negotiations.

Priests receive blessings from newly ordained priests after an ordination ceremony of the traditionalist Catholic Society of Saint Pius X in Écône, western Switzerland, on Monday.
The ordination in 1988 of four bishops by Monseigneur Marcel Lefebvre resulted in their excommunication.
Pope Leo XIV waves during the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Monday, June 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo leads the Angelus prayer from a window of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican on Sunday.

Overview

  • The Society of St. Pius X went ahead on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, consecrating Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Marc Hanappier at its Écône seminary in Switzerland.
  • Pope Leo XIV personally appealed to SSPX leader Davide Pagliarani to call off the ceremony, calling the act a “schismatic act” and a “sin of extreme gravity.”
  • Canon law treats episcopal consecrations without a papal mandate as illicit but valid and imposes automatic excommunication (latae sententiae) on the bishops and the consecrating prelate.
  • The open‑air Latin Mass drew thousands, was livestreamed internationally, and SSPX leaders defended the rite as a “state of necessity” to provide bishops for ordinations and confirmations.
  • The move forces a test of Vatican policy after past conciliatory gestures in 2009 and 2015 and could prompt the Holy See to revoke concessions, issue public sanctions, or pursue renewed talks with unclear consequences for ordinary faithful.