Vatican excommunicates group of right-wing Catholic bishops over unauthorized ordinations
The move deepens a decades-long rift between Rome and the traditionalist movement founded by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, despite repeated Vatican efforts at reconciliation
The Vatican declared on Thursday that bishops and priests of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X are in schism and automatically excommunicated after the group ordained four new bishops without papal approval. The decree affects both the ordaining bishops and the newly consecrated clergy.
Bishops Alfonso de Galarreta and Bernard Fellay, who served as principal consecrator and co-consecrator, along with newly consecrated bishops Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, and Marc Hanappier, incurred automatic excommunication. According to the decree by the Holy See for committing "an act of a schismatic nature."
The document was signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and countersigned by the dicastery's two secretaries.
The decision came a day after the episcopal consecrations were carried out in Écône, Switzerland, on the morning of July 1, in defiance of Pope Leo XIV's repeatedly expressed opposition. The excommunication further separates the fraternity's bishops and priests from the Church of Rome, and lay Catholics who formally adhere to the group are likewise considered excommunicated.
An accompanying explanatory note traced the Vatican's efforts to reconcile with the movement founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre back to the papacy of Paul VI, stating that repeated attempts to restore the fraternity to full communion "have proved vain." The note cited a 1988 declaration from Pope John Paul II establishing that such disobedience "constitutes a schismatic act."
The decree warned Catholics that the fraternity's clergy now administer the sacraments illicitly, and that confessions and marriages conducted by its priests are invalid.
Despite the sanctions, the Vatican said it remains open to reconciliation. "The Church, as a caring mother, will welcome with sincere affection and lively solicitude all those who wish to return to full communion," the note said.
The Vatican urged all Catholics to remain in communion with the pope and the wider Church, and to avoid participating in celebrations or activities organized by the fraternity.