The ultraconservative Society of St Pius X (SSPX) in Switzerland has ordained four new bishops against the express will of Pope Leo XIV, marking a clear break with the Vatican.
The priests were ordained on Wednesday despite the prospect of being expelled from the Catholic Church.
The hours-long ceremony began on Wednesday morning before thousands of faithful in Écône in Switzerland's canton of Valais, where the seat of the traditionalist community's priestly seminary is located.
The Vatican had already said that the ordinations were not authorized and warned of serious consequences under canonical law.
Under canon law, episcopal ordinations without the pope's consent are considered a serious violation and a "schismatic act" that automatically entails the excommunication - meaning exclusion from the Church - of those involved.
Leo's final warning ignored
On Tuesday, Leo made a final appeal to SSPX members.
"In this spirit, and filled with Christian affection, I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!" he wrote.
He termed the consecrations a "schismatic act" that would invalidate the sacraments administered to Catholic faithful by the bishops, who are seen as illegitimate in the eyes of the Vatican.
The Society of Saint Pius X nevertheless carried out the step as previously announced. In his sermon, the Superior General of SSPX, Davide Pagliarani, said: "We are ready to pay any price to save the Church."
The group sees modernizing reforms as a "self-destruction of the Church" that it wants to prevent at all costs.
Group rejects reforms
The community was founded in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and to this day rejects key reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). That council fundamentally changed relations with other Christians, Jews and other religions as well as with the laity and allowed Mass to be celebrated in national languages instead of Latin.
In 1988, Lefebvre ordained four bishops against the will of Pope John Paul II. He and the newly ordained bishops were then excommunicated.
However, Pope Benedict XVI removed the punishment in 2009 as a sign of reconciliation.
The decision by the German pope sparked criticism worldwide because one of the four bishops ordained at the time was British Holocaust denier Richard Williamson.
