The Society of Saint Pius X plans to ordain bishops without Vatican approval, risking excommunication and a new schism over traditional Latin mass
PARIS: A traditionalist Catholic society is preparing to defy Pope Leo XIV by ordaining new bishops without his approval, risking excommunication and a potential new schism.
The Switzerland-based Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) said it would proceed with the ordinations on July 1 after a diplomatic outreach to the new pontiff yielded an unsatisfactory response.
Ordaining bishops without Vatican approval means automatic excommunication from the Catholic Church. The society was founded in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and clashed with Rome almost immediately.
It rejected reforms from the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, which sought to modernise the Church. SSPX refused to stop performing the Tridentine mass, conducted in Latin with the priest facing away from the congregation.
By 1975, the Vatican had stripped the society’s ministers of all authority. Lefebvre illicitly ordained four bishops in 1988, resulting in immediate excommunication.
The latest threat risks undoing efforts to improve relations with the Vatican under recent popes. Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication in 2009 and his successor Francis allowed SSPX priests to celebrate marriages in traditionalist churches under some circumstances.
Since Leo was elected last year, “they haven’t stopped criticising the pope,” Martin Dumont, head of the Institute for Research on the Study of Religions at the Sorbonne University, told AFP. Any fresh attempt to ordain new bishops would be seen by Rome as a direct threat to Church unity.
“The act they are about to commit is schismatic in spirit,” Dumont said. The society’s decision has not come as a surprise. “They are trying to force this through, but it’s been in the works for several years now,” he added.
SSPX, which has 720 priests but now only two bishops, claims its survival is at stake. It needs more bishops because it has around 600,000 followers worldwide and the number is “growing in a number of countries,” notably France, Germany and the United States.
Pope Leo is keen to preserve Church unity and has made concessions toward traditionalists. He authorised use of the Tridentine mass in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, head of the Vatican’s department for doctrinal matters, has offered to meet with the society in Rome on February 12. “Rome has always extended a hand, saying: ‘Come back, we are ready to welcome you,'” Dumont said.
A canon lawyer who spoke on condition of anonymity said one solution could be to “find bishops to bridge the gap between the two sides”. He warned the bishop question masked “a much deeper problem”, namely “the fact that they do not recognise the Second Vatican Council”.
Pushing through with the ordination means one thing only. “Canon law is very clear: if bishops ordain other bishops without a papal mandate, they are automatically excommunicated,” the lawyer said.