A breakaway Catholic group, the Society of St. Pius X, has ordained four new bishops in southwestern Switzerland, defying an appeal from Pope Leo to cancel the ceremony. The Vatican considers this act a severe rupture in the Catholic community, with Top Vatican Cardinal Pietro Parolin stating that it has ‘deeply wounded’ the unity of the 1.4-billion-member Church.
Background on the Society of St. Pius X
The Society of St. Pius X denies the central teachings of the Second Vatican Council, a landmark Vatican gathering of bishops in the 1960s that pursued reforms for the global Church and sought to repair its relations with Jews and other Christian denominations. The society rejects the use of local languages in the Mass, instead preferring the traditional Latin rite.
The Vatican had warned the society in May that ordaining new bishops without papal approval would result in excommunication. The society, which claims to have 733 priests worldwide, says it needed to ordain new bishops to have enough prelates to lead the group.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
