The Vatican announced Thursday that priests and members of a breakaway Catholic group, the Society of Saint Pius X, are in schism and excommunicated after ordaining four new bishops without papal approval.
Background
The Society of Saint Pius X, an ultra-traditionalist group, was founded in 1970 in Switzerland by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. The group has an active presence in the United States, with a headquarters in Missouri and a seminary for training priests in Dillwyn, Virginia.
The Vatican’s doctrinal office published a decree saying that the four bishops are excommunicated, along with the two bishops who participated in the ordination ceremony. Excommunication means they are excluded from the sacraments of the church.
Response from the Vatican
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, expressed his deep sorrow about the ordinations, saying they break the unity of the Church and incur very specific sanctions – fundamentally, excommunication.
Pope Leo XIV has made church unity a priority, with a foundation stone of that unity being the link between the pope and bishop. The Vatican’s latest action goes further than the sanctions in 1988, which were limited to the bishops.
Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
