Vatican excommunicates six bishops

Newly consecrated bishops of the Society of St. Pius X. Photo: AP Photo

The Vatican has officially announced the excommunication of six bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X for ordaining new bishops without papal sanction, reports Life Site News.

On July 2, 2026, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, led by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, published a decree of excommunication. The grounds for the severe sanctions were the performance of episcopal ordinations in Écône, Switzerland, which took place in defiance of official warnings from Rome.

The decree states that the consecrator Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta and the four newly consecrated bishops (Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, and Marc Hanappier) have incurred latae sententiae excommunication. Bishop Bernard Fellay was also declared excommunicated for serving as co-consecrator. The document goes further, labeling all SSPX priests as schismatics subject to excommunication and declaring that confessions heard by them and marriages they witness are invalid.

"Despite the warnings addressed to the Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X, Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, by performing an act of a schismatic nature through the episcopal ordination of four priests without a papal mandate and against the will of the Supreme Pontiff, has thereby incurred the prescribed penalties," the official decree states.

The Roman Curia also declared all priests of the Society to be schismatics and announced the invalidity of the sacraments of confession and marriage performed by them. The faithful were warned that formally following the Society could result in their own excommunication, and were urged to remain in full communion with Pope Leo XIV.

For their part, representatives of the Society insist that the ordinations were necessary for the survival of their mission in the face of a "state of emergency" in the Church.

The Society of Saint Pius X was founded in 1970 in Fribourg by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. The organization arose as a protest against the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council, which traditionalists consider destructive to the Catholic faith.

The organization's conflict with official Rome has lasted for decades and is linked to its independent policy on the ordination of bishops. The traditionalists justify their actions by a "state of necessity" and the desire to ensure the survival of conservative clergy amid the crisis of the modern Church. Despite a temporary warming of relations under Pope Benedict XVI, the current incident has once again brought the Society's status into the realm of schism.

As the UOJ reported, the Pope expressed his desire to restore "full communion" with Constantinople.

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