A five-hour ceremony at SSPX’s seminary in Econe installed four new bishops on Wednesday despite Pope Leo XIV’s last-minute appeal to cancel it.
Church law makes such consecrations without a papal mandate an automatic excommunication for the four new bishops and Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, who performed the rite.
SSPX said the break was a necessary “sacred duty” to defend the faith, rejecting any penalties as invalid and citing a “state of necessity” to serve followers attached to the Latin Mass.
The turnout underscored the group’s reach: about 16,500 faithful attended, while SSPX says it now has six bishops, 751 priests and 264 seminarians despite lacking legal standing in the church.
The move revives a conflict dating to Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre’s 1988 unauthorized consecrations and creates an early unity test for Leo, who has prioritized healing rifts with traditionalists.
By defying the Pope to 'save' Catholicism, has this group created a new church?
After this new schism, can the rebel Catholic group ever truly reconcile with Rome?
Schism at Écône: The 2026 SSPX Bishop Consecrations and the Deepening Crisis of Catholic Unity
Overview
On July 1, 2026, the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) carried out the unauthorized consecration of four bishops at its Écône seminary, directly challenging Pope Leo XIV and the Vatican. Despite repeated warnings and a final public appeal from the Pope, the SSPX leadership proceeded, openly defying Church authority and established canonical norms. As a result, those involved in the consecrations automatically incurred excommunication, marking a serious breach in Church unity. This act highlights the SSPX's ongoing conflict with the Holy See and deepens the division within the Catholic Church.