Pope Leo XIV Excommunicates 4 SSPX Bishops Over Unauthorized Consecrations
Updated
Updated · Jacobin magazine · Jul 6
Pope Leo XIV Excommunicates 4 SSPX Bishops Over Unauthorized Consecrations
3 articles · Updated · Jacobin magazine · Jul 6
Summary
July 2 brought Pope Leo XIV’s first major disciplinary test: he excommunicated four newly consecrated SSPX bishops and formal followers after the group defied his order and ordained them in Switzerland.
17,000 people attended the July 1 ceremony, where American priest Michael Goldade of St Marys, Kansas, was among the four bishops consecrated without the required papal mandate.
The Vatican framed the penalty as both a bid to restore offenders to full communion and a warning to Catholics flirting with SSPX-style rejection of Vatican II.
About 600,000 SSPX adherents across 80 chapels and 94 schools make up a small slice of the church’s 1.4 billion faithful, but the movement has outsized links to ultraconservative politics in Europe and the United States.
Leo’s move could clarify boundaries for Catholic traditionalists and potentially weaken their influence in Washington, though a public crackdown may also energize the broader movement.
Will the excommunication of traditionalists create martyrs for their cause or crush the movement?
Can a 'state of necessity' in the Church ever justify defying a direct papal command?
2026 SSPX Schism: Excommunication of Six Bishops Sparks Deepest Catholic Divide in 156 Years
Overview
In July 2026, unauthorized episcopal consecrations at Écône triggered a major crisis in the Catholic Church. Despite the Vatican’s prior appeals, the consecrations went ahead, escalating long-standing tensions into an open schism. The Vatican responded swiftly by automatically excommunicating the six bishops involved, marking a profound rupture and unprecedented ecclesiastical crisis. This decisive action underscored the seriousness of the challenge to Church unity and papal authority, setting off immediate fallout and shaping the Church’s approach to traditionalist groups and reconciliation efforts moving forward.