Vatican Gives SSPX Final Warning Over 4 Bishop Consecrations as July 1 Schism Threat Looms
Updated
Updated · The Associated Press · May 13
Vatican Gives SSPX Final Warning Over 4 Bishop Consecrations as July 1 Schism Threat Looms
9 articles · Updated · The Associated Press · May 13
July 1 consecrations of four SSPX bishops without papal consent would trigger automatic excommunication, the Vatican said in a last-ditch warning aimed at stopping the breakaway group.
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández said Pope Leo XIV is praying SSPX leaders reconsider what Rome calls an “extremely grave” decision, now the sharpest test yet of Leo’s authority.
SSPX says the move is necessary because its two aging bishops can no longer serve its global network, which the group says includes 733 priests, 264 seminarians and members from 50 nationalities.
The standoff revives the 1988 rupture, when founder Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without approval; the society still lacks legal status in the Catholic Church despite decades of talks.
For Leo, the clash reaches beyond SSPX because many Rome-loyal traditionalists attached to the old Latin Mass are watching how he handles a movement the Vatican sees as a parallel church.
Can the new Pope prevent a schism without compromising Vatican II's authority?
When does disobeying the Pope become a moral duty to save the Church?