A breakaway group of traditionalist Catholics directly defied Pope Leo XIV by consecrating four bishops without his consent Wednesday, dismissing the resulting excommunications and schism by declaring it was a "sacred duty" to defend the Catholic faith. The Society of St. Pius X, which opposes the modernizing reforms of the Catholic Church, went ahead with the consecrations during a ritual-filled ceremony at its seminary in Econe, Switzerland, despite a last-ditch appeal by Leo to call it off, reports the AP. The American pope had warned in a letter Tuesday that consecrating bishops without his approval amounts to a "sin of extreme gravity" that will actually harm their faithful.
And yet bells tolled through the mountain valley as hundreds of priests processed two-by-two to the altar under a tent at the start of the solemn but celebratory service, which was attended by thousands of faithful Catholics who prefer the traditional Latin Mass over modern liturgies. The Mass, rich in velvet and gold-trimmed vestments, chants, and incense, was livestreamed on the society's YouTube channel, with simultaneous translation in several languages. The highly organized religious extravaganza underscored the society's international reach, despite its schismatic outsider status, and appeal to conservative, traditionalist Catholics wary of the modern, secular world.
The consecrations amount to a major crisis for Leo, who has prioritized church unity and healing tensions with traditionalists that worsened during the Pope Francis pontificate. The SSPX, as the society is known, is a threat to the Holy See since it represents a parallel, ultra-Catholic, pre-Vatican II church. It now has six bishops, 751 priests, 264 seminarians training in five seminaries, 145 religious brothers, 88 oblates, and 250 religious sisters representing 50 nationalities. At the start of the Mass, a priest read aloud a statement justifying the consecrations as a necessary defense of the faith and criticizing how the Catholic Church has deviated from tradition. "Before God, we consider it a sacred duty toward Holy Church and toward souls to proceed with the consecration of bishops who are entirely faithful to her holy tradition and to her constant magisterium," the priest said. "We consider every punishment and censure brought to bear ... will have no validity."
Midway through, Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, who himself was consecrated without papal consent in 1988, placed his hands on the head of the four new bishops. The ritual laying of hands confers the Holy Spirit from one bishop to another and recalls Christ's gesture to his apostles. According to church law, the mere act of consecrating a bishop without a papal mandate incurs the harshest penalty in the Catholic Church: automatic excommunication for the four new bishops and the bishop administering the rite. It also amounts to a schismatic act, or an intentional rupture of the unity of the Catholic Church. More on SSPX here.
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