Melike Pala
02 July 2026•Update: 02 July 2026
The Vatican on Thursday excommunicated members of a breakaway ultraconservative Catholic group after it proceeded with the ordination of bishops without papal authorization, in what the Holy See called a "schismatic act."
The decision, announced in a decree issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, states that those involved in the consecrations incurred automatic excommunication under canon (church) law, according to Vatican News.
The move targets the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X after it ordained four bishops in a Wednesday ceremony in Switzerland without a papal mandate.
According to the Vatican, the consecration of bishops without approval from the pope constitutes a "delict of schism," a grave violation of church law that automatically triggers excommunication – the harshest penalty, excluding a person from sacraments and church life – for those directly involved.
The newly ordained bishops include Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Marc Hanappier, who were consecrated alongside senior figures within the group's leadership.
In its accompanying explanatory note, the Dicastery said both the consecrators and the newly consecrated bishops are now considered excommunicated, and described the act as a rejection of papal authority.
The Vatican further warned that clergy belonging to the group are to be regarded as being in schism, and said sacraments administered by them are illicit.
The Swiss-based society was founded in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in opposition to reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council.
It formally split from the Catholic Church after Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without papal approval in 1988.
Before the papacy of Pope Leo, the current pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the bishops’ excommunications in 2009 and Pope Francis later granted its priests limited faculties to celebrate marriages, but efforts to fully reconcile the group with the Vatican remained unsuccessful, according to Italy’s ANSA news agency.
Under Catholic canon law, carrying out episcopal consecrations without papal approval incurs automatic excommunication.
