DADE CITY, Fla. — Pope Leo XIV excommunicated six bishops from the Society of St. Pius X earlier this month, following the group’s consecration of four bishops without the pope’s approval.

The Catholic Church said the actions caused a schism and declared the Society of St. Pius X, also known as SSPX, had formally broken away from the Catholic Church.

The traditionalist Catholic group has hundreds of thousands of followers around the world, including some in Florida.

Our Lady of Fatima Church in Dade City is led by priests from the Society of St. Pius X.

Church member Jennifer Morris said the church holds a traditional Mass.

“Everything prior to the ’60s and ’70s, when some changes were made in Vatican II, that’s what we practice,” Morris said.

Vatican II was an event in the 1960s that aimed to modernize the Catholic Church.

SSPX did not agree with those modernizations.

University of Tampa professor Ryan Cragun said schisms are fairly common and often lead to new denominations.

“They were not following the hierarchy in Rome, and that was basically the last straw,” Cragun said. “So Rome finally said, you’re out.”

Morris said SSPX bishops have a lot of responsibility and that there were not enough bishops before the ordinations to carry out those duties.

“They had a lot of people all over the world, the whole world, to minister confirmations to, to travel to, and to do all kinds of things,” Morris said. “So these two bishops, who are getting older, they can’t do it alone.”

The Diocese of Saint Petersburg said it was “saddened by the recent actions taken by the Society of Saint Pius X. As Catholics, we are called to be in union with Pope Leo XIV and the Universal Catholic Church,” they said in a statement.

In a public letter to the pope, a top SSPX official said the group will not receive the sanctions “with bitterness or revolt.” The group said it plans to continue working together to better the church and help improve the lives of people in the community.

Cragun said the actions taken by Pope Leo sent a clear message.

“Your typical Catholic is not going to experience any changes to the way that they practice their religion,” Cragun said. “But it is the Catholic Church drawing that boundary, very clearly saying, you can’t go that far.”

Morris said Our Lady of Fatima Church will continue its Mass as usual. She said the situation bothers her, but that nothing has changed at their church.

“It’s a sad thing to happen,” Morris said. “It’s sad to see somebody rejecting, you know, I go to the Mass of the saints. And to see somebody kind of seem as though they’re rejecting that, it does make me sad, whether it be the Pope or anyone else.”

Pope Leo did not excommunicate all followers of SSPX, only the six bishops.