VATICAN CITY \u2013 The\u00a0Vatican\u00a0on Wednesday urged a breakaway Catholic \u200bgroup dedicated to the old Latin mass to cancel plans to ordain new \u200cbishops without consent from\u00a0Pope Leo, warning the action would incur excommunication from the 1.4-billion-member Church.<\/p>\n
In the first known threat of the Church\u2019s most severe penalty during Leo\u2019s papacy, the Vatican\u2019s doctrinal office told the Swiss-based Society \u200bof St. Pius X any ordination of bishops would create a \u201cschism\u201d, or formal rupture \u200bwith the pope.<\/p>\n
The planned ordination ceremony would mark \u201ca grave offence against God \u2060and entail the excommunication established by the Church,\u201d Cardinal Victor Fernandez, head of the office, \u200bsaid in a statement.<\/p>\n
The Vatican on Wednesday urged a breakaway Catholic \u200bgroup dedicated to the old Latin mass to cancel plans to ordain new \u200cbishops without consent from Pope Leo. AP<\/p>\n
A Swiss Guard stands as dark clouds hang over, during Pope Leo XIV\u2019s weekly general audience in St. Peter\u2019s Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. AP<\/p>\n
The Society of St. Pius X is an ultra-traditionalist group that denies the \u200bkey teachings of the Second Vatican Council, a landmark Vatican gathering of bishops in the 1960s that pursued a range of reforms for the global Church.<\/p>\n
The Council also allowed for the Mass, until then said only \u200bin Latin, to be celebrated in local languages.<\/p>\n
The society rejected that change, citing a \u200bdesire for the Latin rite\u2019s sense of mystery and formality.<\/p>\n
Excommunicated persons are considered completely separated from the Church. \u200c<\/p>\n
In the first known threat of the Church\u2019s most severe penalty during Leo\u2019s papacy, the Vatican\u2019s doctrinal office told the Swiss-based Society \u200bof St. Pius X. REUTERS<\/p>\n
They \u2060are unable to receive sacraments or hold a church office until they repent. <\/p>\n
If they die while excommunicated, they are unable to receive a Catholic burial.<\/p>\n
The Society of St. Pius X, which says it counts 733 priests worldwide, has had tense relations with the Vatican for decades.<\/p>\n
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Its late founder, Archbishop \u200bMarcel Lefebvre, was excommunicated \u200bin 1988 after \u2060ordaining four bishops without permission from then-Pope John Paul II.<\/p>\n
Benedict XVI, John Paul\u2019s successor, sought to renew dialogue with society and lifted four \u200bremaining excommunications.<\/p>\n
The planned ordination ceremony would mark \u201ca grave offence against God \u2060and entail the excommunication established by the Church,\u201d Cardinal Victor Fernandez, head of the office, \u200bsaid. REUTERS<\/p>\n
The current leadership announced in February that it planned to \u200bordain new bishops, \u2060without Vatican approval, in July, citing a need for more prelates to lead the society.<\/p>\n
It is a strict teaching of the Church that only the pope can authorize the consecration of new \u2060bishops, in \u200border to maintain the Church\u2019s ties to Jesus\u2019 12 \u200bapostles, who are considered the first priests and bishops.<\/p>\n
Consecration without papal consent incurs automatic excommunication for both the person being \u200bconsecrated and the bishop conducting the ceremony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VATICAN CITY \u2013 The\u00a0Vatican\u00a0on Wednesday urged a breakaway Catholic \u200bgroup dedicated to the old Latin mass to cancel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[17108,14570,13866,41,17,1048,5163],"class_list":{"0":"post-64808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-switzerland","8":"tag-catholic-church","9":"tag-church","10":"tag-religion","11":"tag-swiss","12":"tag-switzerland","13":"tag-us-news","14":"tag-vatican"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116568632035824371","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}