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Écône ordinations spark schism
On July 1, four bishops were ordained without papal mandate by the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) at the organization’s headquarters in Écône, Switzerland, with Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta as principal consecrator and Bishop Bernard Fellay as co-consecrator.
“Acting in defiance of Pope Leo, the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X ordained four new bishops without the papal mandate on the morning of July 1”
The ceremony proceeded despite Pope Leo XIV’s appeal to “please turn back,” and the Vatican warned the consecrations would constitute an excommunicable offense in their own right as well as a schismatic act.
The ordinations were carried out amid both sunshine and rain, and the roughly five-hour ceremony was celebrated according to 1962 editions of the Roman Pontifical and Roman Missal.
The SSPX described the move as ensuring continuity for its tradition, while Rome framed it as a rupture of ecclesial unity tied to whether the Second Vatican Council is accepted and implemented.
In the Vatican’s view, the act “deeply wounds the unity of the Church,” and Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the episcopal ordinations without pontifical mandate are subject to “very precise sanctions,” including excommunication.
Parolin, Pope Leo and warnings
Cardinal Pietro Parolin told an event July 1 that “Evidently this is in itself a schismatic act,” because episcopal ordinations without pontifical mandate “break the unity of the Church.”
Parolin also said his hope was that “dialogue can resume and that a solution can truly be found here as well,” while stressing “The fundamental point is the council — that is, whether or not to accept the Second Vatican Council.”
Pope Leo XIV had urged the SSPX to stop in a letter to Rev. Davide Pagliarani, writing, “I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!”
The Vatican’s warning was echoed in the reporting that the unauthorized July 1 rite in Écône, Switzerland, “could trigger automatic excommunication for the six bishops involved,” and that the Vatican expected a statement declaring all six bishops excommunicated “Latae sententiae.”
Automatic penalties and future risk
The SSPX ordinations were described as incurring automatic excommunication for the two consecrating bishops and the four newly ordained bishops, with the ceremony taking place on the morning of July 1 at the SSPX seminary grounds in Écône.
“I quattro vescovi lefebvriani sanciscono lo scisma da Roma Nessun margine di trattativa”
America Magazine reported that “With the act of episcopal ordination, the two consecrating bishops and the four newly ordained bishops incurred the penalty of automatic excommunication,” and it said the Mass was disturbed about an hour from the end by an unexpected thunderstorm and heavy downpour.
The Guardian said under Catholic church law “all five now face automatic excommunication,” and it described the SSPX as a threat to Pope Leo’s leadership because it represents a parallel, ultra-Catholic, pre-Vatican II church.
Meanwhile, rts.ch reported that if schism materialized, “more than 500,000 faithful and 700 priests would be completely out of communion with Rome,” and it described Switzerland as hosting the center of gravity of a parallel Church of more than half a million Catholics.
In the Vatican’s framing, the ordinations were a decisive rupture that would prevent further dialogue, with Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez warning that an ordination without approval “would entail a decisive rupture of the ecclesial community (schism).”
