VATICAN DECLARES FORMAL SCHISM: SIX SSPX BISHOPS EXCOMMUNICATED AFTER DEFIANT ORDINATIONS

Pope Leo XIV and the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) have officially declared the ultra-conservative Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) to be in a formal state of schism, enacting automatic excommunications against six of its bishops.

The drastic canonical ruling follows a defiant ceremony held on July 1, 2026, in Écône, Switzerland, where the traditionalist group consecrated four new auxiliary bishops without a papal mandate. The move marks a complete collapse of decades of delicate reconciliation talks between the Holy See and the breakaway traditionalist faction.

A Defiant Ordination in Switzerland

The five-hour ordination ceremony in Écône proceeded despite an extraordinary, eleventh-hour personal appeal from Pope Leo XIV. The Pontiff had publicly begged the SSPX leadership to "turn back" for the sake of Church unity.

The SSPX, which boasts an estimated 600,000 followers worldwide, defended its defiance by citing a "state of necessity". Group leadership argued the ordinations were vital to securing the future administration of traditional sacraments as their existing leadership corps continues to age.

Six Bishops Automatically Excommunicated

Within hours of the ceremony, the DDF issued a formal decree confirming that the principal actors had incurred latae sententiae—or automatic—excommunication under canon law.

The decree names six specific individuals:

• Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, who acted as the principal consecrator.
• Bishop Bernard Fellay, who served as the co-consecrator.
• Bishop Pascal Schreiber (Switzerland), newly consecrated.
• Bishop Michael Goldade (United States), newly consecrated.
• Bishop Michel Poinsinet de Sivry (France), newly consecrated.
• Bishop Marc Hanappier (France), newly consecrated.

Sweeping Penalties for Priests and Laity

The Vatican's response went far beyond the standard penalties for illicit episcopal ordinations, signaling a total canonical rupture.

The DDF decree explicitly extends formal schismatic status and excommunication to all priests operating within the SSPX. Furthermore, the Holy See has stripped the society of prior concessions granted during the pontificate of Pope Francis. The Vatican now warns that all sacraments administered by the SSPX are illicit, and crucially, confessions (Penance) and marriages (Holy Matrimony) performed by SSPX priests are now canonically invalid.

Rank-and-file Catholics have been issued a stern directive to cease attending SSPX chapels and Masses. The Vatican clarified that laypersons who exhibit "formal adherence" to the SSPX schism—by choosing loyalty to the society over communion with the Roman Pontiff—will also face automatic excommunication.

History Repeats a Bitter Rift

The crisis mirrors the watershed events of 1988, when SSPX founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre triggered a decades-long rift by illicitly consecrating four bishops against the orders of Pope John Paul II.

While Pope Benedict XVI made waves in 2009 by lifting those original 1988 excommunications in an effort to foster healing, the SSPX never achieved full regular canonical standing. With this second wave of unauthorized consecrations, the Vatican has made it clear that the bridge to reconciliation has been dismantled, formalizing a historic and deeply entrenched split within modern Catholicism.