Vatican declares SSPX clergy members in schism, excommunicated over illicit episcopal ordinations

The Vatican declared July 2 that the six Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) bishops involved in carrying out illicit episcopal ordinations this week have incurred excommunication and that all of the society’s clergy members as well as lay faithful who formally adhere to the SSPX are in schism.

The Vatican issued the decree, signed by the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, and the two DDF secretaries, on July 2.

According to a Vatican News report, the decree communicates that the six excommunicated SSPX bishops incurred “‘ipso facto’ the ‘latae sententiae’ excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See for having carried out ‘an act of a schismatic nature’: the ‘episcopal consecration of four presbyters, without pontifical mandate and against the will of the Supreme Pontiff.’”

The SSPX episcopal consecrations were carried out July 1 in Écône, Switzerland, despite repeated warnings from the Vatican that the act would be schismatic. On June 28, Pope Leo XIV had also personally pleaded with the society to turn back from its plan and consider a path of dialogue with the Church. 

The bishops who incurred automatic excommunication are Alfonso de Galarreta and Bernard Fellay, who were the principal consecrator and co-consecrator July 1, and the four illicitly consecrated bishops Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, and Marc Hanappier. 

The DDF prefect also issued a July 2 dicastery note giving further explanation on the excommunication and schism. It also declares that the sacraments of penance and marriage administered by SSPX clergy are invalid. 

“From the time of Saint Paul VI up to the most recent talks, held recently at this Dicastery, the many attempts to bring the members of the movement begun by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre back into full communion with the Catholic Church have proved vain,” the note states, according to Vatican News. “This situation has been further aggravated by the recent episcopal consecrations celebrated without pontifical mandate, against the will of the Holy Father, and in open violation of canon law.”

The dicastery stated that as such, it is necessary to declare “that this act constituted the delict of schism, with the canonical consequences for the sacred ministers and lay faithful involved.” It recalled that Pope St. John Paul II declared the same in 1988 after SSPX founder Archbishop Lefebvre illicitly consecrated four bishops, disobedience that “implies in practice the rejection of the Roman primacy” and as such is “a schismatic act.” 

The dicastery continued by declaring, “from now on,” there are three developments. 

First, the sacred ministers belonging to the SSPX “are in schism and must therefore be considered schismatics, and are subject to the excommunication prescribed by law.” Further, the lay faithful “who formally adhere” to the SSPX “are to be considered schismatics and excommunicated” if they [meet] the conditions outlined in a 1996 Vatican explanatory note about the SSPX that remains in force. 

Paragraph five of the 1996 explanatory note outlines the two elements, of an interior and exterior nature, necessary to constitute formal adherence. It also states that for laity, “it is obvious that occasional participation in liturgical acts or activities of the Lefebvrian movement, without adopting the movement's attitude of doctrinal and disciplinary disunity, is not sufficient to constitute formal membership in the movement.” 

Lastly, the dicastery stated in the July 2 note, the faithful are warned that the SSPX sacred ministers “administer the sacraments illicitly, and that the sacrament of penance administered by them and marriages assisted by them are invalid.”

This revokes the faculties granted by Pope Francis to SSPX priests in 2016 and 2017 to validly administer these two sacraments. Pope Leo had specifically warned in his June 28 letter to the SSPX that carrying out the consecrations would impact the faithful’s access to licit, and in certain cases valid, reception of the sacraments through the SSPX. He had implored the SSPX to consider the spiritual good of the faithful before going through with the consecrations. 

Concluding, the DDF note emphasized that all those who desire to return to full communion will be fully welcomed by the Church. 

“The Church, as a caring mother, will welcome with sincere affection and lively solicitude all those who wish to return to full communion,” it stated. “The Apostolic Nuncios will arrange the procedures that Ordinaries may use in the various cases. Finally, all the faithful are urged to remain steadfast in communion with the Roman Pontiff, with the Bishops in communion with him, and with the whole Church, and to refrain from taking part in celebrations and activities promoted by the aforementioned Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X.”

Statements made by SSPX clergy during the July 1 illicit consecrations also indicated how the SSPX regards the risk of punishment imposed by the Vatican. 

During the July 1 liturgy, the principal consecrator Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta formally asked Father Foucauld Le Roux, secretary general, whether the apostolic mandate was given for these consecrations. Father Le Roux read a declaration that — according to the SSPX — explains the justifications for carrying out the consecrations without the Pope’s permission. In part, the bull claimed that since Vatican II, “the authorities in the Church have been animated by a spirit that is contrary to that of the Faith” and that exceptional circumstances permit the decision, chosen out of concern especially for the faithful. The bull also stated, “And we consider that every punishment and censure brought to bear against this step will have no validity.”

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI offered an explanation of the purpose of excommunication, noting its goal is actually to bring about unity amid the danger of a schism. His insights came in a decree to lift the excommunications on the SSPX bishops ordained in 1988. 

“The Church must react by employing her most severe punishment – excommunication – with the aim of calling those thus punished to repent and to return to unity,” Pope Benedict wrote. “Twenty years after the ordinations, this goal has sadly not yet been attained. The remission of the excommunication has the same aim as that of the punishment: namely, to invite the four Bishops once more to return.”

As the Church faces a new situation of schism and excommunication, the path forward looks difficult, long, and painful especially as unity remains a high priority for the Augustinian Pope.

However, in a separate statement, Cardinal Fernández has already indicated that the Vatican is hopeful reconciliation with the SSPX will take place in the future. 

“They didn’t consider useful the dialogue we’ve proposed,” Cardinal Fernández told Vatican journalist Michael Haynes July 1 after the consecrations took place. “But we hope in future, thanks to the action of the Holy Spirit, it’ll be possible. I’m sure, but we’ll need time.”