SSPX defies Pope Leo, consecrates four bishops in Switzerland

Econe,UPDATED: Jul 1, 2026 15:20 IST

The Society of St Pius X, a breakaway traditionalist Catholic group, on Wednesday consecrated four bishops in Switzerland without Pope Leo XIV's consent, directly defying his appeal to call off the ceremony. Under church law, such a consecration without a papal mandate brings automatic excommunication and is treated as a schismatic act, but the group rejected both consequences.

At the ceremony at the society's seminary in Econe, organisers said the consecrations were needed to defend the Catholic faith and continue their ministry. Pope Leo, the first American pope, had warned that consecrating bishops without his approval was a "sin of extreme gravity" that would harm the faithful, but the SSPX said it would go ahead.

Bells rang through the mountain valley as hundreds of priests processed to the altar under a tent at the start of the service, which was attended by thousands of Catholics who prefer the traditional Latin Mass over modern liturgies. The event was livestreamed on the society's YouTube channel with simultaneous translation in several languages, underlining its international reach among conservative and traditionalist Catholics.

At the start of the Mass, a priest read out a statement defending the move and criticising what it said was the Catholic Church's departure from tradition. "Therefore before God we consider it a sacred duty toward Holy Church and toward souls to proceed with the consecration of bishops who are entirely faithful to her holy tradition and to her constant magisterium," the priest said. "We consider every punishment and censure brought to bear against this step will have no validity."

During the ceremony, Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, who was himself consecrated without papal consent in 1988, placed his hands on the heads of the four new bishops. In church tradition, the laying on of hands is the act through which one bishop confers the Holy Spirit on another and recalls Christ's gesture to his apostles.

According to church law, the act of consecrating a bishop without papal approval carries the harshest penalty in the Catholic Church: automatic excommunication for the four new bishops and the bishop who performed the rite. It is also considered a schismatic act, meaning an intentional rupture in the unity of the Catholic Church. Even so, the atmosphere on Wednesday was celebratory. A countdown clock had been running on the event website for days, while video clips showed seminarians unloading boxes and participants receiving caps carrying the "Econe2026" seal.

The field under large power lines was filled with nuns, priests posing for photographs, Girl Scouts handing out water bottles, black-clad security guards with earpieces and volunteer escorts in orange vests guiding journalists. Morning mist hung over the nearby Rhone River as worshippers arrived. Registered participants could also buy a 75 Swiss franc souvenir wine set called "Cuvee des Sacres", described as marking the "historic" event.

For the society, known as the SSPX, the threat of schism or excommunication does not change its position. The group says it alone is preserving church tradition and the Catholic faith. "We don't fear it. It pains us immensely, but we believe that the good we seek is greater than the pain that will be inflicted upon us," said Marc-Andre Mabillard, the society's media manager. In a late response to Leo's letter, SSPX superior the Rev Davide Pagliarani urged the pope to wait before declaring any penalty.

The ceremony took place 38 years to the day after the Vatican declared the previous SSPX episcopal consecrations a schismatic act that brought automatic excommunication. The movement was founded by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in opposition to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, which reshaped the church's relations with other Christians, Jews and people of other faiths, and allowed Mass to be said in the vernacular instead of Latin.

Today, the SSPX celebrates the ancient Latin Mass and says the modern church is marked by heresies and errors, including modernism, liberalism and ecumenism. It says the new consecrations are justified by a "state of necessity", arguing that only two of its original four bishops are still alive and that it needs more bishops to serve a community with 800 places of worship in 77 countries. The society says the move is not a rejection of Leo's authority, but is meant to ensure that it can ordain priests and conduct confirmation ceremonies according to the ancient rite.

The four new bishops have been identified by the society as Pascal Schreiber of Switzerland, Michael Goldade of the United States, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry of France and Marc Hanappier of France. At the same time, many Catholics, including conservative and traditionalist ones, oppose the move. "You can't serve tradition while disobeying the church and her authority," said the Rev Robert Gahl, an ethics expert at the Catholic University of America. Mabillard, responding to the pope's letter, said there was "great sadness to not be understood by our leader," and added: "We are changing absolutely nothing in our plans."

The consecrations in Econe have again exposed the deep divide between the Vatican and the SSPX, with the group insisting it is acting out of necessity and fidelity to tradition, even as church law treats the move as grounds for excommunication and schism.

With PTI Inputs

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