Pope Leo XIV has reportedly excommunicated about 500,000 members of the traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), escalating one of the Roman Catholic Church’s longest-running internal disputes after the group defied papal authority by consecrating four new bishops without Vatican approval.
The disciplinary action followed Wednesday’s episcopal consecrations in Geneva, carried out despite explicit instructions from Pope Leo XIV that the ceremony should not proceed.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Vatican announced that the Society’s bishops had been excommunicated and said members of the SSPX were to be regarded as being in schism from the Catholic Church. The Holy See, however, stressed that members who choose to leave the group and return to full communion with Rome would be welcomed back.
The SSPX, founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, was established in opposition to reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council, which reshaped Catholic liturgy and the Church’s engagement with the modern world.
The group, estimated to have about 600,000 followers worldwide, rejects several post-Vatican II reforms, including the widespread use of local languages during Mass. Its members continue to celebrate the liturgy in Latin, receive Holy Communion while kneeling and directly on the tongue, and maintain other traditional Catholic practices.
Reacting to the Vatican’s decision, SSPX member Rita Reid of Jersey in the Channel Islands said the announcement would not weaken her commitment to the Society.
“It actually makes me feel quite strong.
“Before the consecrations yesterday I said to my husband, ‘Do you know what? Even if they excommunicate us, go ahead, bring it on, it’s not going to make one bit of difference.'”
The Vatican maintained that the Society’s clergy administer the sacraments unlawfully.
“The sacred ministers of the Society of St Pius X administer the sacraments illicitly, while the sacrament of penance they administer and the marriages they witness are invalid,” the Holy See said.
Although tensions between Rome and the SSPX have persisted for decades, relations had improved in recent years, raising expectations that the latest dispute could be resolved without severe sanctions. While many observers anticipated disciplinary action against the bishops who carried out the illicit consecrations, the reported extension of the measure to the Society’s wider membership has drawn significant attention.
Excommunication is among the most severe canonical penalties in the Catholic Church, placing those affected outside full communion with the Church and preventing them from receiving sacraments such as Holy Communion, confession and marriage within the Catholic faith.
Despite the Vatican’s action, many SSPX members continue to insist that it is the Holy See—not the Society—that has departed from authentic Catholic teaching, underscoring the deep theological divide that continues to separate the traditionalist movement from Rome.
