At the same Swiss seminary where its founder broke with Rome 38 years ago to the day, a traditionalist Catholic society again defied a pope.

A defiant ceremony at Écône

The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) consecrated four bishops on July 1 before thousands of the faithful at its seminary in Écône, Switzerland, the Associated Press reported. The four were consecrated by SSPX Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, assisted by Bishop Bernard Fellay. Under Catholic canon law, consecrating bishops without a papal mandate carries automatic excommunication — no formal Vatican decree required — for the consecrators and the men they consecrate.

The ceremony went ahead despite a direct, personal appeal from Pope Leo XIV two days earlier.

The pope's plea

In a June 29 letter to SSPX Superior General Father Davide Pagliarani, the pope wrote, "I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back," warning that the consecrations would deprive the faithful of the "licit and, in some cases, even valid reception of the Sacraments," according to the Vatican. He called breaking Church unity "a sin of extreme gravity." The Vatican's doctrine office had earlier warned that the plan constituted "a schismatic act."

The society's argument

The SSPX rejects the framing. Pagliarani argued the society faces what it calls a "state of necessity" — that a Church in crisis justifies extraordinary acts — and said it seeks to serve the Church "as one would assist a mother in distress," the National Catholic Reporter reported. The Vatican has long held that this argument does not hold, and that an explicit papal warning removes any ambiguity.

History repeating

The parallel to 1988 was deliberate. On July 1 that year, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who founded the SSPX in 1970 in resistance to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, consecrated four bishops at Écône without permission; Pope John Paul II excommunicated them days later. Pope Benedict XVI lifted those excommunications in 2009 and reopened dialogue, but no full reconciliation was reached. The society today counts roughly 600,000 followers worldwide.

What comes next

The automatic excommunications took effect when the rite concluded. The Vatican is now expected to issue a formal response that could include an explicit declaration of schism, which would further isolate SSPX clergy from ministry within Catholic dioceses. For the tens of thousands who traveled to Écône, the practical stakes are real: a formal schism could call into question the standing of the sacraments they receive — the very concern the pope raised in his appeal.