Pope Leo XIV has issued a last-ditch, desperate plea to the leaders of a breakaway traditionalist Catholic group, begging them to abandon their plan to consecrate four new bishops without his consent, a move the Vatican warns will constitute a formal act of schism.
In an open letter dated June 29 and published on the eve of the planned ceremony, the pontiff addressed Father Davide Pagliarani, the superior general of the Society of St. Pius X. “In this spirit, and filled with Christian affection, I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: Please turn back!” the pope wrote in his final appeal.
The society, known as the SSPX, is proceeding with the consecrations at its seminary in Écône, Switzerland.
The ceremony is scheduled to take place later today, July 1, and will create four new bishops for a group that has never been granted official status by the Holy See.
Pope Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost, is the first pope born in the United States. He warned that the decision to proceed is theirs, but that the consequences are severe.
“I urge you to consider carefully the spiritual good of the faithful, because the schismatic act you are about to undertake would deprive them of the licit, and in some cases even valid, reception of the sacraments,” the pope wrote.
The SSPX’s superior general, Father Davide Pagliarani, insists in a letter to Pope Leo XIV that the society is not schismatic, arguing that the very fact of ongoing dialogue and the endorsement of past papal envoys proves its fidelity to Rome.
The SSPX was founded in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in direct opposition to the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965).
The society exclusively celebrates the Tridentine Latin Mass and has repeatedly rejected the council’s teachings on religious freedom, ecumenism and the church’s relationship with other faiths.
The current crisis is a replay of the group’s foundational act of defiance in 1988, when Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated four bishops against the explicit orders of Pope John Paul II.
That action resulted in the automatic excommunication of Lefebvre and the bishops. Those excommunications were later lifted in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI in an effort to foster reconciliation.
But after years of fragile dialogue, the SSPX has once again chosen to cross the Rubicon. In February, the society announced its intention to proceed with new consecrations.
Despite a warning from Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, that the act would be considered a schism, and despite numerous requests for dialogue, the SSPX refused to back down.
Schism is the canonical crime of refusing submission to the Pope or withdrawing communion from the Church. Under Canon 1364 of the Code of Canon Law, perpetrators face automatic excommunication.
On June 24, the society issued a 28-page “Profession of Faith” to the pope and the College of Cardinals, effectively serving as a manifesto of its defiance.
In it, the SSPX rejected the “modern errors” of ecumenism, synodality and religious freedom, and argued that heads of state have a “right and duty” to favor the Catholic Church and suppress “false forms of worship.”
The sect rejects the idea that people have an absolute right to choose their religion, arguing instead that governments have a duty to impose the Catholic Church on citizens.
The society’s stance underscores a deeper theological impossibility.
As one former SSPX priest, Gary Campbell, wrote in a public reflection, the group’s position is intellectually untenable.
If one believes, as the SSPX does, that the reforms of Vatican II contain error, one must logically conclude either that the pope and the bishops have lost their faith or that Christ did not found a church at all.
“The SSPX hemorrhages clergy from both ends of the theological spectrum,” Campbell wrote, citing the “impossibility of defending the theological inconsistencies in the Recognize and Resist position.”
For now, the leadership insists it is not separating itself from Rome but rather acting as a “mother in distress who requires particular help,” as Pagliarani wrote in his response to the pope. The group’s media manager, Marc-André Mabillard, stated that the society does not fear excommunication. “We are changing absolutely nothing in our plans,” he said.
The move represents the first major crisis of Pope Leo’s pontificate, directly challenging his authority and his stated desire for unity.
In stark contrast to the 407,421 Roman Catholic priests in good standing worldwide, according to the 2026 Pontifical Yearbook, the Society of St. Pius X continues to grow, boasting 751 priests and more than 600,000 faithful worldwide.
If the consecrations proceed, the Vatican will likely be forced to move forward without them, leaving these communities in a state of formal schism, their sacraments of questionable validity, and their faithful caught in a spiritual no-man’s-land.
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