Pope Leo has issued a direct appeal to the Society of Saint Pius X, an ultra-conservative Catholic group, urging the organization to abandon plans to ordain four new bishops at its seminary location. The pontiff characterized the proposed action as a “schismatic act” and described it as a “sin of extreme gravity” in a letter addressed to the society’s leadership.
The Society of Saint Pius X was established in 1970 in the Swiss village of Ecône with the stated purpose of opposing modernizing reforms within the Catholic Church. The organization has developed a substantial following, particularly in the United States, France, and Argentina, and maintains approximately 1,500 priests, seminarians, and other vocational members. The group rejects theological and liturgical changes that emerged from the Second Vatican Council, a major church gathering held between 1962 and 1965, including the practice of celebrating mass in languages other than Latin.
The society has asserted that the planned ordinations stem from practical necessity rather than from any intention to establish a competing authority within the church. However, Catholic Church law designates such ordinations as actions that could provoke schism and potentially result in automatic excommunication of those involved. The organization’s media representative stated that the society would proceed with the ordinations regardless of papal pressure, expressing both sadness at not being understood by church leadership and confidence in the rightness of their course.
This situation represents a significant challenge for the current pontiff, who since assuming office has emphasized unity within the Catholic Church. The proposed ordinations are scheduled to occur in early July. In a previous comparable incident in 1988, the society’s founder and four bishops he had ordained without permission were excommunicated by then-Pope John Paul II, though those excommunications were lifted in 2009 under Pope Benedict.
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