Catholic Arch-Conservatives Defy Pope Leo and Consecrate Bishops as Crisis Grows at Vatican

The consecration of four Catholic bishops on Wednesday by an arch-traditionalist group at a meadow in southwestern Switzerland amounts to a direct defiance of the authority of Pope Leo XIV, who has threatened to excommunicate the rebels.The Society of St. Pius X proceeded to name the bishops during a five-hour ceremony that was livestreamed on YouTube. In pouring rain, the society ignored the entreaties of the Bishop of Rome to turn back to what he called a “schismatic act,” or an intentional rupture of the unity of the Catholic Church. According to the society some 16,500 faithful attended the ceremonial Mass. A priest insisted that the naming of new bishops was a “sacred duty” and contended that “we consider every punishment and censure brought to bear against this step to have no validity.” In a letter on Tuesday the Pope warned that to consecrate the bishops would be “to tear the seamless garment of Christ is a sin of extreme gravity.”The SSX, as the society is known, clings to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, or Tridentine Mass — the Eucharistic liturgy codified in 1570 by Pope Pius V that is conducted exclusively in Ecclesiastical Latin. It was replaced by the Ordinary Form, promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969 at the Second Vatican Council. This version is largely worshipped in vernacular languages. The society, which is named after a traditionalist pope from the beginning of the last century, rejects wholesale the modernizing reforms introduced to the Church at Vatican II. The new bishops were consecrated by Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, who was himself excommunicated by Pope John Paul II in 1988 for “disobedience to the Roman pontiff in a very grave matter and of supreme importance for the unity of the Church.” He added that “such disobedience — which implies in practice the rejection of the Roman primacy — constitutes a schismatic act.”In 2009 Pope Benedict XVI rescinded Bishop Galarretta’s excommunication, which canon law mandates as the most severe penalty the Church can levy. Bishop Galarretta is considered “suspended,” like the other bishops in the society who were appointed by its founder, Marcel Lefebvre. The SSX, though, still has no formal status within the Roman Church. Pope Leo’s letter warning the society off the consecrations pointedly notes that he is the “Successor of the Apostle Peter.” Jesus Christ charged that disciple: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” Catholics affirm that every pontiff carries the authority of that first command.Pope Leo XIV waves after delivering the annual Christmas Day blessing from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on December 25, 2025. Gregorio Borgia/APThe superior of the society, Reverend Davide Pagliarani, declared at the consecration ceremony that “we are accused of not respecting the pope. But it is precisely because we love the pope as the vicar of Christ, as the head of the church, that we don’t want to see the pope humiliated anymore, on the side of false shepherds representing false religions.”The four consecrated bishops — Pascal Schreiber of Switzerland, Michael Goldade of the United States, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, and Marc Hanappier of France — also answered affirmatively to the traditional question, “Habetis mandatum apostolicum” or “Do you have the Apostolic Mandate?” The answer, though, appears to be “no” — at least according to traditional Catholic doctrine. Reverend Pagliarani insisted in his remarks that his group is “prepared to pay any price to save the Church.” Reverend Pagliariani declared earlier this week before the consecrations: “Far be it from us to separate ourselves from the Roman Church. We desire, on the contrary, to serve her by means that are extraordinary, as one would assist a mother in distress who requires particular help, even if such help is not understood by everyone.” The Vatican has not yet responded to the consecrations that occurred on Wednesday.The SSX wrote its own letter to Pope Leo last month that “today the Church suffers under the pressure of new forces, coming both from within and without, which push her in every possible direction, except — it seems to us — the right one.” In that same missive the society positioned itself as the vanguard of faith, not merely “a group of nostalgics” clinging to the past.

Catholic Arch-Conservatives Defy Pope Leo and Consecrate Bishops as Crisis Grows at Vatican

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