An ultra-traditionalist Catholic movement, the Society of Saint Pius X, has consecrated four new bishops in Econe, Switzerland, despite Pope Leo XIV’s appeal to halt what he condemned as a “schismatic act.”
At Wednesday’s ceremony, attended by thousands of worshippers, the society’s two remaining bishops ordained four priests: Frenchmen Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Marc Hanappier, American Michael Goldade, and Swiss Pascal Schreiber.
Superior General Davide Pagliarani hailed the event as “historic,” insisting the group remains faithful to the Church through its strict adherence to tradition.
By proceeding without papal approval, all six bishops are automatically excommunicated under canon law. Yet the society’s secretary general, Foucault Leroux, declared that “all penalties and censures… are null and void.”
Founded in 1970 by French bishop Marcel Lefebvre, the group has long rejected the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Its last major rupture with Rome came in 1988, when Lefebvre consecrated bishops without Vatican consent.
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