Pope Leo warns SSPX against ordaining bishops to avoid ‘schism’

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Pope Leo warns SSPX against ordaining bishops to avoid ‘schism’
'I am still considering making another appeal, to say, 'Do not do this. Let us try to live in communion in the Church,'' Pope Leo said Tuesday.



Pope Leo XIV
Adri Salido/Getty Images

Jun 16, 2026
(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV addressed the upcoming ordination of bishops by the Society of St. Pius X, saying Tuesday outside his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, that the Vatican may make a final request to SSPX to reconsider its episcopal consecrations.

The SSPX ordinations are planned for July 1 at its seminary in Econe, Switzerland, where four priests in the Traditional Latin Mass society will be consecrated as bishops.

“We have invited them, and I am still considering making another appeal, to say, ‘Do not do this. Let us try to live in communion in the Church,'” Pope Leo said outside Villa Barberini. “But it is their choice. They must understand what it means for them and for the Church.”

The Vatican has cautioned the SSPX on several occasions that the consecrations without papal approval could result in excommunication as a “schismatic act.”

The Pope appeared to make reference on Tuesday to the SSPX rejecting some reforms and teachings of Vatican II, saying, “Certainly, division among Christians is always a painful matter. But they refuse to accept certain fundamental elements of the Church, beginning with various points of the Second Vatican Council. And if they make those choices, I am sorry. But we must move forward.”

The Society had announced in February its plans to consecrate new bishops without papal approval out of an “objective state of grave necessity” for the continuation of its sacramental ministry.

In a press release dated February 2, Superior General Father Davide Pagliarani said the SSPX’s bishops have been tasked with carrying out the consecrations on July 1. The announcement was made at the Society’s International Seminary of Saint-Curé-d’Ars in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, France, at the ceremony in which new seminarians receive the cassock.

Since then, reaction among bishops has been split between support and opposition. Included among the vocal supporters are Archbishop Carla Maria Vigano. Leading the vocal opponents in the Vatican is Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the Prefect of the Discastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

After a February meeting in Rome between Fernández and Father Pagliarani, a communique revealed that Fernández threatened Pagliarani and the SSPX with the crime of “schism” if the episcopal consecrations announced by the Society go ahead.

Developing …