Michael Goldade

Michael Goldade is one of four priests of the Society of Saint Pius X consecrated bishops at Écône, Switzerland, on 1 July 2026 without a pontifical mandate; the others were Pascal Schreiber, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Marc Hanappier. The principal consecrator was Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, assisted by Bishop Bernard Fellay (FSSPX.News; OSV News). An American, he had been rector of the society's St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Virginia since 2023, according to the biography the society published when it named the candidates on 26 May 2026 (sspx.org; Catholic World Report). FSSPX.News's description of the rite includes the candidates' traditional oath of allegiance to the Sovereign Pontiff before they are questioned and consecrated.

The ceremony went ahead despite Pope Leo XIV's letter of 29 June asking the society to desist. On 2 July 2026 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith declared that the four new bishops and the principal consecrator, de Galarreta, had incurred the latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See for episcopal consecration without a pontifical mandate, and that Fellay, as co-consecrator, had incurred excommunication for publicly adhering to what the decree called a schismatic act (Vatican News; Catholic World Report; The Pillar). The society rejects the penalties as "objectively unjust and invalid" and has lodged a canonical recourse (Catholic World Report). See The SSPX episcopal consecrations of 2026.