Background
Update — October 9, 2026
- Canada. On 26 September the society's national pilgrimage to the Martyrs' Shrine in Midland, Ontario, could not enter the shrine church or venerate the relics there: the Archdiocese of Toronto under Cardinal Frank Leo has barred SSPX groups from diocesan sites since the July consecrations, and Mass was celebrated in a nearby park. The Canadian district superior, Fr. Yves Le Roux, asked the faithful to accept the decision "without bitterness" (LifeSiteNews; FSSPX.News; timeline).
- Colombia. According to FSSPX.News, the society was told two days before its 26–28 September pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Chiquinquirá that it could not renew its consecration to Our Lady inside the basilica, where it had celebrated Mass with local agreement since 2023; the consecration was renewed on the basilica steps. The society says it wrote to the bishop and the local priest to register its disagreement. No statement from the diocese was found.
- The decree. On 7 October FSSPX.News republished an August interview in which Fr. Daniele Di Sorco of the society's Italian district argues that the decree's provisions on priests and faithful are too imprecise to say who is affected, and that its statements on confessions and marriages have no legal force (FSSPX.News). These are the society's arguments; no ruling on its July recourse had been reported as of 9 October.
Update — October 7, 2026
- Recourse. No decision by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on the society's 11 July recourse, and no further hierarchical recourse, had been publicly reported in the sources reviewed as of 7 October. In September the society's French district still described its appeal as having suspensive effect, a reading canonists have disputed (FSSPX.News; Aleteia).
- Leo XIV in France (25–28 September). The French district announced times of prayer in its chapels for the Pope's intentions, and its superior, Fr. Gonzague Peignot, wrote on the limits of obedience to the Pope with reference to the First Vatican Council's Pastor aeternus (FSSPX.News; FSSPX.News). France 24 reported that the society's French leaders said they would not seek confrontation with the Pope (France 24). At Vespers in Notre-Dame, Leo asked clergy to place communion with the Successor of Peter above personal preferences, which LifeSiteNews suggested could be read as a reference to the SSPX (timeline).
- Lourdes. The society's Christ the King pilgrimage to Lourdes is scheduled for 24–26 October. No change had been reported to the local bishop's withdrawal of permission for its Masses, sacraments and public prayers in the sanctuary; he has said private visits remain open (Catholic Herald).
- Dioceses. A notice to the faithful from the Diocese of Knoxville states that no SSPX priory, mission or chapel has been approved in the diocese (Diocese of Knoxville).
- Commentary. Bishop Athanasius Schneider called for "fatherly charity" towards the society in an interview with Ad Vaticanum.
Overview
On 1 July 2026 the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX; the "Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X" in Holy See documents) consecrated four bishops at its seminary in Écône, Switzerland, without a pontifical mandate. Two days earlier Pope Leo XIV had asked the society to desist, warning that tearing the Church's unity would be "a sin of extreme gravity." On 2 July the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) declared that the six bishops involved had incurred excommunication. The society calls the penalties "objectively unjust and invalid" and has filed a canonical recourse. Background: Society of Saint Pius X.
What happened
Announcement (2 February 2026). On the feast of the Purification, at the society's seminary in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, France, superior general Davide Pagliarani announced that the society's bishops would confer episcopal consecrations on 1 July. The society said the decision had the unanimous support of its General Council and was required by the "grave necessity" in which it judges souls to be (sspx.org; fsspx.org). The Catholic Herald reported Pagliarani's account that letters he had sent to the Vatican in August and November 2025 went unanswered.
A conditional offer of dialogue (12 February). With the Pope's approval, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the DDF, received Pagliarani at the Palace of the Holy Office. The dicastery proposed a specifically theological dialogue with a defined method, addressing first the minimum requirements for full communion and then a canonical status. Proposed topics included the difference between an act of faith and "religious assent," and the different degrees of adherence owed to the various texts of the Second Vatican Council. The offer depended on suspending the consecrations, which the DDF warned would amount to a decisive rupture of communion, that is, schism (Vatican News; Catholic Review). In a reply published days later, Pagliarani declined to postpone, citing continuing disagreement over the Council (sspx.org timeline; First Things).
Formal warning (13 May). A statement by Cardinal Fernández released by the Holy See Press Office said the consecrations would be "a schismatic act," that the society lacked the requisite pontifical mandate, and that formal adherence to schism incurs excommunication. It added that Pope Leo was praying for the society's leaders to reconsider (Catholic World Report; OSV News; Aleteia).
The Pope's letter (dated 29 June, published 30 June). In a letter written in French and addressed to Pagliarani, Leo XIV invoked the authority he received from Christ to ask the society to desist. According to OSV News, he acknowledged the society's "devotion to liturgical life, commitment to priestly formation, apostolic zeal and desire for fidelity to Tradition," while warning that the act would deprive the faithful of the licit and, in some cases, valid reception of the sacraments. "I pray for you, because to tear the seamless garment of Christ is a sin of extreme gravity," he wrote, pleading "please turn back" and saying the Church remained open to dialogue (vatican.va; Vatican News; The Pillar).
The consecrations (1 July). In the meadow at Écône where Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre had consecrated bishops in 1988, Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, assisted by Bishop Bernard Fellay as co-consecrator, consecrated Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Marc Hanappier. FSSPX.News streamed the ceremony (FSSPX.News; OSV News). Pagliarani preached the homily; Fr. Z's Blog posted it.
The decree (2 July). The DDF decree, signed by Cardinal Fernández and by the secretaries of the dicastery's doctrinal and disciplinary sections, Msgr. Armando Matteo and Archbishop John J. Kennedy, calls the rite an "act of a schismatic nature." It declares that the consecrator and the four new bishops incurred latae sententiae excommunication, and that Fellay, by taking part directly as co-consecrator and so publicly adhering to the schismatic act, incurred the excommunication of canon 1364 §1. The penalties are "reserved to the Apostolic See," and clerics and lay faithful are admonished not to adhere to the schism (Vatican News; L'Osservatore Romano; Catholic World Report; Where Peter Is). An explanatory note states that the society's clergy are to be considered schismatic and addresses lay faithful who "formally adhere" to the society. OSV News reported that the documents treat confessions heard and marriages witnessed by SSPX priests as invalid for lack of faculties, while Masses remain valid but illicit (OSV News; Crux). America observed that neither document mentions the Pope or records his approval (America). The DDF also issued guidelines, sent through the nunciatures, for those wishing to return: a priest must find a bishop or major superior willing to receive him and petition the Pope for the remission of censures, while each lay person's situation is to be assessed individually (America; Crux).
The society's response (3–13 July). In a letter to Leo XIV released on 3 July, Pagliarani described the consecrations as an extreme measure to save souls and called the penalties "objectively unjust and invalid," while saying the society did not receive them in a spirit of bitterness or rebellion (Catholic World Report; Catholic Herald). On 13 July the society announced that on 11 July it had lodged a preliminary recourse with the DDF under canons 1734 and following, arguing that this suspends execution of the decree under canon 1353 (America; Rorate Caeli). Its English-language site also ran a piece headed "Hundreds of Thousands of Catholics Purportedly Excommunicated: How Should We See This?" (sspx.org).
Reactions across traditionalist and Catholic media
Canonical scope. The reach of the explanatory note became the main argument. A canonical analysis published on Fr. Z's Blog (see John Zuhlsdorf) argued that the decree does not excommunicate SSPX priests or faithful who attend the society's Masses; Catholic Answers argued that the faithful receive a warning and that the note lacks the legal force of the decree. The National Catholic Reporter quoted a canon lawyer who called the decree necessary for church unity.
The recourse. Canonist Pierre Chaffard-Luçon told Aleteia that the procedure was legitimate but that the penalties continue to apply because the facts are certain. The Pillar described the society's prospects for recourse as "unappealing." Integrity Magazine reported that Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò endorsed the appeal.
Sympathetic voices. Before the consecrations, the society's dossier carried a piece by Bishop Athanasius Schneider arguing that they would "in no way be schismatic." In a 17 August statement published by journalist Diane Montagna, his first since the decree, Schneider argued that the society had faced a "tragic" choice and renders the Church "a great service." Newsweek quoted an SSPX priest who said a future pope may reverse it.
Critical voices. First Things published Larry Chapp's "Goodbye, SSPX," and CatholicCulture.org published "'My Will Be Done': On the SSPX Consecrations."
Follow-up, August–October 2026
The Archbishop of San Antonio warned Catholics to stop attending a local SSPX church (KENS 5). In mid-August Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes withdrew the society's authorisation to celebrate Mass, administer the sacraments and hold public prayers in the Lourdes sanctuary, which affects its annual Christ the King pilgrimage in October (EWTN News); the society's French district said it would keep the pilgrimage in an adapted form (InfoVaticana). InfoVaticana reported that the Austrian shrine of Mariazell likewise refused the society its annual public rosary (InfoVaticana). On the eve of Leo XIV's visit to France, France 24 reported that concessions the society had enjoyed had been rolled back (France 24).
The 1988 precedent
Fellay and de Galarreta were among those declared excommunicated after the 1988 Écône consecrations; those penalties were lifted in 2009 under Benedict XVI (EWTN News). The 2026 note's treatment of confessions and marriages contrasts with the faculties for those sacraments that Pope Francis had granted SSPX priests (Crux).
What to watch next
- The recourse. Under the procedure the society invoked, the DDF had thirty days to respond; an unfavourable reply, or none, opens the way to a hierarchical recourse under canon 1737 (Aleteia; Catholic Herald).
- Dialogue. Leo XIV's letter said the Church remains open to dialogue. America has asked whether any dialogue can continue and whether Leo will ease restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass, a question followed in Leo XIV and the Latin Mass (America).
- Pastoral practice. How dioceses apply the note on confessions and marriages, and use of the DDF's return guidelines.
- The society's activity. Any ordinations conferred by the new bishops, and the society's pilgrimages, including Lourdes (24–26 October).