The Catholic Church’s New Schism
The Vatican excommunicated 700 arch-traditionalist bishops and priests—a rupture that touches on broader disputes in the Church today.
TL;DR
- Four priests from the arch-traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) were consecrated bishops without papal permission in Écône, Switzerland.
- The Vatican declared this a "schismatic act" and issued a decree of automatic excommunication for the new bishops, the ordaining bishops, and potentially other SSPX clergy and adhering laypeople.
- The SSPX was founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and fears the Catholic Church is too influenced by modern times, deviating from tradition.
- The conflict stems from reforms following the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), which modernized the Mass, introduced vernacular languages, and promoted religious freedom and interfaith dialogue.
- SSPX rejects these reforms, viewing the vernacular Mass as favoring heresy and non-Catholic religions as false.
- This schism touches on broader disputes within Catholicism regarding reform, orthodoxy, and institutional changes over the past 50 years.