A breakaway group of traditionalist Catholics, the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), on Wednesday defied Pope Leo XIV in consecrating four bishops without his sanction.
Midway through the mass in the Swiss Alps, Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta placed his hands on the head of the four new bishops — a ritual that confers the Holy Spirit from one bishop to another and which recalls Christ's gesture to his apostles.
Under church law, this is an act that could lead to automatic excommunication of those involved and a schism with the Vatican.
Why has the SSPX performed the consecrations?
The SSPX believes it alone is upholding church tradition and the Catholic faith and rejects the modernizing reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.
