VATICAN CITY: The Vatican said on Thursday (Jul 2) that priests and lay Catholics who are part of a breakaway right-wing Catholic group that ordained ​bishops without Pope Leo's approval were in schism with the wider Church and now excommunicated.In a strong decree, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the ‌top watchdog authority for the 1.4-billion-member Church, also warned Catholics globally that the Swiss-based Society of St Pius X now celebrated the sacraments illicitly.The ultra-traditionalist group, which denies key Church teachings, cannot officiate marriages or hear confessions validly, the decree said.It is a strict teaching of the Church that only the pope can authorise the consecration of new bishops, in order to maintain the Church's ties to Jesus' 12 apostles, who are ​considered the first priests and bishops.The Society was not available for immediate comment on the Vatican decree. One member of the group, who said he was not authorised ​to speak but identified himself as Father Benedict, told Reuters after a Mass in Econe, Switzerland he expected the group would just continue ⁠on as before."We (will) just keep going," he said. "We do respect the pope. We will keep praying for him."