SSPX Consecrates Four Bishops Without Papal Approval

The Society of St. Pius X consecrated four new bishops on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, at its seminary in Econe, Switzerland, without papal mandate. Under Catholic canon law, this incurs automatic excommunication for the newly consecrated bishops and the consecrating bishop, and constitutes a schismatic act.

The four elevated to the episcopate are Pascal Schreiber of Switzerland, Michael Goldade of the United States, and Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Marc Hanappier, both of France. Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, who underwent a similar ordination without Rome's approval in 1988, performed the rite before thousands gathered in a field beneath power lines near the Rhone River in the Alpine valley of Econe.

The ceremony was livestreamed on the SSPX's YouTube channel with simultaneous translation in several languages. Pope Leo XIV, described as an American pope, wrote a letter on Tuesday warning that proceeding would amount to a "sin of extreme gravity" and urging the society to cancel the ceremony. Whether Pope Leo XIV issues a formal post-ceremony declaration of excommunication or schism remains unconfirmed.

A priest read a statement at the start of Mass explaining the society's justification: "Therefore before God we consider it a sacred duty toward Holy Church and toward souls to proceed with the consecration of bishops who are entirely faithful to her holy tradition and to her constant magisterium. " The SSPX invoked a "state of necessity," citing that only two of the original four bishops consecrated in 1988 remain alive while the society now ministers to 800 places of worship across 77 countries.

SSPX media manager Marc-André Mabillard stated: "We don't fear it. " SSPX superior Rev. Davide Pagliarani urged the pope to wait before issuing any canonical penalty.

The consecrations fell exactly 38 years after the Vatican declared the 1988 SSPX rites a schismatic act. Founded by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in opposition to the Second Vatican Council's modernizing reforms, the society was officially suppressed within the Catholic Church in 1975. The society's objections to what it describes as the modern Church's embrace of modernism, liberalism, and ecumenism continue to divide it from the Vatican, and it celebrates the traditional Latin Mass exclusively.

According to statistics the society reports, it now comprises six bishops including the four newly consecrated, 751 priests, 264 seminarians across five seminaries, 145 religious brothers, 88 oblates, and 250 religious sisters drawn from 50 nationalities. Critics within the Catholic hierarchy were unsparing. Rev.

" George Weigel, biographer of St. " Weigel also noted that founder Lefebvre had supported the collaborationist Vichy regime in France during World War II, and that one of the society's original bishops denied the Holocaust. Registered participants received a baseball cap bearing the "Econe2026" seal.

A souvenir wine gift box named "Cuvée des Sacrés," priced at 75 Swiss francs ($92.50) and containing pinot noir, Syrah, Petit Arvine, and Fendant with bishop-themed labels, was sold to attendees. Pope Leo XIV has made church unity a priority since assuming the papacy, with a particular focus on healing tensions with traditionalists that deepened under Pope Francis.

The consecrations at Econe place that commitment under immediate strain.