SSPX Followers Defy Vatican After 4 Unauthorized Bishops Trigger Excommunications
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 5
SSPX Followers Defy Vatican After 4 Unauthorized Bishops Trigger Excommunications
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 5
Summary
Followers of the Society of St. Pius X in Argentina, Italy and Switzerland said the Vatican’s excommunication of the faction’s priesthood would not draw them back to the mainstream Catholic Church.
Last week’s sanctions followed the consecration of four bishops without papal approval, a move the Vatican said created the biggest Roman Catholic schism in decades.
SSPX supporters said they would stay loyal even if lay worshipers are also excommunicated, arguing the group — not Rome — preserves “pure, authentic Catholicism.”
The standoff caps a 56-year conflict rooted in the society’s rejection of Vatican II reforms, including vernacular liturgy, as it continues to champion the Traditional Latin Mass.