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The Society of St. Pius X was excommunicated by Pope Leo for ordaining bishops without his permission. Its issues with the church run far deeper. (Image credit: Baz Ratner)

The Society of St. Pius X was excommunicated by Pope Leo for ordaining bishops without his permission. Its issues with the church run far deeper.

(Image credit: Baz Ratner)

The bishops from Society of St. Pius X were among those excommunicated by the Catholic Church on Thursday. Baz Ratner/AP hide caption

ÉCÔNE, Switzerland (RNS) — A group of traditionalists directly defied Pope Leo XIV by ordaining four new bishops without his consent, calling it their "sacred duty" during a ritual-laden ceremony at the society's seminary in the Swiss village of Écône.

The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) had received repeated warnings from the Vatican that the ordinations would constitute a schismatic act and trigger the automatic excommunication of all bishops involved. On Thursday, the Vatican went further than expected, declaring that the four new bishops, the two bishops who consecrated them, all priests of the SSPX and all lay Catholics who "adhere formally" to the group were now in schism and excommunicated.

Excommunications are extremely rare, and generally mean the excommunicated person is no longer considered a member of the church and cannot receive the sacraments. Under the church's legal system , Catholics can be excommunicated for schism, defined as the refusal to submit to the Pope "or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him."

In its excommunication announcement, the Vatican offered the possibility of welcoming the former members back into the church.

Even before the consecrations, Pope Leo had published a letter dated June 29 addressed to the superior general of the society, the Rev. Davide Pagliarani. "I implore you and ask you with all my heart: Turn back!" the pontiff wrote, saying the consecrations would be a "sin of extreme gravity" for threatening the unity of the church.