The Society of Saint Pius X, an ultra-traditionalist breakaway Catholic group with around 600,000 followers worldwide, is set to defy Pope Leo XIV by consecrating four bishops without his consent. The group will ordain its own bishops on July 1.
Pope Leo XIV has issued a direct and personal appeal to the traditionalists, urging them to return to full communion with the Catholic Church. The Pope has begged the group to reconsider its plan and called on them to call off the planned consecrations.
Such a move risks triggering a full schism and rupture with the mainstream Catholic Church in Rome. This ceremony takes place 38 years to the day after the Vatican declared the last consecrations of SSPX bishops a schismatic act.