A breakaway Catholic group dedicated to preserving the traditional Latin Mass has ordained four new bishops in Switzerland, despite a direct appeal from Pope Leo XIV to halt the ceremony.
Top Vatican Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the forbidden ceremony, expected to cause the excommunication of the priests involved, had "deeply wounded" the unity of the 1.4-billion-member Church.
"This is in itself a schismatic act," Parolin told journalists in Rome, using a term to indicate a severe rupture in the Catholic community.
Thousands of supporters gathered in the Alpine village of Écône on Wednesday to witness the consecrations carried out by the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), an ultra-traditionalist movement that has remained at odds with the Vatican for decades.
The ordinations went ahead just two days after Pope Leo wrote a personal letter to the society's Superior General, Davide Pagliarani, urging the group to reconsider.
"I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!" the Pope wrote, describing the planned ceremony as a "schismatic act".
Under Catholic Church law, only the Pope can authorise the consecration of bishops, a safeguard intended to preserve the Church's apostolic succession, which traces bishops back to Jesus's twelve apostles.
The Vatican warned that proceeding without papal approval would result in automatic excommunication for both the bishops being ordained and the bishop performing the consecrations. The ceremony was broadcast live on social media.
Founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the Society of St. Pius X rejects key reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council, including changes to the liturgy and aspects of the Church's engagement with the modern world. The society says it has 733 priests serving worldwide.
Relations between the Vatican and the SSPX have long been strained. Archbishop Lefebvre was excommunicated in 1988 after ordaining four bishops without the approval of Pope John Paul II. His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, later lifted the remaining excommunications in an effort to encourage reconciliation.
The society announced earlier this year that it intended to appoint new bishops, arguing that additional leadership was needed to oversee its growing global membership.
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