The Vatican has responded aggressively to the ultratraditionalist Society of St. Pius X after it defied Pope Leo XIV and consecrated four bishops without his consent. The Vatican on Thursday declared the group to be in schism, excommunicated the bishops and priests and warned the faithful they too could incur excommunication. Schism is a willful rupture of unity in the Catholic Church. The Vatican responded a day after the society staged a massive consecration ceremony at its seminary in Econe, Switzerland, attended by some 15,500 people and their children.

A breakaway group of traditionalist Catholics has directly defied Pope Leo XIV by consecrating four bishops without his consent. The Society of St. Pius X is dismissing the resulting excommunications and schism by declaring it was a “sacred duty” to defend the Catholic faith. The group opposes the modernizing reforms of the Catholic Church. It went ahead with the consecrations at its seminary in Econe, Switzerland, despite a last-ditch appeal by Leo to call it off. The ceremony drew thousands of people who prefer the Latin Mass to the modern liturgies celebrated in most of the Catholic Church. The Vatican has said the ceremony is a schismatic act that incurs automatic excommunication.