After Defying Pope Leo XIV, Vatican Excommunicates Right-Wing Dissident SSPX Bishops

The decree from the Doctrine of the Faith reaches past SSPX clergy to the lay faithful who formally adhere. Bernard Fellay, absolved by Benedict XVI in 2009, now stands excommunicated a second time.

There is a famous Latin phrase to describe the authority of the pope: Roma locuta est, causa finita est — Rome has spoken, the case is closed. Or perhaps, in a parlance more familiar to the American pope who loves tennis: game, set, match.

For the right-wing dissidents of the Society of St. Pius X, the old maxim came true on Thursday morning, when Rome f…