“We Must Move Forward” — Pope Leo XIV Won’t Wait for a Right-Wing Catholic Group to End Its Schism

With illicit consecrations now days away on July 1, the Society of St. Pius X is taking its case to Pope Leo XIV and the College of Cardinals. The pope has already given his answer: the Church will not wait.

Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and the Society of St. Pius X consecrate four bishops without a papal mandate at Écône, Switzerland, on June 30, 1988. Pope John Paul II declared the act schismatic and excommunicated those who took part. (AFP via Getty Images)

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Last week, outside the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo XIV stopped to take questions from the journalists who had gathered there. One of them asked about the Society of St. Pius X, the traditionalist movement that has announced it will consecrate four new bishops on July 1 without his permission.

Leo reached for no diplomatic cushion. He said he is weighing one last appeal to the group — “Do not do this, let us try to live in communion within the Church” — and then he set down the bottom line.

“If they make that choice,” the pope said, “I am sorry, but we must move forward.”

That is the whole story in a single sentence. The first U.S.-born pope has decided that he will not let a right-wing faction inside the Church hold the rest of it hostage to an ultimatum.

The Society of St. Pius X has spent the spring daring Rome to stop it. Here’s the backstory.