The Vatican today took its strongest action in history against the Society of St. Pius X, declaring its bishops and priests excommunicated and in schism, and saying that any lay person who “adheres” to the schismatic group will also be subject to automatic excommunication.

The move, sparked by the ordinations of four new bishops of the SSPX in Écône, Switzerland, on July 1, goes further than even Pope John Paul II went when, in response to the first illicit ordinations of SSPX bishops in 1988, he declared that the bishops involved had been excommunicated.

In the intervening decades, the Vatican made numerous attempts to bring the SSPX back into the fold, lifting the excommunications of the bishops ordained in 1988 and opening access to the Tridentine Latin Mass to Catholics more widely, which the SSPX had requested. None of these efforts proved fruitful; the closest the two ever came to an agreement was actually in May 1988, just before the first illicit ordinations, when the SSPX founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, signed an agreement that would have regularized the SSPX’s dubious position within the Catholic Church but formally withdrew his signature the next day, ultimately going forward with the illicit ordinations on July 1, 1988.

In 1988, just as happened this week, the Vatican responded by confirming that both the ordaining and ordained bishops had incurred automatic excommunication. There are, however, some significant differences: As mentioned, the Vatican went further this time by declaring excommunicated other members of the society. Also, in contrast to Pope John Paul II’s apostolic letter “Ecclesia Dei” announcing the previous excommunications, today’s decision was signed by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the head of the Vatican’s doctrine office, rather than Pope Leo XIV. In fact, neither the decree from the dicastery nor the note that accompanied it ever mentions the current pope by name.

Pope Leo and ‘unity in diversity’

What do these decisions tell us about Pope Leo XIV and his understanding both of the SSPX and of the church unity that is central to his papacy?

The first is that Leo understands that tensions between the Vatican and the SSPX were never primarily about the liturgy. Even after Pope Benedict XVI allowed for widespread celebration of the pre-Vatican II Mass in 2007 and lifted the excommunications of the SSPX bishops in 2009, the society’s position in the church was still not regularized because their leadership refused in 2012 to sign a “doctrinal preamble” that would recognize the Second Vatican Council as a legitimate part of Catholic tradition and teaching.

The 2012 “preamble” echoed previous attempts at reconciliation, which always involved the Vatican offering to regularize the situation of the SSPX in return for some recognition of the legitimacy of Vatican II. A similar offer was made by Cardinal Fernández earlier this year in response to SSPX’s threats to again illicitly ordain bishops. Cardinal Fernández had offered a structured theological dialogue on the “minimum requirements necessary for full communion with the Catholic Church,” including “the different degrees of adherence required by the various texts of the Second Vatican Council and their interpretation.” In return, the SSPX would be granted an official canonical status in the church. The society again rejected this offer.

Pope Leo acknowledged that it was the SSPX’s refusal to accept the teachings of Vatican II, not just the liturgical reforms that followed the council, that prevented them from rejoining the Catholic Church. He told reporters outside Castel Gandolfo recently: “They refuse to accept certain fundamental elements of the church, beginning with various points of the Second Vatican Council. And if they make those choices, I am sorry. But we must move forward.”

Today’s decision to “move forward” by declaring excommunicated at least some of the membership of the SSPX beyond its bishops reveals the limits of what views are included in the “unity in diversity” that Leo has preached as recently as June 29.

Pope Leo, the first pope to have undergone all of his seminary formation in the post-Vatican II era, has made clear that he takes the Second Vatican Council as a given, that accepting it is vital to church unity.

While past popes, especially Benedict XVI, made repeated offers to bring SSPX back into the fold in an effort to protect the church’s unity and out of a concern for the faithful whose sacraments would be rendered illicit were their clergy declared schismatic, the Vatican under Pope Leo has struck a different tone, appealing personally to SSPX’s lay members to “remain firm in communion” with Rome and not to attend SSPX celebrations or events while declaring its bishops and priests excommunicated. On July 2, the Vatican also provided procedures for both priests and lay people connected to the Society of St. Pius X to return to Catholic communion.

Following this decision, two major questions remain: First, will any sort of continued dialogue, the likes of which Cardinal Pietro Parolin expressed a desire for on July 1 following the ordinations, be possible between the SSPX and the Vatican? And second, will Pope Leo loosen Pope Francis’ restrictions on the Tridentine Latin Mass in an effort to draw more SSPX members back to Rome?

Pope Benedict XVI ended SSPX’s almost-total monopoly on the Latin Mass by extending the ability to celebrate it to any priest who asked permission, but Francis tightened restrictions on it, citing divisiveness and a lack of acceptance of Vatican II in some Latin Mass communities. How Pope Leo will address this issue, and how it fits into his vision of unity, remains to be seen.

Colleen Dulle is the Vatican Correspondent at America and co-hosts the "Inside the Vatican" podcast. She is the author of Struck Down, Not Destroyed: Keeping the Faith as a Vatican Reporter (Image, 2025).