Pope Leo XIV’s first major showdown with a breakaway Catholic movement ended Thursday with the Vatican declaring the Society of St. Pius X in schism and excommunicating bishops who defied the pontiff by ordaining new bishops without his approval.

The Vatican acted one day after the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) consecrated four new bishops at its seminary in Écône, Switzerland, despite a personal appeal from Leo urging the group to abandon what the Catholic Church called a «schismatic act.»

In a decree released Thursday, the Holy See excommunicated the four newly consecrated bishops as well as the two bishops who took part in the ceremony, declaring the ordinations a schism, or an intentional break from the Catholic Church.

The decision comes after decades of efforts by successive popes to reconcile with the traditionalist movement, which rejects many of the reforms adopted during the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, including allowing Mass to be celebrated in local languages instead of Latin.

POPE LEO PLEADS WITH BREAKAWAY CATHOLIC GROUP NOT TO COMMIT ‘SIN OF EXTREME GRAVITY’

Only the pope has the authority to approve the consecration of Catholic bishops, a practice meant to preserve the Church’s unity and its line of succession from the apostles.

The sanctions also reverse concessions the Vatican had granted the SSPX in recent years as it tried to bring the group back into full communion with Rome. According to the decree, the group can no longer validly administer the sacraments of confession and marriage, and the Vatican urged Catholics attending SSPX Masses to separate themselves from the movement.

Pope Leo XIV waves during the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Monday, June 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

The action comes just days after Leo made a rare personal appeal to the group’s leader, the Rev. Davide Pagliarani, urging him to cancel the consecrations.

«I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!» the pope wrote in a letter to Pagliarani on Monday, warning the planned ordinations would deepen the decades-old division between Rome and the SSPX.

The dispute is the first major test of Leo’s pontificate. Since becoming pope, the American-born pontiff has emphasized healing divisions within the Catholic Church, including reaching out to conservatives and traditionalists who felt alienated during Pope Francis’ papacy.

POPE LEO SENDS UNMISTAKABLE MESSAGE ON IMMIGRANTS DURING VISIT HONORING AMERICA’S FIRST SAINT

During Wednesday’s consecration ceremony, Pagliarani insisted the ordinations were carried out not in opposition to the pope but in service to the Church.

«We are accused of not respecting the pope,» Pagliarani said. «But it is precisely because we love the pope as the vicar of Christ, as the head of the church, that we don’t want to see the pope humiliated anymore, on the side of false shepherds representing false religions.»

Pope Leo XIV delivers his message as he celebrates a Mass where he confers the pallium on newly appointed metropolitan archbishops, in St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican, Monday, June 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Founded in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the Society of St. Pius X has long opposed what it considers theological errors introduced by the Second Vatican Council. Lefebvre was excommunicated in 1988 after consecrating four bishops without the approval of Pope John Paul II in a nearly identical confrontation.

Those excommunications were lifted in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI in an effort to restore dialogue, though the SSPX never returned to full communion with Rome and has remained outside the Church’s formal structure.

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Despite that status, the society has continued to grow, reporting hundreds of priests, seminarians and religious members serving followers in dozens of countries, making it one of the largest traditionalist Catholic movements operating outside the Vatican’s authority.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

El reloj marcaba exactamente las 7:19 de la mañana de este jueves (hora de Costa Rica), cuando el silencio sepulcral que dominaba Playa Grande, en el estado de La Guaira, se rompió con un estallido de júbilo, llanto descontrolado y aplausos.

Tras una agónica espera de siete días, Hernán Gil, un vigilante venezolano de 44 años, volvió a respirar aire puro. Su extracción no fue una maniobra más; fue una hazaña de dimensiones colosales liderada desde el primer minuto por la Cruz Roja Costarricense, cuyo equipo se convirtió en el faro de esperanza que guio a rescatistas de todo el planeta hacia el fondo del abismo.

Hernán permaneció sepultado durante 170 horas bajo los escombros del Centro Comercial Galerías Playa Grande, destruido por los sismos de magnitudes 7,2 y 7,5 que azotaron la costa caribeña el pasado 24 de junio. Contra toda lógica médica, hoy está vivo.

La historia del rescate cambió por completo el pasado 30 de junio. Mientras el desánimo empezaba a rondar la zona de desastre, una brigada de la Cruz Roja de Costa Rica realizaba un rastreo minucioso y milimétrico sobre la peligrosa e inestable montaña de concreto.

Fue en ese momento cuando la agudeza y el entrenamiento de los rescatistas “ticos” marcaron el destino de la operación: divisaron el leve movimiento de una mano a través de una grieta casi invisible y, al acercarse, escucharon una voz debilitada pero firme.

Hernán estaba vivo en el tercer piso subterráneo. Había sobrevivido porque su caseta de seguridad en el sótano resistió el impacto inicial, creando un microespacio vital que lo protegió de las más de 140 toneladas de escombros que colapsaron encima. Al confirmar el hallazgo, los rescatistas costarricenses no lo dudaron e inmediatamente activaron los protocolos de emergencia para solicitar apoyo internacional, conscientes de que la extrema complejidad del terreno requería un esfuerzo humano titánico y multidisciplinario.

A partir de ese instante, la Cruz Roja Costarricense asumió con orgullo y templanza el liderazgo técnico del operativo, coordinando las acciones hombro con hombro junto a los valientes miembros de Protección Civil de Venezuela.

Una hermandad global unida bajo el mando técnico de Costa Rica

El llamado de auxilio de los rescatistas ticos resonó con fuerza en todo el continente. Rápidamente, el campamento base se transformó en un conmovedor ejemplo de unión global. Más de 100 especialistas de brigadas USAR (Búsqueda y Rescate Urbano) procedentes de El Salvador, Estados Unidos, Chile, Portugal, Colombia, México y España se sumaron al plan estratégico trazado por Costa Rica y Venezuela.

Fueron 114 horas de labores ininterrumpidas y desesperantes. La inestabilidad de la estructura obligó a los rescatistas a cavar centímetro a centímetro usando herramientas manuales pesadas y escáneres sónicos. El peligro era constante: las réplicas del sismo hicieron que los primeros túneles de aproximación colapsaran. Sin embargo, el equipo tico mantuvo la calma y la dirección del plan, logrando introducir una sonda vital para suministrarle a Hernán aire comprimido, hidratación y medicamentos que lo mantuvieron estable en la oscuridad.

Afuera, la vigilia de su esposa, Gusbimar González, se alimentaba del coraje de los rescatistas, quienes se negaron a rendirse incluso cuando el cansancio físico amenazaba con vencerlos.

La recompensa a tanto sacrificio llegó finalmente la mañana de este jueves. Las primeras imágenes enviadas desde el corazón de la zona de desastre por Ricardo Arias, miembro del equipo de la Cruz Roja de Costa Rica, plasman un momento de profunda humanidad. En ellas se observa el instante exacto en que los rescatistas costarricenses, con los cascos cubiertos de polvo y los rostros marcados por el cansancio extremo, rompen en llanto y se funden en abrazos eternos con sus hermanos venezolanos y del resto de los países participantes.

“¡Hernán está afuera! Tras 114 horas de esfuerzo ininterrumpido y más de siete días después de los terremotos, Hernán ha sido rescatado y ya se encuentra en una ambulancia”, comunicó con profunda emoción la Cruz Roja Costarricense en sus redes sociales oficiales, desatando una ola de orgullo en Costa Rica y el mundo.

Hernán Gil ya recibe atención médica especializada y se reporta estable. Su rescate quedará para siempre en los anales de la ayuda humanitaria como el día en que la persistencia de un grupo de rescatistas ticos movilizó al mundo para salvar una vida, demostrando que la solidaridad no conoce fronteras cuando se trata de rescatar la esperanza.

In the wake of her primary victory on Tuesday evening in Colorado’s first congressional district, conservatives and social media users expressed alarm at Melat Kiros’s stated views of the 9/11 terror attacks.

«This is light-years worse than AOC beating 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley,» Steve Guest, a GOP strategist, said in a post to X, referring to the rise of progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

«This is the Democrat party,» Guest added.

Kiros has suggested the U.S. may have invited the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 that left nearly 3,000 Americans dead. Those views, compounded with other statements that have seemed to rationalize acts of violence, have sparked backlash as she looks poised to capture a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and further cement the momentum of the far-left flank of the Democratic Party.

MUSLIM MAMDANI-BACKED SOCIALIST PRIMARY WINNER SUGGESTED AMERICA DESERVED 9/11 IN UNEARTHED VIDEO

When asked if the 9/11 attacks had been avoidable, Kiros said she believed the U.S. had made them «inevitable» through its foreign policy.

«Inevitable in the sense that we destabilized a lot of the Middle East. That forced people to believe that another act of violence was the only response,» Kiros said in an interview.

«SICK!» the Republican National Committee (RNC) wrote online, highlighting the comments.

Benny Johnson, a conservative media personality, pointed to Kiros’ win as evidence that the Democratic Party had conceded to candidates with extreme positions.

«She is a socialist who was born in Ethiopia. Melat also thinks America deserved 9/11. It isn’t just happening in New York; Democrats are losing their entire party,» Johnson said in a post, alluding to the victory of other socialist candidates with similar views.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., also echoed Johnson’s thinking.

«One radical lunatic after the next is coming to Washington. Why would we ever want to empower someone who believes 9/11 is America’s fault?»

MELAT KIROS BECOMES 28TH FAR-LEFT CANDIDATE TO WIN A DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY THIS YEAR AS SOCIALISTS AMASS POWER

Mamdani, AOC and socialism gain ground, while Schumer and Jeffries take a hit after NYC’s primaries. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images ; Fox News Digital ; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images ; Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

On her website, Kiros shares platform items that are commonly held by many radical progressives: Medicare-for-all, ending «all wars,» abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and universal childcare.

«As someone who’s working as a barista to pay for school and health care, I know what it’s like to work so hard to get ahead while Washington is so far behind,» Kiros said in a campaign video.

But it’s her views on Israel and U.S. foreign relations that have set her apart from many other candidates, including DeGette.

Kiros, a Ph.D. student and lawyer, was fired from a New York firm in 2023 after publishing an open letter, arguing that anti-Israel student protesters calling for the elimination of Israel were not antisemitic and appearing to defend Hamas.

She has also described the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks against the Jewish state as the «inevitable consequence of apartheid» and declined to characterize the deadly firebombing of protesters in Boulder last year who were urging the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza as antisemitic.

«I don’t know what was in the heart of the perpetrator,» Kiros told Colorado’s 9News in a recent television interview. «All I know is that he went and attacked innocent people because of what they might have believed.»

Like other onlookers, Clay Travis, the conservative founder of OutKick, a sports and pop culture website, said he feared that Kiros’ victory would only lead to more far-left momentum elsewhere.

SOCIALISM GOES WEST AS DSA-BACKED CHALLENGER OUSTS LONGTIME DEMOCRAT

Democratic congressional candidate Melat Kiros participated in a League of Women Voters Congressional District 1 candidate forum at Montview Presbyterian Church on May 28, 2026, in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

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«That’s four incumbents losing primaries to socialists in a week. Every state now has a Mamdani [and] the Democrat Party is on a rapid descent to Communism,» Travis wrote.

Kiros will face Republican challenger Christy Peterson, a local accountant, in the state’s general election on Nov. 3.