What is the SSPX? A look at the traditionalist Catholic group in schism with the Church

One day after the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) consecrated four bishops without the permission of Pope Leo XIV, the Vatican issued a decree declaring that the bishops involved in the consecrations have incurred automatic excommunication and that the group is in schism.

In a defiant move and despite repeated pleadings from Rome not to move forward, the SSPX went ahead on July 1 with the consecration of four new bishops without a pontifical mandate — an act of open disobedience to the authority of the pope that, under canon law, carries automatic excommunication for the six bishops involved.

The SSPX is a controversial fraternity of priests known for their strict traditional celebration of the Latin Mass and opposition to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

The animating principle of the group is “the priesthood and all that pertains to it and nothing but what concerns it,” SSPX says on its website. The group was founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a French prelate who was a sharp critic of many of the changes brought about by Vatican II.

In addition to the modern revisions of the Mass, Lefebvre also opposed “ecumenism — a viewpoint which considered all…