Priest from excommunicated sect says future Pope will reverse Vatican move

A priest from the ultra-conservative Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) said Sunday he believes a future pope will eventually restore the breakaway traditionalist group to full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, days after the Vatican declared the sect excommunicated.

Speaking to worshippers during a Mass in Wil, Switzerland, the Reverend Georg Kopf said another pontiff could reverse the rupture with Rome, pointing to a similar reconciliation under Pope Benedict XVI following an earlier showdown between the group and the Holy See.

“There will one day be another pope who opens the door and welcomes us back. Just like Pope Benedict,” Kopf said, according to a report from Reuters.

The Vatican declared the SSPX excommunicated after four bishops were ordained without the approval of Pope Leo XIV on July 1. Church authorities said the unauthorized consecrations automatically triggered excommunication under canon law, calling the move a grave breach of papal authority that occurred despite repeated warnings and offers for dialogue.

The deepening schism highlights ongoing, bitter tensions between Rome and traditionalist Catholics who oppose the modernization reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Because the SSPX maintains a global footprint across Europe, North America, and beyond, the dispute represents a major ecclesiastical crisis for the global church.

In the United States alone, the excommunication impacts about 30,000 SSPX faithful, along with 124 priests serving 115 chapels, according to 2024 internal organizational data, the most recent available.

Newsweek reached out to the Vatican and SSPX by email Sunday for further comment.

What Is SSPX?

The Society of St. Pius X was founded in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who argued the post-Vatican II Church had drifted from authentic Catholic doctrine. Headquartered in Switzerland, the fraternity is known for its strict defense of pre-reform Catholic practices, most notably the traditional Latin Mass, and its opposition to modern initiatives like formal ecumenical dialogue with non-Catholic faiths.

While the SSPX has frequently criticized decades of doctrinal and liturgical changes, it has historically maintained that it remains loyal to the papacy.

The current crisis mirrors a major split from nearly four decades ago. In 1988, Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without the permission of Pope John Paul II, triggering automatic excommunications. Those sanctions were lifted in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI as part of an effort to heal the rift—a precedent Kopf invoked during his sermon Sunday.

Why Was the Group Excommunicated?

The latest breaking point came Wednesday during a ceremony at the SSPX’s seminary in Écône, Switzerland. Under Catholic canon law, only the pope can authorize the consecration of bishops to preserve the unity and apostolic succession of the Church.

Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta served as the consecrating bishop, and Bishop Bernard Fellay served as co-consecrator. Both men were among those originally excommunicated in 1988 before Benedict XVI lifted the sanctions.

During the ceremony, Michael Goldade, an American, became the first of the four priests to take an oath pledging obedience to the church, the pope, and the Holy See while swearing on the Gospels. He was followed by Pascal Schreiber of Switzerland, and Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Marc Hanappier, both of France.

Following the ordinations, the Vatican ruled that the SSPX had entered into formal schism. In a directive, the Vatican declared that the excommunication applies not only to the bishops involved in the ceremony, but also to SSPX priests and any Catholic faithful who formally adhere to the breakaway group.

The SSPX has rejected the accusation that it intended to break from Rome. Kopf told his congregation Sunday that the ordinations were carried out “out of love for the Church and the pope” to ensure the long-term spiritual care of traditionalist Catholics, rather than to establish a rival church.

What Was the Vatican’s Response?

The Vatican has shown no signs of flexibility, emphasizing that church officials reached out to the SSPX before the ceremony but were rebuffed.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, expressed “deep sorrow” over the defiance.

“I wish to express deep sorrow … because, when speaking of the unity of the Church, an act of this kind deeply wounds that unity,” he said, Crux Now reported.

“We know that episcopal ordinations performed without a papal mandate break the unity of the Church and incur very specific sanctions,” Parolin said, noting that unauthorized consecration is “an act that is schismatic in itself.”

With the Vatican indicating that the sanctions will remain in place, the fallout over the SSPX represents one of the first major structural challenges facing Leo’s papacy. Whether the split becomes permanent or eventually follows the path of the 1988 reversal remains a central question for the future direction of the Catholic Church.

Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Steve Mollman and Anthony Murray.