Society of Saint Pius X ordains four bishops in Ecône without papal mandate

The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) held a ceremony in Ecône, Switzerland, in which four men were ordained as bishops without a papal mandate. The consecrations were performed by senior SSPX bishops, including Alfonso de Galarreta and Bernard Fellay, the two surviving bishops from the 1988 Lefebvre ordinations. The new bishops are Pascal Schreiber (Swiss, 53), Michael Goldade (American, 36), Michel Poinsinet de Sivry (French, 42) and Marc Happier (French, 36). Over a thousand clergy and about 15 000 lay participants attended the event in a white tent beside the SSPX seminary.

Vatican officials, including Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, condemned the act as schismatic and affirmed that it triggers automatic excommunication under canon law. SSPX leader Don Davide Pagliarani responded that the Society is prepared to “pay any price to save the Church,” rejecting any penalties as without effect. The ceremony deepens the long‑standing rift between the SSPX and the Holy See, which has repeatedly warned against such unauthorized ordinations.

The episode revives the controversy that began with Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre’s illicit episcopal consecrations in 1988, underscoring the doctrinal and liturgical disputes that separate the SSPX from mainstream Catholicism.