{"id":3067,"date":"2026-06-30T20:35:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T20:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067"},"modified":"2026-06-30T20:35:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T20:35:31","slug":"pope-begs-breakaway-traditionalist-group-to-back-off-bishop-consecrations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067","title":{"rendered":"Pope begs breakaway traditionalist group to back off bishop consecrations"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><p><strong>ROME<\/strong> | Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday begged a breakaway group of traditionalist Catholics to call off its plan to consecrate new bishops without his consent, calling the move a schismatic act and a \u201csin of extreme gravity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!\u201d Leo wrote in a letter to the Rev. Davide Pagliarani, the superior of the Society of St. Pius X.<\/p>\n<p>Leo issued the last-ditch appeal a day before the society plans to consecrate four new bishops at its seminary in Econe, Switzerland. Under church law, the consecrations constitute a schismatic act, or an intentional rupture of the unity of the Catholic Church, and incur automatic excommunication for the four bishops and the bishop administering the consecration.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>In response to the pope\u2019s letter, Marc-Andr\u00e9 Mabillard, media manager for the society, expressed \u201cgreat sadness to not be understood by our leader,\u201d and added: \u201cWe are changing absolutely nothing in our plans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asked by phone about the prospect of excommunication, Mabillard said: \u201cWe don\u2019t fear it. It pains us immensely, but we believe that the good we seek is greater than the pain that will be inflicted upon us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ceremony poses the first major crisis for the American pope, who has stressed the need for church unity since the start of his pontificate. He has worked especially hard to heal tensions with traditionalist Catholics who prefer the old Latin Mass, that worsened in some ways during the Pope Francis pontificate.<\/p>\n<p>The society was founded in opposition to the modernizing reforms of the 1960s Second Vatican Council. Among other things, the council revolutionized the Catholic Church\u2019s relations with other religions and the laity, and allowed Mass to be celebrated in vernacular languages rather than Latin.<\/p>\n<p>Its members celebrate the ancient Latin Mass and have accused the modern church of being rife with heresies and errors. The society insists that only the SSPX is upholding the true faith of Christ and has justified the consecrations, citing a \u201cstate of necessity\u201d to minister to its faithful.<\/p>\n<p>In 1988, SSPX founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without papal consent. The Vatican promptly excommunicated Lefebvre and the four other bishops, and the group today still has no legal status in the church.<\/p>\n<p>The Vatican in 2009 lifted those original excommunications as part of its outreach to try to bring the group back under its wing. But the Vatican has warned that a similar fate awaits the new bishops if Wednesday\u2019s consecrations go ahead.<\/p>\n<p>In his letter, Leo repeated the Vatican\u2019s offer of dialogue and said that going through with the consecrations would be counterproductive for the SSPX faithful.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI urge you to consider carefully the spiritual good of the faithful, because the schismatic act you are about to undertake would deprive them of the licit, and in some cases, even valid reception of the sacraments,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the original 1988 schismatic act, the group has continued to grow and today poses a threat to the Holy See as a parallel, ultra-Catholic, pre-Vatican II church. The SSPX counts two bishops, 751 priests, 264 seminarians, 145 religious brothers, 88 oblates and 250 religious sisters representing 50 nationalities, according to SSPX statistics.<\/p>\n<p>Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<p>Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3061\">Gender-bending is now part of menswear. Paris runways show how mainstream it has become<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3063\">This Stars and Stripes Pie is designed to wow on the Fourth of July<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3065\">Why most Black Americans say they never fly the American flag, according to a new AP-NORC poll<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ROME | Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday begged a breakaway group of traditionalist Catholics to call off its plan to consecrate new bishops without his consent, calling the move a schismatic act and a \u201csin of extreme gravity.\u201d \u201cI plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!\u201d Leo wrote in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1101,1133,1134,1103,63,1104],"tags":[4954,4955,86,4956,4957,4958],"class_list":["post-3067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-0-no-apple-publish","category-1gridnation","category-1gridnationandstate","category-uncategorized","category-world","category-z-other-galley","tag-catholic-church","tag-marc-andre-mabillard","tag-pope-leo-xiv","tag-rev-davide-pagliarani","tag-society-of-st-pius-x","tag-traditionalist-catholics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pope begs breakaway traditionalist group to back off bishop consecrations - Denver Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope begs breakaway traditionalist group to back off bishop consecrations - Denver Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ROME | Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday begged a breakaway group of traditionalist Catholics to call off its plan to consecrate new bishops without his consent, calling the move a schismatic act and a \u201csin of extreme gravity.\u201d \u201cI plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!\u201d Leo wrote in [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Denver Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-30T20:35:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=3067#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=3067\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/860d8c9be7e4969f72ed251197548d9b\"},\"headline\":\"Pope begs breakaway traditionalist group to back off bishop consecrations\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-30T20:35:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=3067\"},\"wordCount\":628,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=3067#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e0af556caaa545ce61c0fa75bfa5e64a.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"catholic church\",\"Marc-Andr\u00e9 Mabillard\",\"Pope Leo XIV\",\"Rev. Davide Pagliarani\",\"Society of St. Pius X\",\"Traditionalist Catholics\"],\"articleSection\":{\"0\":\"0 - No Apple Publish\",\"1\":\"1gridNATION\",\"2\":\"1gridNATIONandSTATE\",\"4\":\"World\",\"5\":\"z-other-galley\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=3067#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=3067\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=3067\",\"name\":\"Pope begs breakaway traditionalist group to back off bishop consecrations - Denver Moving Chronicle\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=3067#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=3067#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e0af556caaa545ce61c0fa75bfa5e64a.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-30T20:35:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/860d8c9be7e4969f72ed251197548d9b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=3067#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=3067\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=3067#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e0af556caaa545ce61c0fa75bfa5e64a.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e0af556caaa545ce61c0fa75bfa5e64a.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":682,\"caption\":\"Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo\\\/Alessandra Tarantino)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=3067#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pope begs breakaway traditionalist group to back off bishop consecrations\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Denver Moving Chronicle\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/860d8c9be7e4969f72ed251197548d9b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pope begs breakaway traditionalist group to back off bishop consecrations - Denver Moving Chronicle","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pope begs breakaway traditionalist group to back off bishop consecrations - Denver Moving Chronicle","og_description":"ROME | Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday begged a breakaway group of traditionalist Catholics to call off its plan to consecrate new bishops without his consent, calling the move a schismatic act and a \u201csin of extreme gravity.\u201d \u201cI plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!\u201d Leo wrote in [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067","og_site_name":"Denver Moving Chronicle","article_published_time":"2026-06-30T20:35:31+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/860d8c9be7e4969f72ed251197548d9b"},"headline":"Pope begs breakaway traditionalist group to back off bishop consecrations","datePublished":"2026-06-30T20:35:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067"},"wordCount":628,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e0af556caaa545ce61c0fa75bfa5e64a.jpg","keywords":["catholic church","Marc-Andr\u00e9 Mabillard","Pope Leo XIV","Rev. Davide Pagliarani","Society of St. Pius X","Traditionalist Catholics"],"articleSection":{"0":"0 - No Apple Publish","1":"1gridNATION","2":"1gridNATIONandSTATE","4":"World","5":"z-other-galley"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067","url":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067","name":"Pope begs breakaway traditionalist group to back off bishop consecrations - Denver Moving Chronicle","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e0af556caaa545ce61c0fa75bfa5e64a.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-30T20:35:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/860d8c9be7e4969f72ed251197548d9b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e0af556caaa545ce61c0fa75bfa5e64a.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e0af556caaa545ce61c0fa75bfa5e64a.jpg","width":1024,"height":682,"caption":"Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo\/Alessandra Tarantino)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3067#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pope begs breakaway traditionalist group to back off bishop consecrations"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/","name":"Denver Moving Chronicle","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/860d8c9be7e4969f72ed251197548d9b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com"],"url":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}