Despite warnings and pleas from the Pope addressed to the superior general of the Society of St Pius X (SSPX) that the unauthorised ordination of four bishops would be considered a schismatic act and result in excommunication for parties involved, the consecration ceremony proceeded, held in a field outside of รcรดne Switzerland, with an atmosphere, merchandising and social media influencers more befitting a happening like SXSW.
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The Vatican, however, went further than anticipated, in excommunicating not only the bishops and those directly involved but the whole community of followers, reversing decades of concessions granted in hopes of repairing the rift. Not only are the newly defrocked denied holy sacrament, they cannot officiate weddings and funerals nor conduct masses for the estimated six hundred thousand parishioners who regularly attend services conducted by the priestly fraternity. Founded in 1970 by conservative archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (namesake the anti-modernist Pope Pius X) in response to the reforms of Vatican II meant to make the Church more accessible, stopping mass in Latin in favour of delivering sermons in the local vernacular, improving inter-faith relations, expanding the role of deacons and other lay members, among other changes which the traditionalists oppose. Tensions with Holy See heightened when in 1988, Lefebvre consecrated the four original bishops without apostolic mandate and was excommunicated by John Paul II.
