Vatican Excommunicates Half a Million SSPX Followers

Vatican Excommunicates Half a Million Followers of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX)

The Vatican announced that more than 500,000 members of the Society of Saint Pius X, a traditionalist Catholic group founded in 1970 to oppose the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, have been excommunicated following bishops’ unilateral ordinations in Geneva.

SSPX insists on Latin Mass, priests facing the altar, and strict moral teachings. The group still operates hundreds of churches worldwide, including many in remote communities where traditional worship is deeply embedded in everyday life.

Rita Reid, an SSPX laywoman from Jersey, expressed defiant faith, saying that even “excommunication” would not change her belief in the “true presence of Jesus.” She noted that she would encourage others to stay loyal.

The Pope’s decree lists all six bishops of SSPX and all lay members as schismatic, except for those who decide to leave and return, who will be welcomed “with sincere affection.”

The Vatican declared that sacerdotal orders performed by the society were illicit, and sacraments such as penance and marriage were invalid, effectively severing members from full communion with the wider Catholic community.

Many traditionalist churches face uncertainty as families must choose between maintaining long‑standing liturgical practices and retaining communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

The decision echoes a past episode in the 1980s when SSPX bishops were excommunicated in a move later reversed, but the present crackdown is harsher and unprecedented in scope.