{"id":3726,"date":"2026-07-03T22:35:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T22:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726"},"modified":"2026-07-03T22:35:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T22:35:25","slug":"catholic-group-that-defied-pope-and-caused-schism-defends-its-actions-and-casts-itself-as-the-victim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726","title":{"rendered":"Catholic group that defied pope and caused schism defends its actions and casts itself as the victim"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

ROME (AP) \u2014 The traditionalist Catholics who defied Pope Leo XIV and caused a schism defended their actions Friday, insisting they were merely saving souls and were victim of an unjust sanction by the Holy See.<\/p>\n

Read more 3 men acquitted in killing of journalist shot while covering Northern Ireland protest<\/a><\/p>\n

The head of the Society of St. Pius X wrote to Leo a day after the Vatican excommunicated the group\u2019s bishops and priests and warned its faithful they too could be excommunicated for participating in the schism, or rupture in church unity.<\/p>\n

The society, known as SSPX, celebrates the ancient Latin Mass and opposes the modernizing reforms of the Catholic Church. On Wednesday, it consecrated four new bishops without papal consent during a massive ceremony at its seminary in Econe, Switzerland, committing one of the gravest crimes in church law.<\/p>\n

Leo had begged the SSPX not go ahead with the ceremony, but the SSPX defied his will. Within 24 hours, the Vatican declared an exceptionally harsh punishment that surprised even the SSPX\u2019s toughest critics.<\/p>\n

In his letter to Leo, the SSPX superior, the Rev. Davide Pagliarani cast the SSPX as the defiant guardian of the church\u2019s tradition and the victim of an unjust sanction by Rome.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the Society of Saint Pius X has done, and will continue to do, is nothing other than an extraordinary initiative for the salvation of souls, amidst the doctrinal and moral confusion into which the church is plunged,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Despite the \u201cunjust and invalid\u201d sanctions, the SSPX will love the church even more and \u201coffers up the suffering caused by these new sanctions for the good of the universal church and of Your Holiness,\u201d Pagliarani wrote.<\/p>\n

Read more NATO commander says Europe has backfilled most gaps from US cutbacks on military equipment<\/a><\/p>\n

French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the SSPX in 1970 in opposition to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, which revolutionized the church\u2019s relations with other Christians, Jews and people of other faiths and allowed Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular rather than Latin.<\/p>\n

While now a fringe movement on the Catholic right, the SSPX has been a thorn in the Vatican\u2019s side for five decades because it claims to be even more Catholic than the Holy See. The harshness of Vatican\u2019s response suggested that after trying to negotiate with the SSPX over three pontificates, the Vatican under Pope Leo XIV had had enough.<\/p>\n

The Rev. Robert Gahl, an ethics expert at The Catholic University of America, said the speed and decisiveness with which the Vatican responded to the consecrations was significant in clearly alerting the SSPX faithful that they were participating in a schism. Doing so, he said, exposed how the SSPX falsely claims to be \u201cmore Catholic than the pope.\u201d<\/p>\n

The SSPX claimed it had to proceed with the consecrations, “that they had a case of necessity because of the need of the faithful to receive their sacramental care, while claiming that their sacramental care is somehow better than what the rest of the church offers,\u201d Gahl said. The Vatican’s decisive response “calls them out and says, ‘If you want the salvation that the church offers, you have to belong to the church, and you stepped out of full communion by disobeying the pope\u2019s explicit command.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

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

Read more Eastern heat on July 4 threatens World Cup players and fans<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROME (AP) \u2014 The traditionalist Catholics who defied Pope Leo XIV and caused a schism defended their actions Friday, insisting they were merely saving souls and were victim of an unjust sanction by the Holy See.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nCatholic group that defied pope and caused schism defends its actions and casts itself as the victim - South Florida Moving Guides<\/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:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Catholic group that defied pope and caused schism defends its actions and casts itself as the victim - South Florida Moving Guides\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ROME (AP) \u2014 The traditionalist Catholics who defied Pope Leo XIV and caused a schism defended their actions Friday, insisting they were merely saving souls and were victim of an unjust sanction by the Holy See.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Florida Moving Guides\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-03T22:35:25+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:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=3726#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=3726\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20969a46eb23057893f2f0726e65003e\"},\"headline\":\"Catholic group that defied pope and caused schism defends its actions and casts itself as the victim\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-03T22:35:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=3726\"},\"wordCount\":611,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=3726#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/9bb2e482670b5e683b1be7de6bffb551.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=3726#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=3726\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=3726\",\"name\":\"Catholic group that defied pope and caused schism defends its actions and casts itself as the victim - South Florida Moving Guides\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=3726#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=3726#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/9bb2e482670b5e683b1be7de6bffb551.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-03T22:35:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20969a46eb23057893f2f0726e65003e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=3726#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=3726\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=3726#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/9bb2e482670b5e683b1be7de6bffb551.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/9bb2e482670b5e683b1be7de6bffb551.avif\",\"width\":700,\"height\":467},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?p=3726#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Catholic group that defied pope and caused schism defends its actions and casts itself as the victim\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"South Florida Moving Guides\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20969a46eb23057893f2f0726e65003e\",\"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:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/southfloridamovingguides.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Catholic group that defied pope and caused schism defends its actions and casts itself as the victim - South Florida Moving Guides","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:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Catholic group that defied pope and caused schism defends its actions and casts itself as the victim - South Florida Moving Guides","og_description":"ROME (AP) \u2014 The traditionalist Catholics who defied Pope Leo XIV and caused a schism defended their actions Friday, insisting they were merely saving souls and were victim of an unjust sanction by the Holy See.","og_url":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726","og_site_name":"South Florida Moving Guides","article_published_time":"2026-07-03T22:35:25+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:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/#\/schema\/person\/20969a46eb23057893f2f0726e65003e"},"headline":"Catholic group that defied pope and caused schism defends its actions and casts itself as the victim","datePublished":"2026-07-03T22:35:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726"},"wordCount":611,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9bb2e482670b5e683b1be7de6bffb551.avif","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726","url":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726","name":"Catholic group that defied pope and caused schism defends its actions and casts itself as the victim - South Florida Moving Guides","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9bb2e482670b5e683b1be7de6bffb551.avif","datePublished":"2026-07-03T22:35:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/#\/schema\/person\/20969a46eb23057893f2f0726e65003e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9bb2e482670b5e683b1be7de6bffb551.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9bb2e482670b5e683b1be7de6bffb551.avif","width":700,"height":467},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=3726#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Catholic group that defied pope and caused schism defends its actions and casts itself as the victim"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/","name":"South Florida Moving Guides","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/#\/schema\/person\/20969a46eb23057893f2f0726e65003e","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:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com"],"url":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}