Vatican excommunicates members of rebel Catholic group

The Vatican has declared priests and lay Catholics belonging to a breakaway right-wing Catholic group excommunicated, stating they are in schism with the wider Church. The group, the Society of St Pius X, ordained bishops without Pope Leo's approval. In a strong decree, the Church's top watchdog authority warned Catholics globally that the Swiss-based group now celebrates sacraments illicitly. The ultra-traditionalist group, which denies key Church teachings, cannot validly officiate marriages or hear confessions, the decree stated. The Church considers the unauthorized ordination of bishops so serious that it automatically excommunicates participants. Thursday's decree named the two bishops leading the unauthorized ordination and the four priests who became new bishops as excommunicated, as widely expected. However, the Vatican extended the excommunication to all priests of the Society of St Pius X and all Catholics who formally adhere to the group. A schism signifies a severe, formal rupture within the Catholic community. The Vatican later clarified that affected lay Catholics can re-enter full communion by meeting with their bishop and signing documents affirming their faith and adherence to official Church teaching. Priests must also write to the pope seeking forgiveness and declaring belief in Church reforms since the 1960s.

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We (will) just keep going. We do respect the pope. We will keep praying for him.