Pope Leo XIV is facing a challenge from traditionalist Roman Catholics, a splinter group supporting the traditional Latin Mass, which has announced plans to consecrate new bishops without papal consent.

The Priestly Society of St. Pius X, widely known as SSPX, announced on Feb. 2 that it will ordain bishops without papal permission on July 1, according to America, The Jesuit Review.

Such action would result in automatic excommunication from the Church of Rome for both the consecrating bishop and the bishop being consecrated.

"The move would likely complicate the already-murky canonical status of the traditionalist group," commented America.

The director of the Holy See Press Office explained that there will be an "informal and personal dialogue" between Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Father Davide Pagliarani, superior general of SSPX, Vatican News reported on Feb. 5.

The meeting is scheduled for the coming week, said Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, responding to journalists' questions.

          - INFORMAL DIALOGUE

"The meeting will be an opportunity for an informal and personal dialogue, which will help identify effective tools for discussion that can lead to positive results," he said.

The SSPX was founded in 1970, following the Second Vatican Council, which concluded in 1965.

Its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, was buried in Switzerland, who was present at the council and disagreed with a number of its teachings, including the reforms to the liturgy and the assertion that God is at work in other religions.

The International Seminary of Saint Pius X in Écône, Valais, Switzerland, is the premier seminary of the SSPX.

In 1975, the Vatican ordered the society to disband, which it refused to do.

Archbishop Lefebvre was excommunicated in 1988 after he ordained four bishops for the society without the Pope's permission.

The group continued to operate its own seminaries and ordain its own priests in the subsequent decades.

Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications of the four bishops in 2009, but the group was never fully reintegrated into the church due to ongoing disagreements over the doctrinal validity of Vatican II. Its status remains unclear or "irregular," according to America magazine.

Pope Francis made further pastoral concessions to the group in 2015, allowing SSPX priests to hear Catholic confessions and absolve sins.

In 2017, Francis allowed SSPX marriages to be recognized by the church so long as a diocesan or "fully regular" priest is present.

By February 2026, two of the original four bishops ordained by Archbishop Lefebvre had died.                                       

According to the society's website, the group comprises nearly 600 priests and approximately 200 seminarians worldwide.

The press release from the society on Feb. 5 said that Pagliarani's request for a meeting with Pope Leo appeared not to have been granted, and sent a follow-up letter that "explicitly expressed the particular need of the society to ensure the continuation of the ministry of its bishops."

It said a letter from the Holy See "in recent days...which does not in any way respond to our requests."

It said that, after prayer and consultation with his council, Pagliarani decided to proceed with the ordinations.

The SSPX challenge is widely seen as an attempt to pressure the Vatican to make a decision on the group's canonical status.

In 2019, Pope Francis dissolved the pontifical commission tasked with resolving the group's status, transferring that responsibility to what is now the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.