Excommunicated Society of St Pius X Awaits a New Benedict

Georg Kopf, a priest of the excommunicated ultra-conservative Society of St Pius X, said on Sunday that the schismatic group would eventually be welcomed back into the Catholic Church under the leadership of another pope. The group was excommunicated after it consecrated four bishops last Wednesday without the approval of Pope Leo XIV.

The Society has shown no sign of repentance and claims that the Vatican has not addressed its concerns. During a Mass in the Swiss town of Wil, Kopf said he was convinced that tradition would once again take its rightful place, just as it did under Pope Benedict.

Founded in 1970, the Society is based in Switzerland but has followers around the world. It accuses the Church of straying from the true faith. The group celebrates Mass exclusively in Latin and refuses to engage in dialogue with non-Catholics. A similar situation arose in the late 1980s, when the Society's founder, Marcel Lefebvre, consecrated bishops without the consent of John Paul II. Pope Benedict XVI later lifted the excommunication in 2009 in an effort to promote unity.

The Vatican said it had offered dialogue to the group before the schism and that the unauthorized ordinations had led to automatic excommunication. Nevertheless, in his sermon, Kopf said the goal of the 1 July move was not to establish a parallel church or break with Rome, but to save souls and show love for the pope.

(Reuters, Max)