The breakaway Catholic ‘bishops’ mounting rebellion against Pope

A breakaway faction of rebel Catholics is poised to consecrate four of its bishops in a dramatic break from the Vatican.

The Society of Saint Pius X, which is at odds with the Holy See, will converge on the Swiss town of Écône for a live-streamed event on Wednesday.

The rogue consecration is expected to result in the bishops’ immediate excommunication.

A conservative French bishop founded the society in Écône in 1970.

The deeply conservative rebel group has been at loggerheads with the Vatican for decades.

It trenchantly opposes the liberal reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

The society clings to the old-style Latin Mass, rather than having it read out in a modern vernacular.

The acrimonious rift will come to a head when priests, bishops and thousands of followers descend on Écône for what promises to be a slickly organised gathering.

“It’s an earthquake for the Church – but not a surprise. It was predictable,” Massimo Faggioli, a Vatican expert and professor of theology at Trinity College, Dublin, told The Telegraph.

“Everyone knew they never had any intention of changing their views on the Second Vatican Council, which they regard as heresy. It solidifies a rupture that began decades ago.”

The event reads more like a corporate convention than a revolt against the Pope, the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

It has its own dedicated website which advises participants that they can choose from a wide range of accommodation options, from home stays to hotels, and informs them that meals can be prepaid with festival-style wristbands.

For those who are keen to take away a memory of the event, there is a 75-Swiss-franc (£67) gift box of four bottles of wine, one for each of the rebel bishops who will be consecrated.

The bottles of Syrah and Pinot Noir are decorated with emblems of a bishop’s authority: a ring, a cross, a crozier and a pointed white mitre hat.

Beyond the event’s businesslike appearance, the consecration of the four bishops is a direct challenge to the authority of Pope Leo XIV because Catholic doctrine says such an act is his prerogative.

In a last-ditch attempt to avert the rift, Leo published an open letter on Tuesday in which he implored the society not to consecrate the new bishops.

Warning the traditionalists that they were about to commit a “schismatic act”, he called the move a “sin of extreme gravity”.

“I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!” Pope Leo wrote in a letter to Father Davide Pagliarani, the Italian head of the Society of St Pius X (SSPX).

Despite the entreaties, the SSPX is fully expected to continue its rebellion. “We’d need a miracle to stop them,” a senior Vatican prelate told an Italian newspaper.

In a document that was released in May titled A Declaration of Catholic Faith Addressed to Pope Leo XIV, Father Pagliarani set out the society’s objections to the teachings of the Church.

The Vatican is making “errors that are destroying Catholic faith and morals”, he wrote, identifying modernism and liberalism.

Listing what the rebel faction regards as the fundamental tenets of Catholicism, he wrote: “We would rather die than renounce them.”

The rebels know what they are getting themselves into.

In 1988, the founder of the SSPX, Marcel Lefebvre, a French bishop, consecrated four bishops without papal consent. He and the bishops were swiftly excommunicated by the Holy See.

History is about to repeat itself – only this time, the society is more powerful than it was in the 1980s.

It boasts more than 750 priests, 250 nuns and a following of around 600,000 people.

“It’s complicated because they’re putting Pope Leo in a difficult position,” said Martin Dumont, the general secretary of Sorbonne University’s Institute for Research into Religious Studies in Paris. “He’s concerned about not making things worse, about healing wounds – but he’s also obliged to take action.”

The society has six seminaries for the training of priests and runs schools, tertiary education facilities, missions and charitable projects. The SSPX amounts to a parallel, ultra-conservative Catholic Church.

In an attempt to bring the rebels back into the fold, a succession of popes made a series of compromises and concessions, but to no avail.

“From the Vatican, there has been a policy of détente,” said Prof Faggioli. “But the SSPX are now doubling down, saying there are fundamental differences with Rome. They argue that they are the true Church. Their position has become even harder, despite the overtures by the Vatican.”

‘Woodstock for traditionalists’

As the confrontation loomed, final preparations were under way for the gathering in Switzerland. It is shaping up to be a “Woodstock for traditionalists, a schism festival”, one Italian newspaper commented.

“It will be the first schism in the Catholic Church that will be live-streamed,” said La Repubblica.

Relations between Catholic traditionalists and the Vatican worsened under Pope Francis, whom many conservatives regarded as far too liberal. Pope Leo had been hoping to pacify the situation. But it is too late.

What’s more, the rebellion may embolden conservatives within the established Catholic Church.

“SSPX is not really the problem. The problem is the mainstream Catholics who sympathise with SSPX,” said Prof Faggioli.

“We will see how conservative Catholics react after July 1. I think it may make some of them more critical of Pope Leo.”

Swiss diocese campaigns for “first female pope”

The Diocese of St Gallen says its new “I’m In” campaign is intended to encourage participation in the Church. One poster has attracted particular attention for a question about the possibility of a female pope

The Diocese of St Gallen has launched a public campaign that includes a call to “pave the way” for the election of the first female pope.

The Swiss diocese unveiled its “I’m In” (Ich bin dabei) campaign in early May across around 25 towns and villages. 

Promoted through billboards, social media and a dedicated website, the project seeks to highlight the Church’s charitable, pastoral and educational work while encouraging greater public engagement.

Among the posters is one featuring a pastoral worker posing the question: “Shall we pave the way for the election of the first female Pope?” 

The slogan is followed by the campaign’s recurring response: “I’m in.”

The Church teaches that it lacks the authority to ordain women to the priesthood, a position reaffirmed by successive pontiffs and most notably set out by Pope St John Paul II in the 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. 

Since the papacy is intrinsically linked to the episcopate and priesthood, the prospect of a female pope is regarded by Catholic doctrine as impossible under the Church’s present understanding of Holy Orders.

The campaign intends to present the Church as a place of participation and dialogue. 

Other advertisements focus on youth work, care for the elderly, prison and hospital chaplaincy, assistance for the poor, intercultural ministry, abuse prevention and Christian education. 

Clergy, employees and volunteers are shown asking a variety of questions intended to stimulate discussion before concluding with the phrase “I’m in”.

The campaign has also drawn renewed attention to the leadership of the diocese under Bishop Beat Grögli, who was appointed by Pope Leo XIV in May 2025 following his election by the cathedral chapter of St Gallen.

Bishop Grögli has long been associated with reform-minded positions within the Swiss Church and has publicly expressed support for the possibility of women being admitted to ordained ministry in the future.

Speaking after his election as bishop, he stated: “Women’s priesthood will come.”

In earlier comments, he argued that the theological case against the ordination of women was unconvincing. 

“I find the theological argumentation against the ordination of women to be weak,” the bishop said, adding that the prospect of women exercising priestly ministry did not trouble him should Rome one day permit it.

Bishop Grögli has also argued that “the ordained ministry can no longer be solely a man’s affair”.

While emphasising communion with Rome and the universal Church, he has likewise spoken favourably of synodality, describing it as a means of sharing responsibility across the Church and ensuring that the voices of clergy and laity are heard more fully.

The bishop has also attracted attention for comments on the pastoral care of homosexual Catholics. 

In an interview discussing blessings for same-sex couples, he said: “I am a pastor. A blessing ceremony is not a church-political manifestation.”

Bishop Grögli has also been critical of the Traditional Latin Mass and of communities attached to it. 

“Often the Old Mass is linked with certain theological ideas, worldviews and political opinions that are not mine at all,” the bishop said.

He continued: “What is difficult about these groups is that they have withdrawn from the larger community. The liturgy they celebrate does not develop further.”

These comments have contributed to the perception of Bishop Grögli as one of the more progressive figures within the Swiss episcopate.

The controversy surrounding the “I’m In” campaign is likely to be received favourably in St Gallen itself. 

The diocese became internationally known during the pontificate of St John Paul II because of informal meetings held by a group of senior churchmen who gathered periodically in the Swiss city to discuss the future direction of the Church.

The group, which included several prominent European cardinals and bishops, later became known as the “St Gallen Group”. 

Although its members rejected suggestions that it functioned as an organised political faction, it came to symbolise a reformist current within Catholicism that favoured greater collegiality, decentralisation and discussion of issues such as clerical celibacy and the role of women.

Interest in the city intensified following the publication of authorised biographies of the late Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Belgium, who acknowledged participation in the meetings.

The latest campaign is therefore likely to reinforce perceptions among many Catholics that St Gallen remains one of the most progressive dioceses in Europe. 

Its organisers, however, have presented the initiative primarily as an exercise in evangelisation and public engagement. 

Through posters, online videos and personal testimonies, the campaign seeks to showcase the work undertaken daily by clergy and volunteers and to encourage people to take part in parish and diocesan life.

Bishop Grögli himself appears in campaign material explaining why he remains committed to the Church.

“I’m in the Church because faith is important to me, because I want to live this faith with other people, and because I want to help shape the Church with my talents and joy,” the bishop says.

Landmark BBC series to explore life of Jesus Christ

A landmark series about the life of Jesus Christ has been commissioned by the BBC.

The television programmes will draw on historical research, archaeological discoveries and technological innovation to “expand and sharpen our understanding of one the most influential people in history”, according to the broadcaster.

It will draw on Gospel and other accounts to understand the world at the time and Jesus’ influence on it. 

Historical analysis and Christian thinkers will set out the significance of his life, with contributions from Jewish and Muslim faith leaders. 

Tom Garton, creative director at producers Wonderhood Studios, said: “Few lives have shaped the world as profoundly as that of Jesus Christ and, for Christians, he is far more than a figure of history: he is the Son of God. Yet many of us know relatively little about the world Jesus came from - of the people, places, beliefs and conflicts that shaped his life and the world-changing religion that followed.”

Daisy Scalchi, BBC head of religion and ethics, said: “Jesus Christ is one of the most recognised and influential figures in human history – yet what we know about him comes from remarkably few sources. 

“This ambitious series will bring his life into focus like never before. With new historical research and insights, there has never been a more compelling moment to re-look at the evidence and follow the path of Jesus’ life to map how he sparked a revolution that continues to impact our lives over 2000 years later.”

The four-part series is due to air in 2027.

Father Flanagan's mission continues at Boys Town more than a century after its founding

More than 100 years after its founding, Boys Town continues to advance Venerable Father Edward J. Flanagan’s mission of caring for the vulnerable and underserved, reaching more than 2 million children and families every year.

The Irish-born priest is revered for his revolutionary approach to caring for homeless children in the 20th century, leading him to be declared “Venerable” by Pope Leo XIV in March, 2026.

Following the advancement of Flanagan’s canonization cause, Thomas Lynch, who serves as the historian and director of community programs for Boys Town, told EWTN News that the priest’s life serves as an example of “how children can be treated and how to treat your fellow man too.”

“Venerable Father Flanagan was born and raised in Ireland in a very devout Catholic family, and he had a great devotion to helping people from the examples of his mother and father,” Lynch said.

He was born in County Galway in 1886, and moved to America in 1904. His journey through seminary was put on hold due to poor health, but he was eventually ordained in 1912.

While the priest is known for rescuing homeless children and housing them at Father Flanaganʼs Boys Home, his work went beyond aiding children at the village now known as Boys Town.

Flanagan had “special ideas and concepts in child care…that were so radical,” but it came “from his concepts of being a Catholic priest of love and dignity for the individual,” Lynch said. “It changed the way children were treated around the world.”

Flanagan was “a great champion for civil rights,” Lynch said. “He traveled across America advocating equality regardless of a personʼs race or religion. He felt that [was] one of the greatest stains in America — any type of religious or racial discrimination.”

“Many people donʼt realize he went out of his way to help Japanese Americans during World War II. During the internment, he helped around 200 to 300 of them leave the camps and begin new lives, and he brought a number of them to live in the village of Boys Town.”

Creating Boys Town ‘with love’

“When Father Flanagan created Boys Town in 1917, unfortunately, in America, there were no child care programs existing that were standard across the country,” Lynch said. “There were reform schools,” but they were “terrible places.”

In the schools, “children would commit suicide because the guards would be so violent,” he said. Many of the children were also in orphanages, but “when you became a teenager, you were expelled.”

To combat the issue, Flanagan “came forward and said: ‘Theyʼre going to live with me. Theyʼre going to have love, education, a spiritual life, and be taught a trade. Itʼll be done. No corporal punishment. No verbal abuse. Theyʼll live as a family.’”

To start Boys Town, Flanagan used “the borrowed $90 he had,” Lynch said. “He had no money and no one really believed in him except for a few people in the city of Omaha.”

“But he always said: 'God would provide.’”

Father Edward J. Flanagan and boys at the German-American Home in South Omaha, which served as Flanagan's Home for Boys from 1918 to 1921. Photo courtesy of Boys Town.

At Boys Town, “he created one of the first intentionally integrated communities in America…and he did it all with love,” he said. “He referenced love almost every day, in every sermon, and in every prayer.”

Flanagan’s success caught the attention of people across the globe, leading his life and legacy to be immortalized in the 1938 movie “Boys Town,” starring Spencer Tracy, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of the priest.

Flanagan’s work was also esteemed by multiple presidents and leaders.

“President Franklin Roosevelt said America needed 49 more Father Flanaganʼs, one for every state and territory, because his ideas were so far forward and proving successful,” Lynch said.

In 1947, Flanagan was even invited by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who was leading the allied occupation of Japan, to review the child welfare conditions in Japan and Korea.

After the trip, Flanagan culminated a report, “Children of Defeat,” which included findings on the devastating conditions of children left homeless and abandoned by World War II across Asia. 

He presented it to President Harry Truman at the White House on July 11, 1947.

Father Edward J. Flanagan presenting his report, “Children of Defeat," to President Harry Truman in 1947. Photo courtesy of Boys Town.

Flanagan was also invited to do a similar assessment in Austria and Germany the following year, but while in Germany Flanagan suffered a heart attack and died on May 15, 1948.

Following his death, Flanagan’s successors continued many of the same principles and practices of his celebrated work.

Flanagan’s principles still present today

Flanagan often said, “‘I do not have all the answers on child care,’ but he learned from every child that came to him, and he did extensive research with children and families,” Lynch said.

Boys Town now operates nine sites including its home campus in Nebraska and locations in Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Nevada, and New England.

"Itʼs the largest residential care facility in America” with “300 boys and girls living with us,” Lynch said.

The “programs we serve touch the lives of around 2 million children and families every year across the United States, through our medical programs, our counseling programs, [and] our psychiatric programs.”

“We do strategic planning, and we review our programs about every five years and determine whatʼs the next area we should move into based on whatʼs going on in society,” he said.

Boys Town offers in-home family services, “where we actually go into a home and work with a family that are having issues,” he said. It provides “foster care programming,” which “trains foster parents across America in the basic theories and concepts of Father Flanagan.”

To help students, Boys Town operates its Well-Managed Schools. Lynch said: “We teach schools and students the concepts of Father Flanagan — of respecting each other and how to get along in the classroom.”

Boys Town’s National Research Hospital offers aid and specialized care. It is conducting “advanced work on autism and Parkinsonʼs disease,” and “working with special MRI machines,” Lynch said.

The organizaiton also started a residential treatment center to help families struggling with a troubled child who is experiencing behavior problems.

It’s for “boys and girls that canʼt live at home because…maybe theyʼre violent or have severe mental issues,” Lynch said.

Cause for canonization

“The cause for father began many years ago, some of our alumni felt that Father Flanagan should be a saint in the Catholic Church.”

Father Edward J. Flanagan's ordination portrait taken when he was ordained a priest in 1912. Photo courtesy of Boys Town.

“When he created Boys Town, he created it on his Catholic theology, his training in his life,” Lynch said. “It is an example to the world of what Catholic teaching and theology can do to help the lives of not just children, but society.”

“He took the Catholic tenets of love, inclusion, and acceptance, and he brought that to the care of children in America, when really no one had even thought of it before,” Lynch said.

In “2012, a Mass was held at Boys Town on Saint Patrickʼs Day, and thatʼs when the Archdiocese of Omaha officially opened Father Flanaganʼs cause.”

Pope Leo XIV declared the “heroic virtue” of Flanagan alongside four other holy men and women on March 23, 2026.

San Francisco Archdiocese will pay $395 million to abuse victims, Archbishop Cordileone says

The Archdiocese of San Francisco will offer abuse victims nearly $400 million as part of a broad settlement of the substantial number of sex abuse lawsuits brought against it.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said on June 29 that the proposed $395 million settlement would “resolve all lawsuits related to child sexual abuse” brought against the archdiocese under California’s expanded statute of limitations.

Cordileone said the archdiocese in the past has helped parishes, schools, and other archdiocesan entities absorb the cost of sex-abuse lawsuits, but he said the “current environment” of abuse lawsuits is “much more challenging.”

Schools and parishes “will need to contribute funds” to the settlement both in order to ensure their own legal safeguards and to “share in the work of making amends for the harm of the past,” he said.

The archdiocese announced it was filing for bankruptcy in August 2023 in response to more than 500 civil lawsuits filed against it.

The voluminous lawsuits were brought against the archdiocese under California’s 2019 Assembly Bill 218, which significantly expanded the statute of limitations in the state regarding civil sex abuse lawsuits.

In a separate release, the archdiocese said it would seek to “preserve the vital ministries of Catholic education and parish life” even as it moves to pay out the major nine-figure settlement.

The archdiocese has “no current plans to close schools or parishes to reach the proposed settlement,” it said.

The settlement has yet to be finalized in federal bankruptcy court. 

The archdiocese said that all litigation involving the lawsuits has been paused while the parties “work in good faith on the details of a consensual Chapter 11 plan of reorganization.”

The settlement represents one of the larger abuse payout amounts in U.S. Catholic history, though a few others have been considerably larger. 

In October 2024 the Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced an $880 million clergy abuse settlement, while the New York Archdiocese in May said it would pay out $800 million to abuse victims.

Cordileone on June 29 acknowledged that “no financial settlement can erase the painful legacy of these past actions.”

But “we believe this proposal offers a path toward fair compensation for survivors who have carried the burden of this abuse for a lifetime,” he said.

The archdiocese “remain[s] committed to fostering healing and reconciliation and to accompanying all who deserve our unwavering respect, attention, and prayers,” he said.

Christian Brothers in Australia transferred millions in property ahead of settlement, report claims

A Christian group that is facing closure in Australia and elsewhere amid efforts to settle abuse lawsuits reportedly transferred millions of dollars’ worth of property to a separate Catholic entity over a period of years, according to allegations in a major news report.

Christian Brothers Oceania Province said on June 22 it was proposing a plan to facilitate the “orderly distribution of [its] remaining property, funds, and other assets” to victims of abuse by congregation members.

The organization said its remaining property totaled around $216 million and that it would move to distribute that value to both abuse victims and the future care of its brothers in the province, which includes Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea.

A June 26 report by the Guardian, meanwhile, alleged that the group “has spent the last decade transferring large, multimillion-dollar property holdings for amounts of $1 to a separate Catholic church entity,” one that is “not part of the proposed sell-off scheme.”

The report alleges that the Edmund Rice Education Australia received the property deals from the brothers. 

The organization was “created in 2007 to assume control of schools previously associated with the Christian Brothers” including institutions in Sydney and Brisbane.

The Guardian did not publish the documents in full, though it did include excerpts of some documents in its report.

The newspaper alleged that the documents show “in New South Wales alone, the Christian Brothers transferred 26 separate properties to Edmund Rice Education Australia for amounts of $1 or $0 between 2013 and 2024.”

Those properties “are now worth well over” $50 million, the paper said, and include homes, schools, and vacant lands.

Neither the Christian Brothers group nor Edmund Rice Education Australia responded to requests for comment from EWTN News regarding the Guardian report. 

But the education group told the Guardian that it would “not be selling property to help the Christian Brothers” in its settlement, the paper said.

The group told the newspaper that it was established as a “separate legal entity” for stewarding the schools.

A spokesperson for the Christian Brothers group, meanwhile, told the Guardian that its “current advisers” were “not involved” in the establishment of either the education group or the property transfers.

The spokesperson said the property transfers would be subject to “scrutiny” amid the broader settlement efforts by Christian Brothers.

The Christian Brothers congregation was founded in 1802 by Edmund Ignatius Rice in Waterford, Ireland. It was formally recognized by the Holy See in 1820.

Pope Leo strengthens Roman Curia with new appointments in key Vatican dicasteries

Pope Leo XIV continues to make changes to the leadership of the Roman Curia with new appointments to the No. 2 position in two key dicasteries: the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, responsible for promoting and ensuring the proper application of canon law in the Latin and Eastern Churches, and the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, tasked with channeling resources for the charitable work of the Holy Father.

The Vatican announced June 30 that the pontiff appointed Bishop Marco Mellino secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts. He has been serving as adjunct secretary of the same office.

Leo also appointed Father Lucio Adrián Ruiz secretary of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity; he previously served as secretary of the Dicastery for Communication.

In addition, the Holy Father named layman Massimo Ralli, who was working as an official in the charity dicastery, to serve as its undersecretary. Both Ralli and Ruiz will undertake their new roles starting Sept. 1.

Mellino, 59, had previously served as secretary of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals. He was ordained a priest in 1991 and has also worked in the Secretariat of State. 

Since 2022, he had also served as secretary of the Interdicasterial Commission for the Revision of the General Regulations of the Roman Curia.

Ruiz was born in Argentina in 1965 and ordained a priest in 1990. He has extensive experience in ecclesial communications and new technologies. 

He holds a master’s degree in business administration and a doctorate from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Over the course of his career, he has held various positions, including IT adviser to the Argentine Bishops’ Conference and an official of the Congregation for the Clergy. 

He has also been head of the Vatican Internet Services office, a professor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, and president of the Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe Center.

The role of secretary in the Vatican structure

The role of secretary — the No. 2 position after prefect — is central in the Vatican dicasteries, involving directing the day-to-day operations and coordinating the technical and administrative work.

With Tuesday’s appointments, the pope continues to change the intermediate officials in dicasteries for which he appointed the top leaders earlier this year. 

In March, Leo named Archbishop Anthony Randazzo, then-bishop of Broken Bay, Australia, as prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts. 

He also appointed Spanish Archbishop Luis Marín de San Martín as papal almoner — that is, head — of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity.

2 women prefects appointed by Leo

Among other recent moves, the pope transferred Archbishop Filippo Iannone, then-prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, to head the Dicastery for Bishops, in September 2025. 

In March, Leo XIV appointed Canadian Archbishop Petar Rajič as the new prefect of the Pontifical Household, the office of the Roman Curia responsible for organizing the pope’s schedule, audiences, and ceremonies.

He also appointed two women to head different dicasteries: On June 2, he named María Montserrat Alvarado, president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, as prefect of the Dicastery for Communication. 

In addition, on June 30, Leo appointed Salesian Sister Alessandra Smerilli as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

New members and consultors of the Dicastery for Evangelization

The pope on June 30 also appointed new members and consultors to the Dicastery for Evangelization in its Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches in a move that strengthens the missionary and universal character of this key body of the Roman Curia.

Among the new members are prominent cardinals and bishops from different regions of the world, reflecting the global dimension of evangelization.

Appointed members were Cardinals Thomas Aquino Manyo Maeda, archbishop of Osaka-Takamatsu, Japan; Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Jean-Marc Aveline, archbishop of Marseille, France; and Frank Leo, archbishop of Toronto in Canada.

Along with them, the pontiff added several archbishops and bishops as members, including Alfred Adewale Martins of Lagos, Nigeria; Angelo Vincenzo Zani, archivist and librarian emeritus of the Holy Roman Church; Paolo Giulietti, archbishop of Lucca, Italy; Andrew Nkea Fuanya, archbishop of Bamenda, Cameroon; and Peter Chung Soon-taick, archbishop of Seoul, South Korea.

Also part of this group are Michel Jalakh, secretary of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches; Paulus Budi Kleden, archbishop of Ende, Indonesia; Oscar Roberto Domínguez Couttolenc, archbishop of Tulancingo, Mexico; Elias Frank, archbishop of Calcutta, India; Daniel Ernest Flores, bishop of Brownsville, Texas; and Lisandro Alirio Rivas Durán, bishop of San Cristóbal, Venezuela. 

They are joined by Monsignor Roger Joseph Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, and Father Francesco Rapacioli, superior general of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.

At the same time, Leo XIV appointed as consultors of the same dicastery Davide Carbonaro, archbishop of Potenza-Muro Lucano-Marsico Nuovo, Italy, and François Sylla, archbishop of Conakry, Guinea. Completing the list are Father Remigio Bellizio, director of the Domus Missionalis in Rome, as well as Father Joseph Koonamparampil and Father Wenceslaus C. Madu, both members of the Claretian Missionaries.

Vatican financial watchdog loses autonomy

The Vatican’s financial intelligence and anti-money-laundering authority has been overhauled under a new 12-article statute that eliminates its president and board and places it under a new structure led by a director and deputy director appointed by the pope.

The Authority for Financial Information and Supervision, known by its Italian acronym ASIF, is now effectively structured as an office, with its leadership appointed directly by the pope for five-year terms and operating within the Vatican’s economic governance system.

The change marks a significant shift for an authority that, under its earlier identity as the Financial Information Authority and later as ASIF, had been designed with an international profile and a measure of autonomy in the Vatican’s efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

That autonomy had already come under strain in recent years, especially after the Vatican trial over the management of funds by the Secretariat of State. Searches of the authority’s offices by Vatican gendarmes created complications for international financial cooperation and raised questions about the authority’s independence.

The new statute confirms that ASIF has “exclusive competence” in three areas: supervision and regulation for the prevention and countering of money laundering, terrorist financing, and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; financial intelligence, including the receipt and analysis of suspicious activity reports and domestic and international cooperation; and prudential supervision and regulation of entities that professionally conduct financial activities.

The authority also “provides support to the other public authorities of the Holy See and Vatican City State” in preventing and countering money laundering, terrorist financing, proliferation financing, and related predicate offenses.

The statute says ASIF may also “serve as an alternative dispute resolution system” for disputes between users and entities that professionally carry out financial activities in connection with financial operations and services.

Under the new rules, ASIF’s annual report must be submitted to the Council for the Economy, with a copy sent to the president of the Financial Security Committee. 

The authority will also submit its projected and final budgets directly to the Council for the Economy for approval, “in accordance with the accounting rules in force.”

The statute says the authority will receive its annual operating funds from the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the Governorate of Vatican City State, and entities that professionally conduct financial activities. 

The Council for the Economy will determine the contribution required from each.

The authority’s structure now includes three offices: an office for supervision and regulation in the area of preventing and countering money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing; an office for financial intelligence; and an office for prudential supervision and regulation.

The new statute also establishes a legal affairs officer, who, among other duties, is responsible for fundamental rights in the context of financial intelligence activity.

With the reform, ASIF is effectively treated as equivalent to a dicastery of the Roman Curia. 

The statute also provides for consultors, who were not part of the authority’s previous structure and will be appointed by the pope for five-year terms.

Timeline of a failed administration: one year requesting a hearing and a first letter 24 hours before the consecrations

Reconstructing step by step the exchange — hardly can it be called a dialogue — between the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX) and the Holy See over the past year allows a better understanding of the timing, gestures, and silences that have led to the episcopal consecrations scheduled for tomorrow, 1 July, in Écône. 

A request for an audience made in August 2025 received its first papal response in a personal letter from the Pontiff dated 29 June 2026, when tens of thousands of faithful were already on their way to Switzerland.

August 2025: the request for an audience and the silence

According to the communiqué issued by the Fraternity’s General House, it was in August 2025 that the Superior General, Father Davide Pagliarani, “requested the grace of an audience with the Holy Father,” newly elected, in order to present to him “filially the current situation” of the Fraternity. 

In a second letter he expressed “openly and explicitly” the need to secure the continuity of the episcopal ministry so as to administer to the faithful the sacraments of Holy Orders and Confirmation (General House of the FSSPX, 2 February 2026).

The audience was never granted. 

During those same months, while so many others were received, the Fraternity’s only reply was silence. 

There was no gesture of détente in liturgical or doctrinal matters, nor any review of the restrictions on the traditional Mass, in a line of continuity with the previous pontificate.

The contrast is eloquent. 

That same August, on 28 August 2025, the Pope granted a private audience to the religious sister María Lucía Caram (InfoVaticana); on 1 September, to the Jesuit James Martin, known for his activism on behalf of LGBTQ communities (ACI Prensa). 

Months later, during his visit to Spain, the Pontiff found time to bless the ambulances that the same Sister Lucía Caram was sending to Ukraine (El País, 9 June 2026). 

For someone who has pastoral and sacramental responsibility for hundreds of thousands of souls, the absence of even a single audience in almost a year is, at the very least, difficult to explain.

2 February 2026: the announcement of the consecrations

Having exhausted the avenue of an audience and having received “in recent days” a letter from the Holy See which — in the Fraternity’s own words — “does not respond at all to our requests,” Father Pagliarani publicly announced on 2 February 2026, the feast of the Purification, during a ceremony at the seminary of Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, his decision to proceed with new episcopal consecrations on 1 July (General House of the FSSPX). 

The reason invoked: the “objective state of grave necessity” of souls and the will to guarantee the sacramental continuity of a work that has been present throughout the world for almost forty years.

12 February 2026: a cardinal, not the Pope

Only after the public announcement did the first meeting of any real rank take place. 

It was not a papal audience, but a meeting at the Palace of the Holy Office between Pagliarani and Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith — and a figure noted for his progressive profile and scant liturgical sensitivity — held on 12 February 2026 “with the approval” of Leo XIV (Vatican News).

The communiqué signed by Fernández proposed “a path of specifically theological dialogue,” but conditioned it on the Fraternity suspending the consecrations, warning that ordaining bishops without a pontifical mandate “would imply a decisive rupture of ecclesial communion (schism).” 

In short, a dialogue without any practical guarantee: at no time was it offered that a bishop in communion with Rome would ensure, during that process, the ordinations, confirmations, or the holy oils for the Fraternity’s seminaries. 

Had that sacramental continuity been guaranteed during the dialogue, one may ask whether the itinerary would have been different.

13 May and 16 June: the warning hardens

On 13 May 2026, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith formally declared that consecrations without a pontifical mandate would constitute “a schismatic act” entailing latae sententiae excommunication for both consecrators and consecrated. 

On 26 May, the Fraternity made public the names of the four chosen: Fathers Pascal Schreiber (Switzerland), Michael Goldade (United States), Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Marc Hanappier, both French (InfoVaticana).

On 16 June, at the gates of Villa Barberini in Castel Gandolfo, Leo XIV pronounced his first public words on the matter: “We have invited them, and I am still considering making a new appeal to say to them: Do not do this.” 

Yet he concluded by placing the responsibility on the other side: “It is their decision […]. If they take that decision, I regret it. But we must move forward.”

24–27 June: the profession of faith and the consistory

On 24 June, the feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, the Fraternity addressed an open letter to the Pope and the entire College of Cardinals, accompanied by a profession of faith of 154 points (FSSPX; InfoVaticana). 

The text was published on the eve of the extraordinary consistory of cardinals on 26 and 27 June (ACI Prensa).

29 June: the Pope’s first and only letter, on the eve

Almost a year after that request for an audience in August 2025, the first and only direct and personal communication from Leo XIV to Pagliarani is a letter dated 29 June 2026, the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, made public on 30 June — just over a day before the ceremony (InfoVaticana; Vatican News).

In it, the Pontiff writes “with a paternal spirit” and pleads: “Come back!” 

Yet the content is a warning of grave consequences: the schismatic act would deprive the faithful “of the licit — and in some cases even valid — reception of the Sacraments.” 

The precision regarding validity is what is truly new and delicate: until now Rome maintained that confessions and marriages celebrated by the Fraternity, although illicit, were valid. 

The letter of 29 June alters that balance and places, for the first time and in the Pope’s own voice, the sacramental fate of hundreds of thousands of faithful — the validity of their confessions and marriages — at the centre of the conflict.

And it does so when nothing can any longer be reversed: registration to attend Écône involves celebrations from 29 June to 2 July, and the Fraternity expects nearly 15,000 faithful and 1,300 priests, religious brothers and sisters from around the world (FSSPX). 

The ceremony, presided over by Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta as principal consecrator and Bishop Bernard Fellay as co-consecrator, will be broadcast live on 1 July (FSSPX Actualidad).

A chronology that defies logic

Lined up, the facts sketch a sequence difficult to justify as dialogue. It is not a question of debating doctrine or the canonical gravity of the step the Fraternity is taking. 

It is a question of timing. Whoever writes in August asking to be heard receives no audience; whoever announces in February an extreme decision is, only then, received by the cardinal least inclined — not by the Pope — and is offered a dialogue conditioned on no guarantee whatever of sacramental continuity for its seminaries and its faithful. 

The Pope’s only personal word arrives on the eve, when more than fifteen thousand people are already on the road and everything is irreversibly arranged.

It is difficult to understand that if time was found, over months, to receive Sister Lucía Caram, James Martin and so many others, the direct response to the one who has pastoral care of hundreds of thousands of souls should be reserved for the final hours, and that its content should be the written warning that their confessions and marriages could be invalid. 

It is not a question of substance, but of form; and form, here, says much. 

Call it what one will: the chronology of an asymmetrical exchange, or of a failed exchange.

Pagliarani responds to Leo XIV and asks him for "time for discernment" before he takes any measures

The Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX), Don Davide Pagliarani, has addressed this June 30 a letter of response to Pope Leo XIV following the latter’s message sent barely 24 hours before the episcopal consecrations. 

In it he thanks the Pontiff for his “paternal solicitude” and filially asks him to take “the time this discernment requires” before making any decision regarding the Fraternity, insisting that “it is not too late.”

Pagliarani rejects in his letter any intention of separating from Rome and affirms that the FSSPX wishes to serve the Church “by extraordinary means.” 

He recalls that the Fraternity was already declared schismatic in 1988 “for reasons and in circumstances absolutely analogous to those of today” and maintains that the very paternal tone of the present dialogue would demonstrate that it is neither schismatic nor hostile to the Church. 

He also cites the testimonies of Bishop Vitus Huonder, emeritus bishop of Chur, now deceased, and of Bishop Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of Astana, who were sent by Rome to dialogue with the Fraternity and who at the time recognized its “deeply Catholic spirit.”

The response comes in a context in which the fact that the Pope’s first message was issued barely 24 hours before the episcopal consecrations scheduled in Écône for July 1 has not gone unnoticed — and has caused some astonishment.

Full text of the Superior General’s letter in response to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV

Most Holy Father:

Please accept my most sincere thanks for the letter you have kindly addressed to me.

I have been deeply moved by Your paternal solicitude.

For some time I had wished for the opportunity to meet with You in order to express personally our sincere desire to serve the Church. Unfortunately, that opportunity has not arisen.

I simply ask You to consider the authenticity of this intention, which is in no way feigned.

Paradoxically, in the present context it seems to us that it is precisely our duty to do everything possible to mend the torn tunic of Christ, rent by forces and pressures incompatible with an authentically Catholic spirit. I simply ask You to consider the authenticity of this intention before making any decision regarding the FSSPX. It is not too late.

Far from us is the idea of separating from the Roman Church; on the contrary, we wish to serve her by extraordinary means, as one comes to the aid of a mother in difficulty who needs particular help, even if this is not understood by all. But I am certain that the Holy Father could understand it. The Holy See has already shown that it can understand very complex situations and take the necessary time.

I therefore venture to ask You filially to take the time this discernment requires.

If my words were not enough, I would ask You to reflect on two very simple facts. First, the Fraternity was already declared schismatic in 1988, for reasons and in circumstances absolutely analogous to those of today; and yet, after so many years, we speak to one another as a father to his son. Your Holiness paternally exhorts me to avoid a schism that, theoretically, would already have taken place. Does Your Holiness not think that this very attitude, whose solicitude I deeply appreciate, constitutes precisely the proof that the Fraternity is neither schismatic nor hostile to the Church?

Secondly, some years ago the Holy See entrusted two bishops of the Church with the mission of dialoguing with the FSSPX: Bishop Vitus Huonder, then bishop of Chur, now deceased, and Bishop Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of Astana. Both, after taking the necessary time for discernment, recognized the deeply Catholic spirit of the Fraternity and gave public testimony of it.

Above all, however, I venture to address Your Holiness in the name of the thousands of souls who have recovered the Catholic faith and religious practice thanks to the apostolate of the Fraternity. This is a fact that Your predecessors themselves took note of. These souls have but one desire: to attain salvation through this instrument which Providence has placed at their disposal. They have suffered and are sincere. I am certain that Your paternal heart as universal Pastor will be sensitive to this very particular situation. One day, all the difficulties between the Holy See and the Fraternity will be resolved. A gesture of understanding on Your part, far from harming unity, could only manifest to the eyes of the world and of all Christians Your concern for unity and Your fatherly goodness.

I leave all this to Your benevolent consideration. I renew my prayer for Your Holiness.

For some time, even before Your election, I have been praying to Saint Rita for the present situation. I saw in the election of an Augustinian Pope a sign of hope.

I am certain that the saint will intercede. It is never too late.

I beg You to kindly grant us Your blessing.

And I take this opportunity to renew to You the expression of my deepest affection in the Lord.

Don Davide Pagliarani

Cardinal calls for Vatican commission for SSPX defectors

Days before the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X’s new episcopal consecrations, Cardinal Gerhard Müller appealed for the re-establishment of a Vatican commission to help disillusioned members return to full communion with the pope.

The former Vatican doctrinal chief made the appeal in a June 26 speech at the extraordinary consistory of the College of Cardinals in Rome, in which he condemned the consecrations, which are scheduled to take place without papal mandate July 1.

“I propose the establishment of a commission, along the lines of the former Ecclesia Dei, to enable those who have embraced this schismatic position to return to full communion with the pope,” he said, in an intervention published June 28 by the Rome-based U.S. journalist Diane Montagna.

The Ecclesia Dei Commission was established by Pope John Paul II in 1988, after SSPX founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre ordained four bishops without papal approval. 

At the time, the SSPX consisted of hundreds of priests and tens of thousands of laypeople.

The Ecclesia Dei Commission’s purpose was to help priests, seminarians, religious communities, and individuals affiliated with the SSPX “to remain united to the Successor of Peter in the Catholic Church, while preserving their spiritual and liturgical traditions.”

Pope Benedict XVI reorganized the commission in 2009, after lifting the excommunications of the four SSPX bishops. 

He decreed that the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith would serve ex officio as the commission’s president. 

Müller oversaw the commission during his 2012-2017 tenure as doctrinal prefect.

In 2019, Pope Francis suppressed the body and assigned its tasks fully to the doctrinal congregation. 

The Argentine pope suggested the commission had largely fulfilled its original mandate of reconciling groups previously affiliated with the SSPX. 

He added that the remaining issues between the SSPX and the Vatican were mainly doctrinal in nature, and therefore should be handled by the doctrinal congregation.

In his intervention, Müller noted that the SSPX had sent an open letter to Pope Leo XIV and the world’s cardinals on the eve of the June 26-27 extraordinary consistory.

The letter was accompanied by a 154-point “Profession of Catholic Faith.” The letter expressed hopes that the document could one day serve “as a basis for an honest discussion with the Holy See.”

Referring to the letter, Müller said: “It is our duty by virtue of our office, both individually and as a college, to reject the scandalous accusation that the Roman Church has departed from the Catholic faith.”

“In the face of the schismatic act of episcopal consecration carried out without the prior grant of communio [communion] with the pope, there must be no ambiguity.”

But the German cardinal said it was also necessary to address pastoral and liturgical issues with sensitivity. 

He suggested that an Ecclesia Dei-style commission could help to meet pastoral and liturgical needs following the July 1 episcopal ordinations.

The SSPX first announced the new episcopal consecrations Feb. 2, arguing they were a legitimate response to an “objective state of grave necessity.”

Only two of the four bishops consecrated by Lefebvre are still alive: Bishop Bernard Fellay, 68, and Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, 69. 

Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais died in 2024 and Bishop Richard Williamson in 2025.

The SSPX rejected Feb. 18 a Vatican request to postpone the ordinations and engage in a structured theological dialogue on Vatican Council II. 

The ecumenical council’s decrees and subsequent liturgical changes led Lefebvre to found the SSPX in 1970.

The SSPX announced May 26 the names of the four priests who will be consecrated bishops July 1 at its headquarters in Écône, Switzerland, with de Galarreta serving as principal consecrator and Fellay as co-consecrator.

The priests are the French national Fr. Marc Hanappier, aged 36, French national Fr. Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, 42, U.S. citizen Fr. Michael Goldade, 46, and Swiss national Fr. Pascal Schreiber, 53.

Current Vatican doctrinal chief Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández described the episcopal ordinations May 13 as “extremely grave.”

“This act will constitute ‘a schismatic act’ … and ‘formal adherence to the schism constitutes a grave offense against God and entails the excommunication established under Church law,’” he said.

The two presiding bishops and four priests taking part in the July 1 ceremony will commit an act of schism and be subject to the canonical penalty of excommunication.

But Fernández’s statement indicated that those who formally associate themselves with the schism initiated by the organization’s leadership could also incur excommunication, if they meet criteria set out in 1996 by the Vatican’s legal department. 

The criteria require both internal and external manifestations of support for an act of schism.

The 1996 criteria appear to be fulfilled by SSPX clergy, but not by all laypeople who attend the organization’s chapels.

One possible course of action after the consecrations would be for the Vatican to declare that the SSPX as a whole is in a state of schism. 

But to make such a declaration, Rome would first have to formally recognize the SSPX as a valid legal body in Church law.

Alternatively, the Vatican could focus on the SSPX at a local level by inviting diocesan bishops to identify SSPX clergy operating within their territories and issue declarations of automatic excommunications for schism.

Another local option could be for diocesan bishops to issue particular laws proscribing the SSPX as a forbidden society.

As well as clarifying the canonical consequences of the July 1 ceremony, the Vatican could also strengthen its provisions for SSPX members who wish to be reconciled to Rome, either individually or in groups.

Leo XIV could take up Müller’s proposal for a revised Ecclesia Dei commission, consider loosening restrictions imposed on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass by the 2021 motu proprio Traditionis custodes, and encourage the integration of former SSPX clergy into traditionalist institutes in full communion with the pope.

It is currently unclear how many SSPX clergy and laypeople will break with the organization following the new consecrations.

After the 1988 consecrations, 12 priests left the SSPX and established the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter in Hauterive, Switzerland, with papal approval. Today, the FSSP has more than 300 priests with 35 different nationalities.

The FSSP ordained a record 25 priests in 2026, the German Catholic news agency KNA reported June 23.

Leo names apostolic administrator after English bishop charged

Pope Leo XIV named an administrator Tuesday to oversee an English diocese after its bishop was charged with the rape of a minor.

The pope named Archbishop Richard Moth as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Northampton June 30, days after police confirmed that Bishop David Oakley faced two counts of rape of a female under the age of 16, following an investigation into historical allegations.

The Northampton diocese, which serves around 180,000 Catholics in central England, is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Westminster, which Moth has led since February 2026.

Leo XIV specified that Moth will be apostolic administrator sede plena et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis (while the see is occupied and at the discretion of the Holy See). 

This means that Oakley retains the title of Bishop of Northampton as he prepares for an initial court hearing Aug. 14 — the bishop announced he was taking an indefinite leave of absence for “personal reasons” in October last year, following his undisclosed arrest in relation to the charges he now faces.

The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales explained June 30 that Moth’s appointment was “a temporary role, by which the Holy See ensures that the pastoral governance of a diocese will continue, when it is not possible for a diocesan Bishop to exercise his office.”

“Therefore, the governance of the Diocese of Northampton is now canonically entrusted to Archbishop Moth,” it said.

Moth, who will remain based at Archbishop’s House in Westminster, said he was “humbled” by the pope’s decision to appoint him as apostolic administrator.

“I ask those whom I am called to serve to pray for me, that the Lord will continue to give me His spiritual guidance and wisdom needed to fulfill these duties,” he said.

Oakley, 70, has served as Bishop of Northampton since 2020, after spending seven years as rector of St. Mary’s College, Oscott, a seminary in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, where he was incardinated as a priest in 1980.

Oakley was arrested on suspicion of rape involving a minor by Staffordshire Police in September 2025 and released on conditional bail as the investigation continued. 

The arrest was reported by U.K. media in January 2026, but the bishop was not named for legal reasons.

The Northampton diocese said in October 2025 that Oakley had “taken a leave of absence for personal reasons.”

It added that the bishop had appointed vicar general Canon Michael Harrison “to provisionally take on the governance of Northampton diocese” until Oakley returned from the leave of absence.

Reporting at the time described Oakley as a leading candidate to succeed Cardinal Vincent Nichols as the Archbishop of Westminster, a post ultimately entrusted to Moth in December 2025.

The Northampton diocese confirmed on June 24, 2026, that Oakley had been charged “after an investigation into non-recent safeguarding allegations.” The alleged offenses are understood to date back to between February 2000 and February 2001.

“We understand that this will be very distressing for all concerned but cannot comment further on an active legal process,” the diocese said.

Archbishop Moth, the president of the English and Welsh bishops’ conference since April, and Archbishop Bernard Longley, the conference’s vice president, noted June 25 that the news of the charges against Oakley was “deeply distressing for all, both within the Catholic community and beyond.”

“We are profoundly aware that the report of this allegation may reawaken painful memories for many people and again offer an unreserved apology to those who have been hurt by abuse in the Catholic Church in England and Wales,” they said.

“In this moment, we would like to provide pastoral reassurance on the commitment of the Church to safeguarding.”

“The Catholic Church in England and Wales maintains a zero-tolerance policy for abuse in the Church and in wider society, and we are cooperating fully with the statutory authorities.”

Pope Leo XIV asks the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X to abandon the path of schism and return to communion with Rome

The Pope has addressed a letter to the Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, Fr. Davide Pagliarani, in which he acknowledges the attachment to Tradition of its members but firmly warns them that a “schismatic act” would deprive them of the licit—and in some cases valid—reception of the sacraments. 

The letter, dated June 29, 2026, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, constitutes the first direct statement by Leo XIV on the canonical situation of the Fraternity.

The document, written in Italian and addressed personally to Pagliarani, is extended through him “to the bishops, priests, seminarians, and faithful linked to the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X.” 

The Pontiff states that he writes “with a paternal spirit” and “aware of the responsibility the Lord has entrusted to me as the Successor of the Apostle Peter.”

Leo XIV expressly recognizes what Rome has rarely admitted with such clarity: “The Church acknowledges the attachment to the liturgical life, the commitment to priestly formation, the apostolic zeal, and the desire for fidelity to Tradition that characterize many persons and communities linked to this Fraternity.” 

This recognition, he notes, has motivated “the attitude of attention and benevolence” that his predecessors—Benedict XVI and Francis—maintained toward the institute founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

An unequivocal warning

However, the paternal tone gives way to an unambiguous warning. 

The Pope begs and asks “with all his heart: return to your steps!”, urging Pagliarani to “carefully consider the spiritual good of the faithful.”

“The schismatic act you would commit would deprive you of the licit and in some cases even valid reception of the Sacraments that they love and seek for their own sanctification”

The reference to sacramental validity is especially significant. 

Until now, Rome had maintained that the ordinations of the SSPX, although illicit, were valid, and that the faithful could approach them for confession in cases of necessity. 

A formal rupture—a “schismatic act,” in the Pope’s words—would alter this delicate canonical balance.

Open dialogue, but without receiving them

Leo XIV insists that “the Church is open to a path of dialogue and understanding that the Holy Spirit can make possible and fruitful.” 

Nevertheless, the framework of the dialogue is clearly defined: it is not a matter of negotiating doctrine, but of the Fraternity abandoning its “attempt”—a term suggesting that Rome considers some move from Menzingen imminent.

The letter concludes with a theologically grave invocation: “To tear the seamless garment of Christ is a sin of extreme gravity. May the Lord enlighten your consciences and awaken your hearts.” 

The Pope entrusts these intentions “to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of Good Counsel.”

A context of growing tension

The letter arrives at a moment of uncertainty about the future of relations between the Holy See and the Fraternity. 

Since the death of Francis, who had granted the SSPX the faculty to validly hear confessions and celebrate marriages, doctrinal dialogue had remained stalled. 

The election of Leo XIV - Cardinal Robert Prevost of the United States - had generated mixed expectations: some hoped for a pragmatic rapprochement; others, a definitive clarification of the canonical status of the Fraternity.

The date chosen for the letter is not accidental. 

The Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, patrons of Rome, underscores the Petrine dimension of the appeal: it is the Successor of Peter who speaks, expressly invoking his authority. 

It remains to be seen how Menzingen will respond to this letter which, under the guise of fatherhood, contains a warning whose canonical consequences could be irreversible.

Synodality becomes structural: Leo XIV promulgates a new Motu Proprio to reform the Vicariate of Rome

Synodality ceases to be presented solely as a pastoral process and becomes a principle regulated by law in the governance of the Pope’s diocese. 

That is one of the most significant aspects of the Motu Proprio Confirma Fratres Tuos, with which Leo XIV replaces the apostolic constitution In Ecclesiarum communione, promulgated by Francis in 2023, and establishes a new organizational framework for the Vicariate of Rome.

Although the document maintains the broad pastoral orientations promoted by his predecessor, it introduces a much more precise regulation of the governance structure, delimits competencies, and turns synodality into an institutional principle integrated into the ordinary functioning of the Vicariate.

A reform that entirely replaces that of Francis

The decision is of particular importance because it is not a partial modification, but the complete repeal of an apostolic constitution promulgated only three years ago.

Leo XIV himself explains that the experience accumulated since the 2023 reform came into force advised reviewing various aspects of its application. 

To that end, on February 25 he established a working group tasked with studying possible improvements, whose conclusions have led to the promulgation of the new text.

It is not, therefore, a break with the previous pontificate, but a review of the legal architecture designed by Francis in light of its practical application.

Pastoral continuity with a more precise organization

Confirma Fratres Tuos preserves much of the main lines introduced by Francis. The missionary orientation of the Vicariate, the co-responsibility of all the baptized, and the drive toward a Church that carries out its mission in a participatory way remain in place.

However, Leo XIV chooses to strengthen the legal security of the institution. Where the previous regulations left room for interpretations or possible overlaps of competencies, the new text more clearly delimits the functions of each governing body and establishes more defined procedures.

Rather than altering the pastoral orientation of the Vicariate, the Pope appears interested in providing a more stable, coordinated, and effective administrative structure at the service of evangelization.

A style of governance based on experience

Leo XIV does not present the reform as an ideological correction of the previous one, but as the result of the experience accumulated since 2023. 

Before legislating, he decided to analyze the actual functioning of the Vicariate through a study commission created a few months after the beginning of his pontificate.

This procedure reveals a way of governing based on the practical evaluation of structures before undertaking reforms, seeking to consolidate what works and correct aspects that have shown the need for greater normative definition.

A Vicariate with better-defined responsibilities

The new constitution develops in greater detail the competencies of the cardinal vicar, the vicegerent, the auxiliary bishops, and the Moderator Curiae, while consolidating the role of the Episcopal Council as the main consultative body for the governance of the diocese.

The objective seems clear: to reduce duplications, clarify responsibilities, and improve coordination among the various pastoral and administrative offices.

The organization of the Vicariate by areas—formation, catechesis, liturgy, youth, charity, culture, human mobility, or ecumenical and interreligious dialogue—is likewise maintained, although now integrated into a more coherent and better-defined governance structure.

From a pastoral process to a principle of governance

Without abandoning the language introduced by Francis, the new Motu Proprio ceases to present synodality primarily as a pastoral path and integrates it into concrete norms of organization, consultation, and distribution of responsibilities.

In other words, synodality ceases to be merely an ecclesial horizon and becomes a stable criterion of governance, with bodies, competencies, and procedures defined by the particular law of the Diocese of Rome.

This evolution allows the document to be interpreted as a step toward the institutionalization of a concept that in recent years had been associated mainly with processes of consultation and discernment. 

Leo XIV does not dispense with synodality, but incorporates it more organically into the ordinary functioning of the Vicariate.

Simplification of the judicial organization

The reform also introduces changes in the judicial structure.

The existence of the Ordinary Tribunal of the Diocese of Rome and the Interdiocesan Tribunal of First Instance for matrimonial cases of the Lazio region is maintained, but the Court of Appeal of the Vicariate disappears.

Henceforth, appeals will be directed directly to the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, simplifying the procedure and eliminating an intermediate instance.

The first major governance text of Leo XIV

Beyond the administrative modifications, Confirma Fratres Tuos does not abandon the broad pastoral lines promoted by Francis, but introduces a more refined legal architecture, a more precise distribution of responsibilities, and a more clearly defined institutional functioning.

In that sense, this Motu Proprio reveals a characteristic that is marking the governance of Leo XIV: the pursuit of continuity in pastoral principles, accompanied by greater normative clarity and a more solid organization of ecclesial structures. 

Rather than a change of course, the reform expresses the will to integrate synodality into a stable legal framework, making it not only a pastoral path but also a permanent principle of governance for the Church.

Sr Alessandra Smerilli is promoted to prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development

Pope Leo XIV has confirmed the appointment of Sister Alessandra Smerilli as the new prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, confirming the rumors circulating in Vatican circles about her imminent promotion. 

The Salesian religious, who until now served as secretary of the same body, will officially assume her new duties on September 1, 2026.

With this decision, Sister Alessandra Smerilli becomes the first woman to lead this dicastery, one of the most important bodies of the Roman Curia, responsible for issues such as the promotion of justice and peace, care for migrants and refugees, health pastoral care, care for creation, and integral human development.

From First Secretary to First Prefect

A religious of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, economist, and university professor, Smerilli had already made history in 2021 when Pope Francis appointed her secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, becoming the first woman to hold the secretariat of a dicastery of the Holy See.

Reorganization of the Dicastery’s Leadership

Along with the appointment of the new prefect, Leo XIV has also reorganized the leadership of the dicastery.

Cardinal Fabio Baggio, until now subsecretary, has been appointed pro-prefect, with specific responsibility for the Laudato si’ Higher Education Center. 

This is a newly configured position that will allow him to remain linked to the field of integral human development, especially in initiatives related to formation inspired by the encyclical Laudato si’.

Likewise, the Pope has appointed Msgr. Jozef Barlaš as the new secretary of the dicastery, who until now served as subsecretary of the same body.

All three appointments will take effect on September 1, 2026.

Sarah and the French episcopate warn about euthanasia: "Not every law passed by a Parliament is just"

The French Episcopal Conference has intensified its opposition to the bill that seeks to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in France with an appeal directed at deputies to reject a text which, in the Church’s view, will profoundly transform the conception of human life and the protection of the most vulnerable.

The vice-president of the French Episcopal Conference and archbishop of Tours, Monsignor Vincent Jordy, has warned that the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide does not constitute merely a legislative reform, but “an anthropological change” that will alter the way life, suffering, dependence and death are understood.

“It is a new outlook on life and the end of life that is gradually being prepared to spread throughout the country,” the prelate states, who has urged parliamentarians to act “with conscience and responsibility” before a decision which, he maintains, will have consequences far beyond the specific cases contemplated by the law.

A call to legislate with conscience

Monsignor Jordy recalled the famous dictum of François Rabelais—“Science without conscience is but the ruin of the soul”—to warn that an issue of this magnitude cannot be resolved solely through parliamentary majorities or ideological criteria.

The archbishop alerted to the effects that the future legislation could have on healthcare professionals, families, the elderly, people with disabilities and, in general, the most vulnerable sectors of society.

“This law will necessarily influence the way we look at life, at the feeling of being useful or useless within society,” he stated. 

In his view, the text will also provoke legal and social consequences that will ultimately affect the entire social body.

As an example of this evolution, he recalled the experience of other countries where euthanasia was introduced with significant initial limitations that were later expanded. 

He specifically cited the case of the Netherlands, where—he pointed out—“a teenager was subjected to euthanasia a few weeks ago,” as evidence that initial safeguards can disappear over time.

“The consensus Macron called for does not exist”

The vice-president of the French episcopate also addressed a message to President Emmanuel Macron, who at the beginning of the legislative process had expressed his desire to reach a broad national consensus.

“Today we know that this consensus does not exist,” Jordy stated. In his opinion, the narrow majority in the National Assembly, the divisions in the Senate and various public-opinion studies show that French society is far from supporting legislation of this kind by a majority when it understands its real implications.

The prelate also took the opportunity to respond to those who believe the Church should not intervene in this debate out of respect for the principle of laïcité.

He recalled that French laïcité guarantees freedom of conscience, religious freedom and the neutrality of the State, but does not require the silence of religious confessions. 

“Neutrality does not affect society; it affects the State,” he stressed, defending the right of Christians to participate in public debate like any other citizen.

Cardinal Sarah: “A democracy does not decide by itself what is good”

Monsignor Jordy’s warnings find solid support in the reflections of Cardinal Robert Sarah, who in his book 2050, written together with journalist Nicolas Diat, addresses precisely the moral limits of democracy and the responsibility of the legislator on issues such as euthanasia.

For the Guinean cardinal, democratic legitimacy does not automatically make a law just.

“Just because a law has been voted on in a democratic parliament does not mean it is good in itself,” Sarah affirms. Democracy—he explains—constitutes a legitimate form of government, but it does not create good and evil nor can it replace the principles inscribed in natural law.

The cardinal warns against the risk of a “democratic tyranny” that “recognizes no limit to its power and prevents all discussion.” In that scenario, he maintains, political power ends up becoming the sole source of law, detaching itself from any objective reference to the dignity of the human person.

Drawing on the classical philosophical tradition, Sarah cites Cicero to recall that there exists “a true law, in accordance with right reason and nature,” prior to any positive legislation and which no parliament can abolish.

Natural law as the foundation of legislation

The cardinal links this reflection to the words recently pronounced by Leo XIV during the Jubilee of Rulers, when he reminded political leaders that “natural law, universally valid beyond other debatable opinions, constitutes the compass for legislating and acting.”

Without that reference, Sarah warns, “democracy runs the risk of sinking into the swamps of destructive relativism,” becoming what Saint John Paul II defined as a “democracy without values,” susceptible to drifting into forms of totalitarianism, open or covert.

The cardinal concludes that laws “must always respect and promote the human person” and maintains that “a law that does not respect the right to life, from conception to natural death, whatever the condition of the person—healthy or sick, embryonic, elderly or terminal—is not a law in accordance with God’s design.”

A few hours before a vote that could mark a turning point in French legislation, the interventions of Monsignor Jordy and Cardinal Sarah converge in the same warning: the discussion on euthanasia does not affect only the regulation of the end of life, but the very conception of human dignity and the ethical limits that must guide every democracy.

Mullally continues her ecumenical agenda with an official visit to the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem

After the reception granted to her by Leo XIV at the Vatican, Sarah Mullally continues to accumulate gestures of institutional recognition. 

On this occasion, the Anglican Primate was officially welcomed by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, where she took part in a meeting with the heads of the Churches of the Holy Land and was received by Patriarch Theophilos III.

The visit took place at the end of a five-day pilgrimage through Israel and the Palestinian territories, carried out together with the Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem, Hosam Naoum. 

During those days, Mullally visited various communities, hospitals, schools, and charitable works of the Anglican Church, as well as meeting with ecclesial representatives, civil organizations, and leaders of other religious confessions.

Meeting with Patriarch Theophilos III

One of the central moments of the trip took place at the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, where Mullally participated in a meeting with the heads of the Churches of Jerusalem.

In her remarks, the Anglican leader expressly thanked the welcome extended by Patriarch Theophilos III, both at the Patriarchate itself and during the joint visit to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, describing the encounter as “a profound gift.”

She also expressed her gratitude for the support the Patriarch provides to the Anglican presence in the Holy Land and, in particular, to the Al Ahli Anglican Hospital in Gaza, one of the few Christian medical centers that continue to provide care amid the conflict.

Appeal in favor of the Christians of the Holy Land

During her stay, Mullally and Hosam Naoum issued a pastoral letter in which they expressed their concern for the future of the Palestinian Christian presence in the Holy Land.

Both denounced the suffering caused by the war in Gaza, the violence in the West Bank, population displacements, and the deterioration of living conditions for Christian communities. 

They also called for greater commitment from the international community to end the conflict and advocated for a two-state solution as a path to achieving a stable peace.

In her address to the leaders of the Churches of Jerusalem, Mullally insisted that the mission of Christians consists in standing alongside those who suffer and offering a common witness to the Gospel in a region marked by decades of conflict.

Invitation to the heads of the Churches to Canterbury

The Anglican Primate took advantage of the meeting to invite Patriarch Theophilos III and the other heads of the Churches of Jerusalem to visit Lambeth Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, with the aim of strengthening relations among the various Christian confessions and continuing ecumenical dialogue.

Mullally stated that she understands her ministry as a service oriented toward fostering hope, reconciliation, and unity among Christians, affirming that the Church must face the world’s suffering “with honesty and hope” and maintain trust “in the reconciling power of Christ.”

Myanmar sentences a Catholic nun to eight months in prison for helping displaced people

A Catholic religious sister has been sentenced to eight months in prison by a military tribunal in Myanmar after being accused of providing support to people displaced by the armed conflict in Kayah State (Karenni), one of the regions hardest hit by violence since the 2021 coup d’état.

The convicted sister is Sr. Benedetta Nya Moe, a member of the Sisters of Charity of Saints Bartolomea Capitanio and Vincenza Gerosa. 

According to information from Church sources, the religious sister was detained two weeks ago near Loikaw and later transferred to a military prison, where she received her sentence last Wednesday.

Accused for her humanitarian work

For years, Sr. Benedetta has carried out intense humanitarian work in the areas of Demoso and Loikaw, assisting with healthcare for internally displaced persons. 

Her tasks included distributing medicines and organizing emergency aid together with other religious sisters and Church institutions.

Available reports indicate that she was arrested while transporting a wounded or sick displaced person to a hospital in Loikaw. 

During a search of her mobile phone, authorities reportedly found information about donations and messages related to the conflict, elements that were later used to support the charges.

The military tribunal convicted her under an article of the Penal Code that, since the 2021 coup led by the military junta, has frequently been used to prosecute individuals accused of collaborating with the opposition or with groups considered hostile to the regime.

A region marked by war

Sr. Benedetta belongs to the Kayan ethnic group and had recently celebrated twenty-five years of religious life. Her congregation continues to carry out humanitarian assistance work in Kayah State, despite the ongoing insecurity in the region.

Eastern Myanmar remains the scene of intense clashes between the army and various resistance groups, a situation that has caused the displacement of thousands of people and a growing humanitarian crisis.

Call to prayer

Following the announcement of the sentence, Catholic communities across Myanmar have begun prayer chains for the religious sister’s release and for the protection of those who continue to provide humanitarian aid in the conflict-affected areas.

Christians make up around six percent of Myanmar’s population, a predominantly Buddhist country where the Church maintains a significant role in education, healthcare, and social assistance, especially among the ethnic minorities most affected by the civil war.

"Church silence disappoints us": Armenian Christians question the Vatican over the destruction of their heritage

The displaced Armenian community of Nagorno Karabaj has expressed its deep disappointment over what it sees as the lack of a firm response from the Holy See regarding the destruction of Christian heritage in the region and the situation of the thousands of Armenians who had to abandon their homes following Azerbaijan’s military offensive in 2023.

In an interview given to The Pillar, Beglaryan Artak, former human rights defender and former State Minister of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh, stated that “Azerbaijan has managed to prevent the Vatican from supporting the protection of our rights and, especially, of our cultural heritage.”

“We deeply respect the Catholic Church, but we are disappointed by its silence regarding cultural heritage and the rights of the Christian people, because we have also been subjected to ethnic cleansing for being Christians,” he affirmed.

More than 6,000 Christian monuments under Azerbaijani control

Beglaryan, founder and president of the organization Artsakh Union, dedicated to defending the rights of the former inhabitants of Nagorno Karabaj, explained that the region is home to more than 6,000 historical monuments, mostly churches, monasteries, and Christian cemeteries, making it one of the largest concentrations of Christian heritage in the world.

Among them stands out the Gandzasar monastery, built in the 13th century and considered one of the main symbols of Armenian Christianity.

According to his denunciation, since Azerbaijan regained control of the territory, several churches have been demolished or vandalized. 

He also accuses the Azerbaijani authorities of attempting to erase the Armenian identity of these temples by presenting them as belonging to the ancient Caucasian Albania.

Discontent over the relationship between the Vatican and Azerbaijan

The criticism also extends to the growing institutional relationship between the Holy See and Azerbaijan. In recent years, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, chaired by Mehriban Aliyeva —wife of President Ilham Aliyev— has funded major restoration projects of the Vatican’s artistic heritage, valued at hundreds of millions of euros.

This collaboration has been met with concern by numerous Armenians, especially after the Holy See awarded Mehriban Aliyeva the Order of Pius IX in 2020, one of the highest pontifical decorations.

Vatican diplomacy opts to maintain dialogue

From the Roman Curia, a cardinal who spoke on condition of anonymity defended the Holy See’s traditional diplomatic prudence.

“The philosophy of the Holy See is to keep channels of dialogue open with everyone,” he explained, noting that the Vatican maintains relations with both Armenia and Azerbaijan in the hope of playing a positive role when opportunities for mediation arise.

This strategy was recently reflected in the visit to Baku by the Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal George Koovakad, who was received by President Ilham Aliyev and conveyed the good relations existing between both parties. During the meeting, the Azerbaijani leader invited Pope Leo XIV to visit the country.

Shortly before, the Pontiff had received in audience Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church. 

Officials from the Armenian Patriarchate indicated that they wish to preserve the good ecumenical relations with the Holy See and avoid letting differences over the Caucasus conflict damage the ties between both Churches.

A heritage at risk

For representatives of the displaced Armenian community, the concern goes beyond the political conflict. 

They believe that the preservation of one of the oldest sets of Christian heritage in the world is at stake and regret that the international community, including the main Christian institutions, has not reacted with greater firmness.

“We saw no tangible support from the Christian world, and that support should have come, above all, from the Catholic Church, which is the largest and most influential Christian institution in the world. That is why we feel deep frustration at its passive attitude,” concluded Beglaryan.