New York Times (David Gibson (Fordham)), Pope Leo Faces the First Crisis of His Pontificate (June 30, 2026),

When terms like “schism” and “excommunication” crop up in news stories about the Catholic Church, you start looking around for a momentous event that will change the course of history, like the Protestant Reformation in 1517 or the Great Schism in 1054 dividing the Western and Eastern churches. The Vatican’s likely censure of a tiny anti-modernist Catholic sect is none of those things. But the attendant furor is sparking a lot of schismatic-sounding declarations and eye-glazing arguments about the arcane details of Catholic liturgy.

New York Times (Elisabetta Povoledo), Rebel Catholic Group Consecrates 4 Bishops, Risking Break With Vatican (July 1, 2026):

A group of traditionalist Catholics consecrated four bishops on Wednesday in defiance of a plea from Pope Leo XIV, creating the biggest internal crisis of his young papacy and setting the stage for the first major schism in the Roman Catholic Church this century.

The group, the Society of St. Pius X, went ahead with the ritual-laden ceremony despite Leo’s last-minute appeal to the breakaway group “to desist from your intended act” and his separate warning that it was “a sin of extreme gravity.” Vatican officials had also said that the bishops would face automatic excommunication if the consecration was not canceled, though the Vatican did not immediately comment on their status after the group proceeded with the ceremony.

New York Times (Elisabetta Povoledo), Vatican Excommunicates Breakaway Group, in Biggest Schism in 156 Years (July 2, 2026):

The Vatican on Thursday excommunicated the clergy of a breakaway conservative faction of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as any worshipers who do not leave the group. The expulsion came a day after the faction’s leaders defied a personal plea from Pope Leo XIV and consecrated four new bishops without his permission.

The decree against the Society of St. Pius X excommunicated at least 750 priests. It could also affect thousands of worshipers who have not been immediately expelled but, according to the Vatican, might still be punished if they do not leave the group and confirm their loyalty to Pope Leo, and adhere to the church and its teachings.

Historians said it was the biggest schism in the Catholic church since at least 1870, when a much smaller group of Catholics in Germany broke with the Vatican. The Society of St. Pius X does not keep full records of its followers, but officials estimated that they number between 300,000 and 600,000 people.

In an explanatory note about the decree, the Vatican said the society was barred from officiating marriages and hearing confessions, and it warned the society’s followers to stop attending its Masses and participating in its events.

Editor’s Note:  If you would like to receive a weekly email each Sunday with links to faith posts on TaxProf Blog, email me here.