Pope excommunicates SSPX leaders, widening rift with conservative Catholics
Under Pope Leo XIV, the Vatican excommunicated six SSPX clerics after they consecrated bishops without papal approval, calling it a schismatic act and extending the ban to all SSPX members. The move underscores deep tensions over traditionalism vs. modernization within the Church and highlights the group’s far-right ties that have appealed to some MAGA-era Catholic supporters, even as it isolates hardline conservatives.