It’s not just the Lefebvrians: another rift with the Pope is on the cards from the Transalpine Redemptorists

Tensions within the Catholic world continue. Following the rift between the Church and the Lefebvrians after the consecration of four bishops without an apostolic mandate – an act described in the letter of excommunication as ‘an act of a schismatic nature’ – another group of traditionalists, the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, may turn their backs on the Pope. Members of the community, also known as the Transalpine Redemptorists, are preparing for an episcopal consecration without the Vatican’s consent.

The event is scheduled for 25 July in Scotland, on the island of Papa Stronsay in the Orkney Islands. “I shall consecrate Father Michael Mary on 25 July, God willing” and “he will be consecrated in the absence of an apostolic mandate, since the See of Rome is clearly occupied by the enemies of God”, announced the Canadian bishop Pierre Roy, Superior General. Rodrigo Ribeiro da Silva and Fernando Altamira will serve as co-consecrators at the rite.

The Bishop of Aberdeen, Hugh Gilbert, replied that ‘this ordination would be celebrated without a papal mandate, by a group of bishops who deny that the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, is in fact the Pope. As this consecration is due to take place within the geographical boundaries of the Diocese of Aberdeen, I am obliged to make it clear to the faithful of the diocese that any episcopal ordination of this kind would be illegitimate and a grave act of disobedience, which would separate those taking part from communion with the Catholic Church’. For this reason, Gilbert warned that “no member of the faithful should take part. This action is not for the good of the Catholic Church, as is falsely claimed.”

This small group of ultra-conservatives was founded in 1987 as a direct offshoot of Marcel Lefebvre’s movement, adopting a strongly critical stance towards the Church and, above all, towards the Second Vatican Council, which was convened by Pope John XXIII and concluded by Paul VI. In 2008, however, reconciliation took place with Benedict XVI and the Redemptorists returned to full ecclesial communion.

The Church’s reaction to the Lefebvrians’ initiative was not long in coming. On 2 July, a decree signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, imposed a “latae sententiae” excommunication on the bishops of the Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X, Alfonso de Galarreta and Bernard Fellay, and on the newly consecrated bishops Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry and Marc Hanappier.