VATICAN CITY – When Pope Leo celebrated his inaugural Mass last year, he pledged to unite the Catholic Church after years of internal divisions, promising to lead not as an “autocrat” but as a pastor for the Church’s 1.4 billion faithful.
Yet the Vatican’s decision on Thursday to declare members of a breakaway traditionalist Catholic group excommunicated demonstrates that the new pontiff is also prepared to take firm decisions when he believes the unity and doctrine of the Church are at stake.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith ruled that priests and lay members of the Swiss-based Society of St Pius X had entered into schism with the Catholic Church after ordaining four new bishops without papal approval.
According to Vatican observers, the decision reflects Pope Leo’s leadership style—measured but decisive.
“Leo is somebody that does not work in blurred lines,” Elise Allen, author of a biography of Pope Leo, told Reuters.
“He’s not afraid to be extremely clear or firm when he needs to be. That’s not going to be his immediate instinct, but he’s not going to back down from doing that when he thinks it’s needed.”
Allen is the only journalist to have interviewed Pope Leo since his election in May 2025.
Massimo Faggioli, professor of theology at Villanova University and a leading scholar of the papacy, said Thursday’s decision mirrors the Pope’s broader approach to leadership.
For much of his papacy, Leo avoided directly naming US President Donald Trump despite policy disagreements. However, during the conflict between Iran and the United States earlier this year, he openly criticised the violence, prompting public attacks from Trump on social media.
Following those criticisms, Pope Leo told Reuters he would continue speaking out against the conflict.
“Leo is a non-confrontational figure but, when he has to say something or do something, so far he has done that,” Faggioli said.
The Society of St Pius X has long rejected key teachings of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), the landmark assembly of Catholic bishops held during the 1960s that introduced sweeping reforms to modernise the Church and improve relations with other Christian denominations and the Jewish community.
Among its most significant reforms was permitting Mass to be celebrated in local languages rather than exclusively in Latin.
The Society has consistently opposed those reforms, arguing that the traditional Latin liturgy better preserves the sacredness and solemnity of Catholic worship.
Although successive popes have sought reconciliation with the group, tensions have remained unresolved.
Even Pope Francis, despite restricting broader use of the Traditional Latin Mass, made several gestures towards reconciliation by granting Society priests faculties to hear confessions and celebrate certain sacraments under specific conditions.
Analysts believe Pope Leo’s latest action marks a decisive shift.
“He has said the time has come to stop bending over backwards and send a message,” Allen said.
“What he wants to do is draw a very clear line in the sand and say, ‘This is what the Catholic Church is. Either you’re with it or you’re not.'”
Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, regarded as one of Pope Leo’s closest allies, said the pontiff is making clear that the teachings of Vatican II are not optional.
“What is required is a commitment to the Council’s teachings,” Cupich told Reuters.
Under Catholic canon law, only the Pope may authorise the consecration of bishops, preserving what the Church regards as apostolic succession from Jesus Christ’s twelve apostles.
Unauthorised episcopal ordinations automatically incur excommunication, meaning those involved are considered outside full communion with the Catholic Church until reconciliation.
The Society of St Pius X defended its decision, arguing that it required additional bishops to serve its worldwide membership, which includes approximately 733 priests.
David Gibson, director of the Centre on Religion and Culture at Fordham University, said Pope Leo’s own ministry was profoundly shaped by the reforms of Vatican II.
Ordained 17 years after the Council concluded, Leo spent decades serving as a missionary and bishop in Peru, where many bishops actively embraced the Council’s reforms.
“At heart he sees this move by the Society as opposition to the authority of the Council and of the entire Church,” Gibson said.
“That opposition is a red line for him. He is tolerant but not foolish. It’s not just disobeying the Pope. It’s about showing contempt for the entire Catholic community and tradition.”
The decision is widely viewed as one of the clearest indications yet of Pope Leo’s leadership style: pastoral in tone, but prepared to act decisively when he believes the Church’s unity, authority and doctrinal integrity are under challenge.
Source: Reuters
