SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The Vatican has excommunicated members of the conservative Catholic group called the Society of Saint Pius X. The move comes after the society ordained four new bishops last week without the approval of the pope and despite a warning from Pope Leo just days before. Joining us to explain this is NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. Hey, Jason.
JASON DEROSE, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: Let's start with the group itself. What can you tell us about them?
DEROSE: Well, the Society of Saint Pius X is a small, ultra-traditionalist group founded in 1970, has about 750 priests worldwide today and rejects many of the reforms of Vatican II. That's that major theological council that took place in the 1960s. For instance, the group promotes the use of the Latin mass and rejects the liturgy in the common language of the people. But, Scott, one of the biggest ideas of Vatican II was a shift in the attitude toward other faiths, that other religions can be sources of truth and holiness. The Saint Pius group opposes relationships with other faiths and with other non-Catholic Christians. Just last week, it called the pope sharing the stage with other religions a humiliation. And because of those bishop consecrations without papal approval, the Vatican says there's a schism, and members of the group who are clergy and lay adherents are excommunicated.
DETROW: So let's talk about two of the terms you just used - schism and excommunication. First of all, explain what a schism is in the context of the Catholic Church.
DEROSE: Well, I spoke with Fr. Thomas Rausch. He's a Jesuit priest and professor emeritus of theology at Loyola Marymount University here in Los Angeles. He explains schism this way.
THOMAS RAUSCH: Schism means that you have broken communion with the church. You're no longer in a proper relationship with it - breaking off because of some theological position or some quarrel with authority.
DEROSE: So a rejection of the authority of the church hierarchy - the Vatican. In this case, the idea that all those bishops must be approved by the pope - approval which the society did not have, and also because of the rejection of those core Vatican II theological teachings around interfaith relations.
DETROW: And the other term - one that as a Catholic, I shudder inadvertently to even say out loud - excommunication.
DEROSE: Well, someone who's been excommunicated isn't allowed to participate in the sacraments of the church, so they can't receive the Eucharist, get married in the church, so forth. They are out of communion or out of relationship with the church. Now, it's important to understand, says Rausch, that excommunication is an important punishment that's meant to be a corrective. The idea of denying the sacrament is about showing how serious the issue is, and it's meant to bring people back into the Catholic Church.
So to that end, for instance, the archbishop of San Antonio issued a letter urging people there not to attend mass at a chapel in the area affiliated with the Saint Pius society but rather go to mass at a congregation that is recognized by the archdiocese and by the Vatican.
DETROW: How has the group in question, the Society of Saint Pius, responded to this punishment?
DEROSE: Well, the group sent an open letter to Pope Leo after the excommunications. It describes the actions of the society as a, quote, "moral duty" and suggests that the group is not backing down, saying what the society, quote, "has done and will continue to do is nothing other than an extraordinary initiative for the salvation of souls." It calls the excommunications unjust and invalid and says the society is willing to suffer the sanctions for the good of the church.
DETROW: That is NPR religion correspondent Jason DeRose. Thanks so much.
DEROSE: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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