Rome —
Pope Leo XIV has made a last-ditch appeal to a rebel group of traditionalist Catholics who plan to ordain bishops without his approval, saying they will be committing a “sin of extreme gravity” if they proceed.
Just over a year into his tenure, Leo is facing the first major challenge of his papacy from the Society of Saint Pius X, a group that rejects reforms made by the Catholic Church in recent decades – including allowing Mass to be celebrated in languages other than Latin – and is expected to ordain four bishops on Wednesday at its seminary in Écône, Switzerland.
The ordinations, the pope told them, would be a “schismatic” act. If…