Excommunication and Schism, Explained

The facade of St. Peter’s Basilica (Vatican Media file photo)

Excommunication is the most serious sanction in the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law. It does not mean a person stops being Catholic — the Church teaches that baptism as a Catholic cannot be undone — but does formally exclude excommunicated Catholics from participating in the life of the Church unless they repent and are reconciled.

Excommunicated Catholics may not receive any of the sacraments, including the Eucharist, confession or anointing of the sick. They may not exercise any Church ministry or office. If they die while excommunicated and without reconciliation, they are not entitled to a Catholic funeral or burial rite, though pastoral discretion can be applied in particular circumstances.

What Is Schism and How Does It Differ from Excommunication?

The two terms are related but distinct, and both are central to the Society of St. Pius X crisis.

Schism is the refusal to submit to the pope or rejection of communion with the members of the Church subject to his authority. It is not primarily about doctrine but about authority and unity.

The Vatican said Wednesday that consecrating bishops without a papal mandate severs the bond of communion that holds the Church together. SSPX disputes this, arguing its new bishops would claim no independent jurisdiction and would not govern any territory or faithful apart from Rome. The Vatican has flatly rejected that distinction.

Excommunication is the legal penalty the Church attaches to schism and certain other grave acts. It is the consequence, not the offense itself. One commits a schismatic act and incurs excommunication as a result.

Automatic vs. Declared Excommunication

Canon law distinguishes between two types of excommunication. The first, called latae sententiae, is incurred automatically the moment a person commits certain specified acts, without any formal proceeding or declaration required. The second type, ferendae sententiae, must be formally imposed by a Church authority following a judicial or administrative process.

The excommunications at issue in the SSPX case would be automatic under canon law. It states that a bishop who consecrates someone as a bishop without papal mandate — and the person who receives that consecration — automatically incur excommunication.

Acts That Carry Automatic Excommunication

Under the Code of Canon Law, automatic excommunication is reserved for the gravest offenses, including:

• Apostasy, heresy, or schism

• Desecration of the Eucharist

• Violating the seal of the confessional (for a priest)

• Procuring an abortion (for those who make one happen)

• Consecrating a bishop without papal mandate

• A priest absolving an accomplice in a sexual sin

Recent and Notable Cases

1. Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and the SSPX bishops (1988): The foundational case for the current crisis. When Lefebvre consecrated four bishops on June 30, 1988 without permission from Pope John Paul II, all five were automatically excommunicated. Pope Benedict XVI lifted the four remaining excommunications in January 2009 — Lefebvre had died in 1991 — as a gesture of reconciliation, though the SSPX’s irregular canonical status was not resolved by that act.

• Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò (2024): The former Vatican ambassador to the United States was excommunicated on July 5, 2024, after the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith concluded an extrajudicial penal process finding him guilty of schism. The dicastery declared the excommunication automatic under canon law, citing Viganò’s his public statements refusing to recognize and submit to Pope Francis, his rejection of communion with the members of the Church subject to the pope’s authority, and his rejection of the legitimacy and magisterial authority of the Second Vatican Council. Viganò declined to appear or mount a defense, saying he did not recognize the authority of the dicastery or of Pope Francis. As with the SSPX case, the lifting of the excommunication is reserved to the Apostolic See.

• Father Greg Reynolds of Australia (2013): Reynolds was excommunicated by Pope Francis after publicly advocating for the ordination of women and same-sex marriage and continuing to celebrate Mass after being prohibited from doing so.

  — Gary Gately