On the side of a mountain in Switzerland, in the shadow of the Alps, a fanciful event attracting a small but ardent group of Catholic traditionalists gathered to celebrate the consecration of four new bishops … 

… who were then promptly excommunicated from the Catholic Church along with the bishop who appointed them.

The group is called the Society of St. Pius X, or SSPX. It has spent decades claiming to defend the true Catholic tradition against a church it sees as too modern, too open, too willing to change. But this time, by moving ahead without Rome’s approval, SSPX triggered excommunications and pushed its whole society into schism. 

And it’s not the first time this group has run up against the disapproval of the Holy See.

Today, Vatican reporter Claire Giangravè joins us to talk about SSPX, Pope Leo XIV, the Latin Mass and what happens when longing for an older church ruptures the church itself.