Pope Francis has warned of an imminent schism within the Roman Catholic Church after the ordination of three bishops without Vatican approval, a move that has deepened longstanding ideological fractures. The ordinations, conducted by a breakaway traditionalist group, have drawn sharp condemnation from church authorities and prompted calls for unity from senior British faith leaders.
The pontiff, speaking from the Apostolic Palace on Wednesday, described the actions as a “grave wound to communion” and urged the faithful to “remain steadfast in the unity of the church”. His remarks came after the illicit ordinations were performed in a chapel outside Rome by a dissident archbishop who had rejected the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the senior bishop of the Church of England, issued a statement expressing solidarity with the Catholic Church and calling for restraint. “Division in any Christian body weakens our common witness,” he said. “I pray that the bonds of charity and truth will prevail over discord.”
The ordinations are the most direct challenge to papal authority in decades. The three new bishops belong to the Society of Saint Pius X, a traditionalist group that broke with Rome in 1988 over disagreements about liturgical reform, ecumenism and religious liberty. Despite intermittent attempts at reconciliation, the group has remained in canonical irregularity. The Vatican has excommunicated those involved in the ordinations.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, described the incident as “deeply troubling” and reaffirmed the primacy of Pope Francis. “The unity of the church is not a matter of convenience but of divine mandate,” he said in a statement. “We must resist any action that fragments the body of Christ.”
Analysts suggest the schism reflects broader tensions within global Catholicism. While the church in Europe and North America has seen a rise in traditionalist movements, Catholic communities in Africa and Asia have embraced the pope’s emphasis on pastoral mercy and social justice. The ordinations could embolden other dissident groups, though the Vatican retains significant institutional leverage.
Britain’s principal faith leaders, including the Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, have publicly urged dialogue. The Moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Right Reverend Iain Greenshields, warned that “the repercussions of a formal split would be felt far beyond the Catholic communion”.
The timing is sensitive: ordinations occurred during a week when the pope is preparing a major encyclical on global inequality. A formal schism would distract from the church’s moral authority on social issues and weaken its capacity to act as a mediator in international disputes.
As the Vatican prepares to sanction the breakaway bishops, Cardinal Nichols has called for an emergency meeting of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales to discuss potential fallout. The Church of England is also reviewing its diplomatic engagement with Catholic bodies.
For now, the pope’s warning stands as a stark reminder that unity, in religious institutions as in geopolitics, requires constant labour.
