The Society of St. Pius X

The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) was founded in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in the wake of the theological changes brought to the Catholic Church by the Second Vatican Council. The Council allowed Mass to be held in local languages rather than Latin and brought about some progressive changes within the church. Lefebvre and his followers believed that these changes amounted to a dereliction of the Church itself. Disagreements between Lefebvre and then Pope John Paul II relating to the consecration of new bishops (which require the approval of the Pope, something SSPX did not seek) made the theological standing of the group questionable and the group was excommunicated in the late 1980s. More recently, starting with the Papacy of Benedict XVI, SSPX has enjoyed a more accepting attitude from Rome. In practice, SSPX services and priests represent the most traditionalist, conservative, and right-wing branches of the Catholic Church.