The society filed its appeal with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on July 11, arguing that under canon law the move suspends the recent excommunication decree.
![Various U.S. bishops ‘invite home’ SSPX attendees after excommunications of leadership #Catholic A growing number of Catholic bishops are instructing the faithful to avoid illicit sacraments celebrated by the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) after the traditionalist group’s bishops incurred the penalty of excommunication last week.The Vatican declared July 2 that six prelates involved in the SSPX’s unauthorized July 1 episcopal consecrations incurred automatic excommunication. Despite repeated warnings, SSPX bishops consecrated four new bishops without a pontifical mandate — an act of open disobedience to the authority of the pope that carries automatic excommunication for the six bishops involved.The SSPX is a fraternity of priests known for its celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass and opposition to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.Various Catholic bishops with SSPX locations in their areas are explicitly forbidding Catholics from attending SSPX services while also urging frequent attendees or SSPX priests to seek spiritual guidance and return to the Catholic Church.Invited ‘home’Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis urged SSPX families in his community to stay with the Catholic Church.“In the 10 years that I have led this local Church, I have met many sincere people who worship regularly or occasionally at the chapels of the SSPX within the territory of our archdiocese,” Hebda said. “I have been impressed by the strength of their families and their commitment to traditional Catholic values.”“It is my hope they will not follow the above-mentioned bishops in separating themselves from the successor of Peter, Pope Leo XIV, and from the Church that he humbly leads,” Hebda continued. “Throughout the centuries, our Catholic Church has consistently echoed the teaching of St. Ambrose: Ubi Petrus ibi ecclesia (Where there is Peter, there is the Church).”“At this difficult moment, we are blessed that the same traditional Eucharistic liturgy beloved by those who have worshipped with the SSPX in the past continues to be celebrated in six locations throughout the archdiocese,” Hebda said. “I am confident that those who prefer the Traditional Latin Mass could find a home here."Bishop Terry LaValley of Ogdensburg, New York, noted that in light of the “formal schism,” the disobedience “gravely harms the unity of the Church for which Christ so fervently prayed the night before he died.”LaValley said in a statement that Catholics are “forbidden” to participate in SSPX sacraments, the only exception being “when there is danger of death.” He noted that the schism “is not simply about the celebration of the Mass.”“The SSPX repudiates and denounces the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, in particular, ecumenism, religious liberty, collegiality of the bishops with the pope, and the Church’s understanding of and relationship with Judaism,” LaValley noted.LaValley instructed the faithful to avoid participation with SSPX and invited SSPX priests to remain with the Church.In a similar vein, Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut, invited anyone who previously worshipped with SSPX to come “home.”“The Holy See has made clear that the clergy of the society are now to be regarded as schismatic,” Caggiano said in a statement. “This means that, from this day forward, the sacraments they celebrate are illicit and, most significantly for the faithful, the confessions they hear and the marriages at which they preside are considered invalid by the Church.”“I know these words are difficult to hear, especially for those among us who have worshipped, whether regularly or on occasion, at liturgies celebrated by priests of the society,” Caggiano said. “Over the years I have come to know some of these families. I have been moved by their love for the beauty of the sacred liturgy, their devotion to our Catholic tradition, and the seriousness with which they seek to raise their children in the faith.”“My heart goes out to them at this painful moment, and I want them to know that they remain very much a part of our diocesan family,” Caggiano said.“I also wish to offer a word of reassurance. This excommunication does not fall upon those who have simply attended these liturgies out of a sincere desire to worship and who have never intended to reject the authority of the Holy Father or the teaching of the Church,” Caggiano said. “What the Church now asks is straightforward: Knowing the situation as it now stands, the faithful of the Catholic Church can no longer take part in the liturgies of the society, for to do so knowingly would be to share in a separation from the successor of Peter.”Caggiano noted that the “vetus ordo,” also known as the Traditional Latin Mass, is still celebrated in his diocese at several parishes throughout the diocese.He emphasized that the diocese also welcomes any SSPX priest who wants to return to full communion “with open arms and great tenderness.”Bishop James Johnston of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, said he will “be preparing guidance to assist our clergy, lay faithful, and especially any of the lay faithful who have worshipped locally with the SSPX at St. Vincent de Paul Kansas City.”“While it is imperative to not abandon future efforts toward full communion and to fervently pray for such, those who wish to maintain communion with the Catholic Church, including valid reception of the sacraments of matrimony and penance (confession), will no longer find that possible within the SSPX,” Johnston said in the statement.“In this moment, I wish to reassure the members of the SSPX within this diocese of my pastoral concern as a shepherd with a desire to assist you in this time of crisis,” Johnston said.Schism ‘wounds’ the body of ChristBishop Douglas Lucia of Syracuse, New York, emphasized that the announcement “forbids Roman Catholics of good standing to participate in and to receive the sacraments from bishops and priests associated with the Society of St. Pius X.”“[F]ormal adherence to schism is a grave offense against God and carries the penalty of excommunication decreed by the Churchʼs law,” Lucia wrote July 2.“I grieve over the wound that has been inflicted on Christʼs body, the Church, and its effect on the spiritual good of the faithful,” Lucia said. “Although todayʼs action relates to a specific event, I would caution that such wounds occur in the Church, when peopleʼs pain and concerns are ignored and the universal call to holiness is subjugated to personal agenda.”“I regret that the communion and trust that has been built in my seven years as bishop here in Syracuse is now so imperiled, but there cannot be accord when discord has been sown,” Lucia said.Bishop Donald Hying of Madison, Wisconsin, instructed Catholics “to refrain from attending Mass at any SSPX chapels.”“The Catholic faithful should attend Mass at a Catholic church with a Catholic priest where they can receive licit and valid sacraments,” Hying said.
Bishop Donald Hying instructed Catholics “to refrain from attending Mass at any SSPX chapels.” | Credit: “EWTN News Nightly”/Screenshot
“For many years, the Church has been in dialogue with the leadership of SSPX in the hope that the group would return to full communion with the Catholic Church,” Hying said. “Their continued rejection of papal authority and decision to undertake blatantly schismatic acts have harmed these discussions and wounded the path to unity.”Archbishop Shawn McKnight of Kansas City, Kansas, called the bishopʼs consecrations "a source of profound sorrow for the whole Church because it wounds the visible unity that Christ desires for his body.” He noted that Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI took several steps toward communion and acceptance of the society.“Fidelity to sacred tradition is never opposed to fidelity to the successor of Peter,” McKnight said in his letter. “Rather, both are gifts entrusted by Christ to his Church and serve together to safeguard the deposit of faith and promote the salvation of souls.”“The Church’s living tradition is preserved by remaining close to the successor of Peter, by adhering to the apostolic faith handed down through the centuries and safeguarded within the communion of the Church,” McKnight said.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/various-u-s-bishops-invite-home-sspx-attendees-after-excommunications-of-leadership-catholic-a-growing-number-of-catholic-bishops-are-instructing-the-faithful-to-avoid-illicit-sacr-scaled.jpg)
Catholic bishops with Society of St. Pius X locations in their areas are forbidding Catholics from attending SSPX services and urging attendees and SSPX priests to return to the Catholic Church.
![Procession urges dignity and respect for migrants at border crossing #Catholic Catholic bishops, clergy, and hundreds of faithful processed across the U.S.–Mexico border to celebrate the contribution of immigrants in America ahead of the 250th anniversary of the nation.
Catholic bishops, clergy, and hundreds of faithful attended the Border Mass 250 at Sacred Heart Church in Nogales, Arizona, on June 26, 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Brett Meister/Diocese of Phoenix
“Weʼre here as shepherds and as pastors to walk with people, to listen to people, and to be well together with the people of God here at the border,” Bishop James Misko of Tucson, Arizona, said at the event.“We call ourselves Christians. To be called a Christian means to be like Christ — to be living a life as conformed to Christ as possible. And we know that justice is being in right relationship with God and one another,” Misko said.Organized by the dioceses of Tucson and Phoenix in partnership with the Kino Border Initiative, the Hope Border Institute, and the Center for Migration Studies, the June 26 event included a conversation on immigration with U.S. Catholic bishops, Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Nogales, Arizona, and a rosary procession across the international line.The pastoral conversation on migration and human dignity “was a great conversation with five bishops about what the Church holds to be true when it comes to migration and human dignity,” Misko said.Misko and Bishop John Dolan of Phoenix were joined in conversation by Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas; and Bishop Emeritus Gerald Kicanas of Tucson.
Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas; Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Bishop James Misko of Tucson, Arizona; Bishop John Dolan of Phoenix; and Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona, gather for the Border Mass 250 in Nogales, Arizona on June 26, 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Brett Meister/Diocese of Phoenix
“As we mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we are reminded that we are made by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. Theyʼre given by God,” Seitz said at the event.“That is a fundamental reality that we in the Church always have in mind and that no policy, no executive order or Supreme Court decision can take away,” Seitz said.After the bishops celebrated Mass, the procession began at the Arizona parish and concluded at Parroquia De Pa Purísima Concepción — a Catholic church in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. The group ended the event with a meal with migrants hosted by the Kino Border Initiative.Mexican bishops José Luis Cerra Luna of Nogales and Enrique Sanchez Martinez of Mexicali also participated in the binational event.
U.S. and Mexican bishops celebrate the Border Mass 250 at Sacred Heart Church in Nogales, Arizona, on June 26, 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Brett Meister/Diocese of Phoenix
U.S. bishops have ‘almost complete unanimity’ on immigration matter“What is discouraging for me is that as a country, we have not yet been able to address the issue of immigration,” Kicanas said. “The conference of bishops has been clamoring, crying out, for comprehensive immigration reform, and we have not yet been able to accomplish that.”“We have to address the immigration policy of our country — as [do] most countries around the world today. Itʼs a serious concern. All of us want this situation to improve,” Kicanas said.
Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas; Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Bishop John Dolan of Phoenix; and Bishop James Misko of Tucson, Arizona, lead the Border Mass 250 rosary procession from Nogales, Arizona, to Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, on June 26, 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Brett Meister/Diocese of Phoenix
“The bishops have been advocating for comprehensive immigration reform for a long, long time,” and Border Mass 250 “was just one more example of that,” Wester said.The event followed other calls for reform including pastoral letters on immigration and a special message from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops highlighting their opposition to “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”The bishops approved the message at their 2025 fall plenary assembly on Nov. 12, 2025, where the motion passed with support from more than 95% of the American bishops who voted.“One of the key principles of Catholic social teaching is solidarity — that weʼre together,” Wester said. “But this is an issue, Iʼd say, that enjoys almost complete unanimity in the bishops’ conference.”The bishops are addressing the matter as communities across the country “are looking for a clear moral response to the human cost of mass detention and deportation,” Dylan Corbett, executive director at Hope Border Institute, told EWTN News.“In union with Pope Leo XIV, who will soon go to Lampedusa, the border Mass in Nogales was a way for the Catholic community to name the suffering, affirm the dignity of those affected by these policies, and commit to working for reform,” said Corbett, who is also a member of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.“In this moment, moral clarity must be matched by ongoing action that recognizes the contributions of immigrants to our country and the urgent need to work for justice,” he said.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/procession-urges-dignity-and-respect-for-migrants-at-border-crossing-catholic-catholic-bishops-clergy-and-hundreds-of-faithful-processed-across-the-u-s-mexico-border-to-celebrate-the-contr-scaled.jpg)
The Border Mass 250 included a conversation on immigration with U.S. Catholic bishops, celebration of a Mass, and a rosary procession across the international line.
The pope expressed solidarity with those affected by recent earthquakes, following a reflection on “detachment, loss and hospitality” in Christian love.
![Funding cuts force Catholic charity to scale back Rohingya aid in Bangladesh #Catholic Caritas Bangladesh has been forced to scale back its relief work for Rohingya refugees in the city of Coxʼs Bazar as funding from foreign donors declines, its emergency response director said.“Our biggest challenge now is funding,” said Liton Luis Gomes, project director of Caritas Bangladeshʼs Emergency Response Program.“We only received 60% of the funds we planned for this fiscal year; we didnʼt get the remaining 40%,” Gomes told EWTN News by phone. “Thatʼs why we had to reduce the quantity while maintaining the quality of our services.”The cuts have fallen hardest on shelter and hygiene work. “If we used to be able to repair 500 houses, now it has decreased by 50%. If someone asks for a hygiene kit like soap, we canʼt give it urgently,” Gomes said.A shrinking budgetThe decline in donor support has been steep. Caritas Bangladesh reported receiving about 916 million taka ($7.4 million) for its Rohingya response in 2017–18. Support fell to about 468 million taka ($3.8 million) in 2020 and about 417 million taka ($3.4 million) in 2024. It rose to about 531 million taka ($4.3 million) in 2025 before falling again to about 427 million taka ($3.5 million) so far in 2026, the agency said.Even so, Gomes said, the charity is maintaining the services that do not require money. “We are doing things like training volunteers for the crisis period, raising awareness about disaster relief,” he said.Caritas Bangladesh has worked in the camps since the 2017 exodus, providing shelter, water and sanitation, child protection, and education. Between 2017 and 2024, its shelter and settlement program reached an average of 38,335 households a year, the charity said, through transitional shelter assistance, repairs, tarpaulin distribution, and monsoon support. It runs 12 learning centers and two youth and adolescent centers in the camps, teaching children under the Myanmar curriculum.Lives in the campsThe charityʼs work is felt in individual lives. Mohammad Arshad, 23, who lives in Camp 19, has volunteered in the shelter program of Caritas Bangladeshʼs Emergency Response Program since 2018. He had studied up to class nine in Myanmar and helped his father run a grocery shop before the family was forced to flee. With no stable income and eight people to support, including his aging parents, his wife, his young son, and two younger siblings, he had lain awake wondering how he would provide.“The job was more than just a source of income; it gave me a sense of purpose. I learned how to organize workers, coordinate with engineers, and develop technical skills,” Arshad told EWTN News.“This opportunity had not only helped me; it supports my family but also [has] given me hope for a better future. As I watched my son sleep peacefully at night, [I] whispered silent thanks, to Caritas Bangladesh, to the people who had trusted me, to the strength that kept me going,” Arshad added.Momtaz Begum, a vulnerable woman who received income-generating support through Caritas, described a similar turnaround. “My husbandʼs addiction left us in debt, and after he abandoned us, I struggled to provide for my family by raising poultry and growing vegetables. The COVID-19 pandemic made things worse, leaving us without food or income. When our home was destroyed in the rain, I moved to my fatherʼs house, where I faced mistreatment from relatives,” she told EWTN News.On Jan. 18, 2022, Begum received 25,000 taka (about $200) from Caritas Bangladesh to start an income-generating activity. She used the money to expand her cloth business. “Earlier, I had to share profits with a shopkeeper, but now I buy cloth independently and keep all the profit. This has increased my daily earnings to 400-500 taka [about $3 to $4], allowing me to save … money,” Begum told EWTN News.A stateless peopleRohingya refugees have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since the 1970s. In the 1990s, more than 250,000 sheltered in Coxʼs Bazar, though all but 20,000 were repatriated after a campaign that began in the early 2000s. The influx resumed in 2015, and by 2017 an estimated 300,000 Rohingya were in Bangladesh. About 537,000 more fled across the border to Coxʼs Bazar in August 2017 as violence intensified in Myanmarʼs Rakhine state, prompting the United Nations to call the situation “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” By December 2023, 971,904 Rohingya were living in 33 camps in the Coxʼs Bazar district. Pope Francis met a group of Rohingya refugees during his apostolic visit to Bangladesh in 2017.Looking ahead, Caritas Bangladesh said it aims to build stronger links between the refugees it assists and local businesses, and to deepen cooperation with government and aid agencies, even within a tighter budget.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/funding-cuts-force-catholic-charity-to-scale-back-rohingya-aid-in-bangladesh-catholic-caritas-bangladesh-has-been-forced-to-scale-back-its-relief-work-for-rohingya-refugees-in-the-city-of-coxcabcs.jpg "Funding cuts force Catholic charity to scale back Rohingya aid in Bangladesh #Catholic Caritas Bangladesh has been forced to scale back its relief work for Rohingya refugees in the city of Coxʼs Bazar as funding from foreign donors declines, its emergency response director said.“Our biggest challenge now is funding,” said Liton Luis Gomes, project director of Caritas Bangladeshʼs Emergency Response Program.“We only received 60% of the funds we planned for this fiscal year; we didnʼt get the remaining 40%,” Gomes told EWTN News by phone. “Thatʼs why we had to reduce the quantity while maintaining the quality of our services.”The cuts have fallen hardest on shelter and hygiene work. “If we used to be able to repair 500 houses, now it has decreased by 50%. If someone asks for a hygiene kit like soap, we canʼt give it urgently,” Gomes said.A shrinking budgetThe decline in donor support has been steep. Caritas Bangladesh reported receiving about 916 million taka ($7.4 million) for its Rohingya response in 2017–18. Support fell to about 468 million taka ($3.8 million) in 2020 and about 417 million taka ($3.4 million) in 2024. It rose to about 531 million taka ($4.3 million) in 2025 before falling again to about 427 million taka ($3.5 million) so far in 2026, the agency said.Even so, Gomes said, the charity is maintaining the services that do not require money. “We are doing things like training volunteers for the crisis period, raising awareness about disaster relief,” he said.Caritas Bangladesh has worked in the camps since the 2017 exodus, providing shelter, water and sanitation, child protection, and education. Between 2017 and 2024, its shelter and settlement program reached an average of 38,335 households a year, the charity said, through transitional shelter assistance, repairs, tarpaulin distribution, and monsoon support. It runs 12 learning centers and two youth and adolescent centers in the camps, teaching children under the Myanmar curriculum.Lives in the campsThe charityʼs work is felt in individual lives. Mohammad Arshad, 23, who lives in Camp 19, has volunteered in the shelter program of Caritas Bangladeshʼs Emergency Response Program since 2018. He had studied up to class nine in Myanmar and helped his father run a grocery shop before the family was forced to flee. With no stable income and eight people to support, including his aging parents, his wife, his young son, and two younger siblings, he had lain awake wondering how he would provide.“The job was more than just a source of income; it gave me a sense of purpose. I learned how to organize workers, coordinate with engineers, and develop technical skills,” Arshad told EWTN News.“This opportunity had not only helped me; it supports my family but also [has] given me hope for a better future. As I watched my son sleep peacefully at night, [I] whispered silent thanks, to Caritas Bangladesh, to the people who had trusted me, to the strength that kept me going,” Arshad added.Momtaz Begum, a vulnerable woman who received income-generating support through Caritas, described a similar turnaround. “My husbandʼs addiction left us in debt, and after he abandoned us, I struggled to provide for my family by raising poultry and growing vegetables. The COVID-19 pandemic made things worse, leaving us without food or income. When our home was destroyed in the rain, I moved to my fatherʼs house, where I faced mistreatment from relatives,” she told EWTN News.On Jan. 18, 2022, Begum received 25,000 taka (about $200) from Caritas Bangladesh to start an income-generating activity. She used the money to expand her cloth business. “Earlier, I had to share profits with a shopkeeper, but now I buy cloth independently and keep all the profit. This has increased my daily earnings to 400-500 taka [about $3 to $4], allowing me to save … money,” Begum told EWTN News.A stateless peopleRohingya refugees have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since the 1970s. In the 1990s, more than 250,000 sheltered in Coxʼs Bazar, though all but 20,000 were repatriated after a campaign that began in the early 2000s. The influx resumed in 2015, and by 2017 an estimated 300,000 Rohingya were in Bangladesh. About 537,000 more fled across the border to Coxʼs Bazar in August 2017 as violence intensified in Myanmarʼs Rakhine state, prompting the United Nations to call the situation “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” By December 2023, 971,904 Rohingya were living in 33 camps in the Coxʼs Bazar district. Pope Francis met a group of Rohingya refugees during his apostolic visit to Bangladesh in 2017.Looking ahead, Caritas Bangladesh said it aims to build stronger links between the refugees it assists and local businesses, and to deepen cooperation with government and aid agencies, even within a tighter budget.")
As foreign donations dwindle, the Catholic Church’s relief agency in Bangladesh is repairing fewer shelters and rationing hygiene supplies for Rohingya refugees who depend on it.
On June 18, the pope issued a decree recognizing the heroic virtue of the foundress of the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate in New York, among several others.
God’s “divine love gives meaning to the life of every person and, far from ending with death, invites us to a new fullness in eternity,” the pope said.
Thousands gathered at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on June 10 for Mass and a Eucharistic procession through downtown Baltimore.
The October gathering follows a pastoral letter by Bishop Antonio Suetta on charity, Christian witness, and the proclamation of the Gospel to Muslims living in the diocese.
The pontiff praised Venerable Sheen, who will be beatified Sept. 24, as “a light of faith, hope, and love” whose radio and television broadcasts brought the Gospel to millions.
