Fr. Jan Dohnalik, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Kraków, Poland, said the move reflects Pope Leo XIV's episcopal motto, "In Illo uno unum"  — "In the One, we are one."

The Vatican said members of a breakaway right-wing Catholic group that ordained bishops without Pope Leo's approval have been excommunicated.

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has formally declared the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) to be in schism after the group consecrated four bishops without the approval of Pope Leo XIV. The Vatican also excommunicated the bishops involved and announced additional sanctions affecting the group’s clergy and members,

The Vatican said members of a breakaway Catholic group that ordained bishops without Pope Leo's approval have been excommunicated.

Over two days, 178 of the world's cardinals gathered at the Vatican to discuss a sprawling agenda that ranged from the Catholic Church's efforts to become a more listening body to its moral teaching on war.

The traditionalist Catholics who defied Pope Leo XIV and caused a schism defended their actions Friday. The head of the Society of St. Pius X wrote to Leo a day after the Vatican excommunicated the group’s bishops and priests and warned its faithful they too could be excommunicated for participating in the schism,