Piusbrüder Contest Excommunication as Rome Deems Appeal Doomed to Fail

Herz — World Desk · 18 July 2026 at 11:08 · 30s summary · 3 min read

What We Know

Marc Hanappier, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, Michael Goldade, and Pascal Schreiber were consecrated as bishops on July 1, 2026, in a ceremony in Écône, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). This consecration resulted in their automatic excommunication.

The Piusbrüder have filed an appeal (Einspruch) with the Vatican. The fraternity invokes the right of any person harmed by an ecclesiastical administrative act to request its correction, in a spirit of respect for papal authority.

Rome judges the appeal to have no chance of success. The Vatican rules out any reversal: partly because the penalty is automatic, and partly because Pope Leo XIV had explicitly warned the fraternity of the consequences before the ceremony.

Excommunication Under Canon Law

Excommunication is the most severe penalty in canon law. An excommunicated person remains Catholic—baptism is irrevocable—but may no longer receive the sacraments nor, if a priest, administer them.

When the Vatican officially declares an excommunication, priests and the faithful are called upon to prevent the excommunicated from participating in the sacraments.

In this case, it is an automatic penalty under canon law—known in German as Tatstrafe. Any episcopal consecration without papal authorization automatically triggers the sanction by law. The Vatican did not impose the penalty: it merely declared that the penalty had occurred.

This mechanism has applied in other contexts. In 2002, seven women ordained as priests by an excommunicated priest on a boat on the Danube near Aschach, Austria, were also automatically excommunicated. In 1949, Pope Pius XII applied the same principle to Catholics professing or defending communist doctrine.

Avenues of Appeal

The Einspruch is a prerequisite for any formal complaint. If the Vatican rejects it, the Piusbrüder can as a last resort petition the Apostolic Signatura in Rome, the supreme judicial authority of the Catholic Church.

Timeline

1. 1988
   First excommunication of Piusbrüder bishops following unauthorized consecrations.
2. 2009
   Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication by papal grace, 21 years later, after the fraternity's superior general assured him of recognition of papal authority.
3. Consecration of four new bishops in Écône, resulting in their automatic excommunication. The Piusbrüder filed an Einspruch with the Vatican, which Rome deems futile.