India, July 3 -- The Vatican has excommunicated members of the conservative Catholic group Society of St Pius X (SSPX). This came a day after it defied Pope Leo XIV by consecrating four new bishops without his approval, despite repeated warnings from the Vatican not to do so.

The papacy has now expelled SSPX priests and Catholics who officially identify with the group. The SSPX can no longer officially perform important Church ceremonies such as marriages and confessions, the Vatican said.

The SSPX was founded in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. The group opposed many of the reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), a series of meetings held between 1962 and 1965 that modernised many aspects of the Catholi...