Editing Marcel Lefebvre (section)

=== Aftermath ===
On 2 July, [[Pope John Paul II]] condemned the consecration in his apostolic letter ''[[Ecclesia Dei]]'', in which he stated that the consecration constituted a schismatic act and that the bishops and priests involved were automatically excommunicated:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_commissions/ecclsdei/documents/hf_jp-ii_motu-proprio_02071988_ecclesia-dei_en.html|title = Apostolic Letter "Ecclesia Dei"}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|In itself, this act was one of disobedience to the Roman Pontiff in a very grave matter and of supreme importance for the unity of the church, such as is the ordination of bishops whereby the apostolic succession is sacramentally perpetuated. Hence such disobedience – which implies in practice the rejection of the Roman primacy – constitutes a schismatic act. In performing such an act, notwithstanding the formal canonical warning sent to them by the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops on 17 June last, Mons. Lefebvre and the priests Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson and Alfonso de Galarreta, have incurred the grave penalty of excommunication envisaged by ecclesiastical law (cf. ''Code of Canon Law'', can. 1382).}}
Lefebvre responded by contradicting Pope John Paul II, saying that he and the other clerics involved had not "separated themselves from Rome" and were not schismatic.<ref name="sermon" /> He invoked canon 1323 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law that they "found themselves in a case of necessity", not having succeeded, as they said, in making "Rome" understand that "this change which has occurred in the Church" since the Second Vatican Council was "not Catholic".{{efn|"Thus, we find ourselves in a case of necessity. We have done all we could, trying to help Rome to understand that they had to come back to the attitudes of the holy Pius XII and of all his predecessors. Bishop de Castro Mayer and myself have gone to Rome, we have spoken, we have sent letters, several times to Rome. We have tried by these talks, by all these means, to succeed in making Rome understand that, since the Council and since aggiornamento, this change which has occurred in the Church is not Catholic, is not in conformity to the doctrine of all times. This ecumenism and all these errors, this collegiality&nbsp;— all this is contrary to the Faith of the Church, and is in the process of destroying the Church."<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Archbishop-Lefebvre/Episcopal-Consecration.htm | title =Sermon on the occasion of the Episcopal Consecration | first =Marcel |last = Lefebvre | date=June 1988}}</ref>}} In a letter addressed to the four priests he was about to consecrate as bishops, Lefebvre wrote: "I do not think one can say that Rome has not lost the Faith."<ref>[http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Archbishop-Lefebvre/To_the_Four_Bishops_Elect_June_13_1988.htm Letter to the Four Bishops Elect] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924105339/http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Archbishop-Lefebvre/To_the_Four_Bishops_Elect_June_13_1988.htm |date=24 September 2015 }}. Sspxasia.com. 13 June 1988.</ref>

On 18 July, twelve priests and some seminarians led by [[Josef Bisig]] left the SSPX because of the Ecône consecrations.<ref name="synod">{{Cite conference | title = Audition of the Auditors II | book-title = ''Synodus Episcoporum'' Bulletin | publisher = Holy See Press Office | date = 27 October 2001 | url = https://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/sinodo/documents/bollettino_20_x-ordinaria-2001/02_inglese/b18_02.html#Rev._Arnaud_DEVILLERS,_F.S.S.P.,_Superior_General_of_the_Fraternity_of_the_Priests_of_St._Peter_(United_States_of_America) | access-date = 10 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | last = Devillers | first = Arnaud | title = A Response to Christopher Ferrara | publisher = Latin Mass Magazine | date =Summer 2002 | url = http://www.latinmassmagazine.com/articles/articles_2002_SU_Devillers.html | access-date = 10 June 2010 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040414032730/http://www.latinmassmagazine.com/articles/articles_2002_SU_Devillers.html | archive-date = 14 April 2004 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> Bisig became the first superior general of the newly formed [[Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter]] (FSSP), a group that reached an agreement with the Holy See.