July 2 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV excommunicated members of the Society of St. Pius X after they consecrated four bishops against the will of the church.

The group consecrated four new bishops Wednesday. The Vatican called it “an act of a schismatic nature” and said it was the “episcopal consecration of four presbyters, without pontifical mandate and against the will of the Supreme Pontiff.”

The SSPX ceremony happened in Écône, Switzerland, where the group was created in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. It opposed what they saw as the liberalization of the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

The church excommunicated the group in 1988 after it consecrated four bishops, but Pope Benedict lifted the excommunications in 2009.

The four men consecrated by SSPX were: Pascal Schreiber of Switzerland; Michael Goldade of Williston, N.D.; Michel Poinsinet de Sivry of France; and Marc Hanappier of France. But the excommunication this time includes those consecrated as well as those who did the consecration, namely the two priests who led the ceremony.

The Church added that priests who are members of the society and lay members who “formally adhere” to the group are also excommunicated.

Before the ceremony, Leo issued a last-minute appeal to the group to “desist from your intended act” and a warning that ordaining the men was “a sin of extreme gravity.” The Vatican also warned the bishops of excommunication if they went ahead with the ceremony.

Pope Francis allowed the SSPX to administer the sacraments of marriage and confession, but now any marriage or confession by the group is considered invalid to the Catholic Church.

But, “the Church, as a caring mother, will welcome with sincere affection and active care all those who wish to return to full communion.”

Known by the Church as the “Lefebvrists,” the group does have a headquarters in Missouri and a seminary in Dillwyn, Va.

One of the newly ordained and excommunicated bishops, Goldade, said after the ordinations that “The ‘modernist church’ is a desert that kills everything that it touches.”

On June 16, Leo told reporters about the planned ordination: “If that is the choice they make, I am sorry, but we must move forward.”