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Pope Leo XIV has reportedly excommunicated about 500,000 members of the traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), escalating one of the Roman Catholic Church’s longest-running internal disputes after the group defied papal authority by consecrating four new bishops without Vatican approval.

The disciplinary action followed Wednesday’s episcopal consecrations in Geneva, carried out despite explicit instructions from Pope Leo XIV that the ceremony should not proceed.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Vatican announced that the Society’s bishops had been excommunicated and said members of the SSPX were to be regarded as being in schism from the Catholic Church. The Holy See, however, stressed that members who choose to leave the group and return to full communion with Rome would be welcomed back.

The SSPX, founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, was established in opposition to reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council, which reshaped Catholic liturgy and the Church’s engagement with the modern world.

The group, estimated to have about 600,000 followers worldwide, rejects several post-Vatican II reforms, including the widespread use of local languages during Mass. Its members continue to celebrate the liturgy in Latin, receive Holy Communion while kneeling and directly on the tongue, and maintain other traditional Catholic practices.

Reacting to the Vatican’s decision, SSPX member Rita Reid of Jersey in the Channel Islands said the announcement would not weaken her commitment to the Society.

“It actually makes me feel quite strong.

“Before the consecrations yesterday I said to my husband, ‘Do you know what? Even if they excommunicate us, go ahead, bring it on, it’s not going to make one bit of difference.’”

The Vatican maintained that the Society’s clergy administer the sacraments unlawfully.

“The sacred ministers of the Society of St Pius X administer the sacraments illicitly, while the sacrament of penance they administer and the marriages they witness are invalid,” the Holy See said.

Although tensions between Rome and the SSPX have persisted for decades, relations had improved in recent years, raising expectations that the latest dispute could be resolved without severe sanctions. While many observers anticipated disciplinary action against the bishops who carried out the illicit consecrations, the reported extension of the measure to the Society’s wider membership has drawn significant attention.

Excommunication is among the most severe canonical penalties in the Catholic Church, placing those affected outside full communion with the Church and preventing them from receiving sacraments such as Holy Communion, confession and marriage within the Catholic faith.

Despite the Vatican’s action, many SSPX members continue to insist that it is the Holy See—not the Society—that has departed from authentic Catholic teaching, underscoring the deep theological divide that continues to separate the traditionalist movement from Rome.

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Palestinian goalkeeper, Saleem Al-Ashqar was k!lled earlier this week in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army.

The football player was riding his bicycle to refill a gas cylinder for his home when the area came under heavy fire from an Israeli tank stationed nearby, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) told The New Arab, adding that he was struck by a stray bullet that lodged in his abdomen.

The PFA added that he was immediately rushed to hospital, where examinations revealed severe internal hemorrhaging and extensive damage to his stomach, intestines, liver, and pancreas.

“Despite medical efforts, the hospital’s severely limited capabilities—exacerbated by the collapse of Gaza’s health sector due to the ongoing war of extermination, as well as shortages of equipment, electricity, and medical staff—made it impossible to control the internal bleeding. Given the severity of his injuries, Al-Ashqar passed away about two hours after arriving at the hospital,” spokesperson Dima Youssef told TNA.

Throughout his athletic career, Al-Ashqar played for Khadamat Khan Younis, Al-Aqsa and Al-Masdar in the Gaza Strip. He leaves behind his wife, whom he married just five months ago and who is expecting their first child.

Al-Ashqar, who was the only son in his family, is also survived by his seven sisters.

His death brings the total number of Palestinian sports people killed since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza to 1,009, which includes at least 567 footballers.

Among them was Suleiman al-Obeid, who was shot and killed by Israeli forces as he attempted to collect humanitarian aid in August last year, in one of the most high-profile killings of a Palestinian sportsperson since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

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Iran’s most senior clerics have called for the ass@ss!nations of President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The 88-member Assembly of Experts issued a 10-point statement in which they said k!lling “the wicked prime minister of the Zionist regime” and “the criminal American president” was a religious duty that must be carried out “under any circumstances.”

The clerics, who are constitutionally tasked with choosing and supervising the supreme leader, wrote that the call for their ass@ss!nations and avenging the death of supreme leader Ali Khamenei was of “paramount” importance.

“It is obligatory upon any duty-bound person who gains access to these criminals to send them to hell,” they wrote.

In another development, Iranian newspaper Hamshahri ran a front-page story featuring Trump’s face in the crosshairs of a rifle scope with a banner headline reading “Revenge is certain.”

The clerics also warned that the ongoing cease-fire negotiations to end the war that has raged since Feb. 28, was merely a delay tactic to give the US more time to plan another round of attacks.

“The likelihood of a renewed attack after will be very high the matters raised in the memorandum of understanding must be resolved within the stipulated 30-day and 60-day deadlines,” they wrote, referring to the terms in the 14-point memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran aimed at ending the war.

They further urged supporters of the Iranian regime to take to the streets “in the leader’s name,” adding that “the people’s presence is necessary and decisive.”