The ÉcôÉcône consecrations were Catholic episcopal consecrations in Écône, Switzerland, on 30 June 1988 performed by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer. The bishops consecrated were four priests of Lefebvre's Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX). The consecrations, performed against the explicit orders of Pope John Paul II, represented a milestone in the troubled relationship of Lefebvre and the SSPX with the Church leadership. The Holy See's Congregation for Bishops issued a decree signed by its Prefect Cardinal Bernardin Gantin declaring that Lefebvre and De Castro Mayer had incurred automatic excommunication by consecrating the bishops without papal consent, thus putting himself and his followers in schism.
On 24 January 2009, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications of the four bishops Lefebvre had consecrated in 1988.
Canon law
Under the Catholic 1983 Code of Canon Law, canon 1013, the consecration of a bishop requires the permission of the Pope; and according to canon 1014 (unless a papal dispensation has been granted) at least three consecrating bishops are needed. Violation of the rule requiring the Pope's permission entails automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication of both the consecrator and the recipient of the consecration. In this case there was not only an absence of permission but an actual prohibition by the Pope.
Lefebvre and his supporters argued that the circumstances under which the consecrations took place were such that none of the clergy involved was truly excommunicated. One of their arguments was that a "state of necessity" existed in which the ordinary provisions of canon law could be set aside. The Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts rejected this argument, stating in a 1996 explanatory note that "there is never a necessity to ordain Bishops contrary to the will of the Roman Pontiff". Consecrating a bishop without papal approval was also condemned by Pope Pius XII after the Chinese government set up the state-sanctioned Catholic Patriotic Association in 1957. Pius XII stated that the sacramental activity of illicitly consecrated bishops was "gravely" so, "that is, criminal and sacrilegious", and rejected the defence of necessity put forward by those involved.
Announcement of the consecrations
In the 1980s, Lefebvre's stance changed. In 1983 (at the age of 78), while in the United States, he reportedly sounded out his American priests about the prospect of him consecrating bishops. Those superiors who objected to the idea were removed from their posts as a result. In 1986–1987, the Society's adherents in St Mary's, Kansas, were required to attend a series of catechetical sessions in which they were prepared for the forthcoming consecrations and their fallout.
At the age of 82, Lefebvre first publicly announced his intention to consecrate bishops in a sermon at an ordination Mass in Écône on 29 June 1987, in which he declared that "Rome is in darkness, in the darkness of error", and that "the bishops of the whole world are following the false ideas of the Council with their ecumenism and liberalism". He concluded: "This is why it is likely that before I give account of my life to the good Lord, I shall have to consecrate some bishops".
Discussions with the Holy See
Lefebvre and the Holy See engaged in dialogue and, on 5 May 1988, Lefebvre and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) signed the text of an agreement intended to end the dispute and open the way for the consecration of a successor to Lefebvre. In the first, doctrinal, part of the document, Lefebvre, in his own name and on behalf of the SSPX, promised fidelity to the Catholic Church and to the Pope, accepted the doctrine contained in section 25 of the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium on the Church's magisterium, pledged a non-polemical attitude of communication with the Holy See on the problematic aspects of Vatican II, recognized the validity of the revised sacraments, and promised to respect the common discipline of the Church and her law. The second, legal part of the document envisaged that the SSPX would become a Society of Apostolic Life with certain exemptions, it would have the faculty to celebrate the Tridentine rites, a special commission including two members of the SSPX to resolve conflicts, and a member of the SSPX to be consecrated as a bishop.
This document was to be submitted to the Pope for his approval. However, Lefebvre quickly came to the view that he was being enticed into a trap. The very next day, he declared he was obliged in conscience to proceed, with or without papal approval, to ordain on 30 June a bishop to succeed him.