AN order of Catholic monks based in Orkney has sparked a major crisis with the Vatican after consecrating a bishop without approval from the Pope.
The Sons of the Holy Redeemer, a Transalpine Redemptorist community of Catholic traditionalists, own the island of Papa Stronsay, where their Golgotha monastery is located.
Their superior, 73-year-old Father Michael Mary, was consecrated as a bishop in a four-hour ceremony streamed online on Saturday.
The move has drawn a sharp rebuke from the Diocese of Aberdeen, which has jurisdiction over the Order and has already branded the consecration an “act of schism”.
In a pastoral letter to all parishes, the Bishop of Aberdeen, Rt Rev Hugh Gilbert, warned the monks that they were “breaking the unity of the Church” and described the event as “spiritual suicide” for those who take part.
The Order is already under investigation by the Vatican. The monks are Catholic traditionalists who deny the legitimacy of Pope Leo XIV and his predecessors stretching back around 60 years, rejecting changes brought in after the Second Vatican Council.
The ceremony on Papa Stronsay has generated international attention thanks to the Order’s online following among traditionalist Catholics, particularly in the Americas. Some say the decision to proceed without a papal mandate is a direct challenge to Rome’s authority.
“Father Michael Mary is being consecrated as a bishop without a Papal mandate. This is incredibly significant within the Catholic Church because all bishops should have the approval of the Pope,” said Luke Coppen, senior commentator with US Catholic website, The Pillar.
“The lack of this permission means the ceremony will constitute a formal break with the communion of the Catholic Church.”
Coppen told BBC Radio Scotland that he believes the community is deliberately seeking an independent future beyond Vatican oversight.
“I think the community is seeking to perpetuate itself in the coming decades and it's very hard to do that without a bishop,” he said.
“A bishop also gives them an independent source of continuity outside of Rome, because Rome is looking very carefully at this community and I think will not approve further ordinations within it.”
In a recent blog, Mary attacked what he called a “new religion” within the contemporary Catholic Church, accusing it of “the obliteration of the Latin Mass, the Catechism and the Sacraments of the True Church.”
American traditionalist commentator Stephen Kokx, editor-in-chief of Integrity magazine, said the monks serve as a thorn in the side of “the squatters who currently occupy positions of influence in the Vatican”.
He added: “If they are excommunicated, they should consider it a mark of honour.”
