After excommunication, priest from ultra-conservative group bets on return to the Church under 'another pope'

Vatican excommunicates bishops from ultra-conservative group
A priest from a dissident Catholic sect excommunicated earlier this week told the faithful this Sunday (5) that the group will be accepted back into the Catholic Church under the command of a different pope.
The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius (1st).
The group showed no regret over the schism with Rome, saying the pontiff failed to listen to their concerns.
"One day there will be another pope who will open the door and welcome us back. Just like Pope Benedict [XVI]," said Father Georg Kopf during a mass held in the city of Wil, in northeastern Switzerland.
Founded in 1970, the fraternity is based in Switzerland but has followers around the world.
The group accuses the Church of deviating from the true faith, maintains the practice of the traditional Latin Mass and rejects formal dialogue with non-Catholics.
History of ruptures
This is not the first time that the group has faced a rupture with the Vatican. In the late 1980s, the fraternity's founder, Marcel Lefebvre, consecrated four bishops without the approval of Pope John Paul II, which resulted in the excommunication of those involved.
This photograph shows the tonsure of consecrated French bishop Michel Poinsinet de Sivry during the schismatic consecration of bishops by the Society of Saint Pius July 2026.
FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP
They were readmitted in 2009, however, when Pope Benedict XVI sought the unification of the Church and lifted the punishment.
"I am convinced that there will be another pope like him, who will give tradition its rightful place again. Of course, we would like that to happen tomorrow," Kopf added.
The Vatican said it offered dialogue to the group before the schism and that the ordination of bishops without the Church's approval is considered such a serious offense that excommunication is automatic.
"Nothing that happened on July 1 was intended to establish a parallel church or to break with Rome," Kopf said in his sermon, delivered in German.
"On the contrary, it was precisely out of love for the Church and the Pope that these ordinations were carried out, to ensure the salvation of souls."

Source: G1