Vatican bans sect's ordinations

The Vatican has banned a small group of breakaway traditionalist Catholics from ordaining more priests and deacons.

The Society of St Pius X (SSPX), which split from the Vatican in 1970, plans to ordain more than 30 men in June.

But in a statement, the Vatican said sect members were not entitled to exercise their ministry and that any ordi- nations would be "illegitimate." ...

SSPX was founded by a French archbishop, Marcel Lefebvre, in 1970 as a protest against the Second Vatican Council's reforms on religious freedom and pluralism.

It claims to have almost 500 priests as members and says it is active in more than 60 countries.

From the BBC