Alfonso de Galarreta

Alfonso de Galarreta Genua FSSPX (born 14 January 1957) is a Spanish-born Argentine excommunicated^[1] Traditionalist Catholic bishop who has served as an Auxiliary Bishop of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) since 1988. Since 2018, de Galarreta has served as the First Assistant of the Society of Saint Pius X, working under the direction of the Superior General Davide Pagliarani.^[2] In addition to this, Bishop de Galaretta has been the President of the SSPX–Vatican Commission since 2009, which directs the Society's correspondence with the Holy See.^[3]

During the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI in 2009, the Holy See officially declared the remission of the SSPX's contested automatic excommunications.^[4]

In 2026, Bishop de Galarreta was again excommunicated from the Catholic Church for consecrating four bishops without a papal mandate and against the direct orders of Pope Leo XIV.

1988 Écône consecrations

In June 1988, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre announced his intention to consecrate de Galarreta and three other priests (Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, and Richard Williamson) as bishops. Lefebvre did not have a pontifical mandate for these consecrations (i.e. permission from the pope), normally required by Canon 1382 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law. On 17 June 1988 Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, sent the four priests a formal canonical warning that he would automatically incur the penalty of excommunication if they were to be consecrated by Lefebvre without papal permission.

On 30 June 1988 de Galarreta and the three other priests were consecrated bishop by Archbishop Lefebvre and Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer. On 1 July 1988 Cardinal Gantin issued a declaration stating that Lefebvre, de Castro Mayer, de Galarreta, and the three other newly-ordained bishops "have incurred ipso facto the excommunication latae sententiae reserved to the Apostolic See".

On 2 July 1988, Pope John Paul II issued the motu proprio Ecclesia Dei, in which he reaffirmed the excommunication, and described the consecration as an act of "disobedience to the Roman pontiff in a very grave matter and of supreme importance for the unity of the Church", and that "such disobedience – which implies in practice the rejection of the Roman primacy – constitutes a schismatic act".^[5]

The SSPX denied the legal validity of the excommunication, saying that the consecrations were necessary due to a moral and theological crisis in the Catholic Church and thus continued to operate regardless.^{[6][7][8][9][10]}

In 2009, the excommunications were remitted by Pope Benedict XVI.^[11] The canonical situation of the four bishops thus became the same as that of the other clergy of the Society, who are suspended a divinis.^[12]

2026 Écône consecrations

For principally consecrating four bishops against the explicit orders of Pope Leo XIV, and doing so without a papal mandate, In July 2026, Alfonso and Bishop Bernard Fellay were automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church.^[13]