Bishop Michael Mary of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer (FSSR) delivered his first sermon as a bishop on 26 July, the day after his illicit consecration, in which he said he had no papal mandate “because there is no pope”.

Bishop Michael Mary was consecrated at the island monastery of Papa Stronsay by sedevacantist Bishop Pierre Roy, with Bishops Rodrigo Ribeiro da Silva and Fernando Altamira as co-consecrators.

Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen announced Bishop Michael Mary had been excommunicated on the same day the consecration took place.  

In his sermon, Bishop Michael Mary said the Congregation of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer had tried its best “to fit in with those who looked like Catholics.”

Referring to the Church hierarchy, he said: “They looked like Catholics. If you were in the wrong, they certainly spoke with authority. Whether they are guilty in their souls, nobody knows and we do not foment against them. But we know for ourselves that we are happy to be away from their clutches.”

The bishop, who founded the community in 1988 with the blessing of Archbishop Lefebvre, said they were praying “for them and I’m sure in their own ways they are praying for us”.

“We are not saying they are wicked; I am not saying they are wicked. But what they do is wicked,” he said. “Because the species of man that makes up the Catholic Church, that species is being driven out, changed, perverted.”

The community issued a statement on May 2 in which they announced their adoption of a sedevacantist position that did not recognise the post-Vatican II popes. In his statement following the consecration, Bishop Gilbert said that the Diocese of Aberdeen had “for some time” been pursuing a canonical process against the then-Fr Michael Mary as a result of the community’s sedevacantist position.

Bishop Gilbert said: “At the same time, statements were made and actions taken calling into doubt the validity of ordinations in the post-conciliar rites. Further affirmations posed an opposition between an ‘old’ and ‘new’ Church. All of this is instinctively repugnant to the Catholic sense of the faith, exposes those involved to ecclesiastical penalties and, unless repudiated, separates them from the communion of the Catholic Church.”

The bishop continued: “Regrettably, I find Fr Michael Mary guilty of the charges brought against him, most notably that of schism. He is therefore declared to be excommunicated, dismissed from ecclesiastical office, and prohibited from the celebration of Mass or the other sacraments.”

The statement concluded by inviting those involved in the consecration to “repent and to return to that union which they once enjoyed”.

In response to the announcement of his excommunication, Bishop Michael Mary said the “abundant peace that pervades our consciences is ample confirmation to us all that we are Catholics” and that they were “made free from the hostage situations that we have survived these past several years”.

Bishop Michael said: “These men are in the bosom and heart of the Church and open the great movement of apostasy. The pre-Vatican II popes have judged the Vatican II popes.”