1905- . French Catholic priest in open
conflict with the Roman Catholic Church. In
1976, he was suspended by Pope Paul VI for
the unauthorized ordination of priests at his
Swiss headquarters. He continued and in June
1988 he was excommunicated by Pope John Paul
II, in the first formal schism within the
church since 1870. Ordained in 1929, Lefebvre
was a missionary and an archbishop in West
Africa until 1962. He opposed the
liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican
Council 1962-65 and formed the `Priestly
Cofraternity of Pius X'.