Despite papal appeal and SSPX response, thousands of people are already in the Canton of Valais, Switzerland, ready to witness the episcopal consecrations organized by the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX).
For those who wish to follow the ceremonies, the episcopal consecrations will be broadcast by the SSPX official channel on YouTube (embedded below). The broadcast will start at 8:15 am local and Rome time (Central European Summer Time or GMT+2), or 2:15 am at Eastern Daylight Time in the US and Canada. The consecrations will start at 9 am local time.
Here is the sequence of scheduled events in Écône:
In the US/Canada, the schedule is the following, converted to Eastern Daylight Time (EDT):
03:00 AM EDT: Pontifical Mass of Episcopal Consecrations begins
07:00 AM EDT: Consecration ceremony ends (approximate estimation based on traditional Pontifical liturgies)
08:00 AM EDT: Meal / Lunch in Écône
11:00 AM EDT: Second Pontifical Vespers of the Precious Blood
What will be the timeline in Rome? We cannot be sure, but can only be guided by how events proceeded in the first SSPX consecrations, on June 30th, 1988:
(1) Two hours after the consecrations in Écône (that is, on June 30, 1988, at approximately 11 am local and Rome time, 5 am EDT), the Holy See released an initial statement declaring that the participants had excommunicated themselves.
(2) The following day (July 1, 1988), Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, published the formal decree confirming the automatic excommunications.
(3) On July 2, 1988, Pope John Paul II published the motu proprio Ecclesia Dei Adflicta.
