Lefebvre, Marcel François (1905–1991)

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’.