Pope Leo XIV confirmed the election of heretical Fr. Beat Grögli as bishop St. Gallen. Grögli said that ‘the women's priesthood will come,’ among other heterodox statements.
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) -- Pope Leo XIV has confirmed the election of a heterodox priest who supports "women’s ordination" to be the new bishop of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Father Beat Grögli, the pastor of the Cathedral of St. Gallen, will be the new bishop of the diocese on Wednesday. The day before, he was elected by the cathedral chapter, a group of 13 local priests.
Due to the Concordat of 1845 between the Holy See and the Catholic Swiss state Church authority, the bishop of St. Gallen is chosen by the cathedral chapter with input from the local Catholic College, a type of church parliament that is elected by the Catholics in the diocese and also consists of laypeople. The Holy See can then confirm or deny the elected man as bishop.
“I simply take great pleasure in the trust that the cathedral chapter has placed in me,” the 54-year-old Grögli said upon his election. He chose “In concordiam Christi,” which translates to “In the harmony of Christ,” as his motto.
Grögli was ordained a priest in 1998 by Bishop Ivo Fürer and has been the parish priest of the landmark St. Gallen cathedral since 2013. He is a strong proponent of "female ordination," in blatant contradiction to Catholic doctrine. He has said that the Church needs “a broad roof” and, according to a report by SRF, stated in response to a diocese's questionnaire that “The ordained ministry [Holy Orders] can no longer just be a matter for men.”
During a press conference after his election, he reiterated: “The women's priesthood will come” but also stressed that “we have to walk the path together,” in reference to the Universal Church.
The Catholic Church teaches that only men can be admitted to the Sacrament of Holy Orders. In his 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, Pope John Paul II reaffirmed this perennial teaching:
Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.
Grögli has reportedly expressed support for homosexual "blessings" as well and claimed that the Church should "adapt" its teaching on marriage, sexuality morality, and contraception.
Grögli’s fondness for "female ordinations" can also be seen in his actions. During several Holy Masses recorded on video in the St. Gallen Cathedral that Grögli celebrated, women read the Gospel and gave the sermon, in contradiction to canon law and liturgical provisions for Mass. While giving a sermon during a Holy Mass in the Carnival season, Grögli put on a colorful court jester’s hat.
Grögli’s ordination will take place on Saturday, July 5, 2025, in the St. Gallen Cathedral. Until then, Bishop Markus Büchel will continue to lead the diocese as apostolic administrator.
The St. Gallen MafiaThe Diocese of St. Gallen is known to most Catholics as the meeting place of the infamous St. Gallen Mafia, a group of high-ranking, heterodox clerics who opposed Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s election to the papacy in 2005 and reportedly plotted to elect Jorge Mario Bergoglio as pope. The group had multiple meetings in St. Gallen, Switzerland, between 1995 and 2006.
The meetings were hosted by Bishop Ivo Fürer, who ordained Grögli a priest. Fürer was a heterodox cleric who has been accused of covering up sexual abuse cases in his diocese. His successor and now still administrator of the diocese, Bishop Markus Büchel, is known for his heterodox positions on homosexual behavior.
Already in 2013, Büchel called upon homosexual priests to "come out" and not to hide their homosexuality. He was then the president of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference.
It was also under Büchel's leadership that the Swiss Bishops’ Conference asked Dr. Arnd Bünker, an LGBT activist and promoter of “homosexual liturgies,” to write up a report for the Synod of Bishops on the Family in Rome. That report asked for the admittance of “remarried” divorcees to Holy Communion.
