Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre was a French Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Dakar from 1955 to 1962. He was a major influence in modern traditionalist Catholicism, founding in 1970 the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) to train traditionalist seminarians. In 1988, Pope John Paul II declared that Lefebvre had been automatically excommunicated for consecrating four bishops that year without permission and despite the pope's express prohibition.