Thank you for the posts. I appreciate the help.
I apologize for not posting enough information. We are using PHP software collections. We are maintaining one site (one of the iBays) on PHP 5.6 until a third party sorts out an incompatibility with PHP 7.x. We haven't changed the PHP included in the SME distro.
The repo we are reading is remi-safe.
The system has been and still is working fine. It is a production site. I update the system regularly. The PHP update was attempted in response to an alert of updates available.
As an aside, I just watched, again, the ever entertaining "The Web Site Is Down" video from BOFH, so I am suffering temptations. I will refrain from any shenanigans.
I will try the update once more, just in case something has changed at the repo.