The Pope revokes the sentence of excommunication upon the Lefebvrists

[fpb]

I am horrified. Of all the unwelcome, untimely, ill-conceived, unnecessary, insulting and disastrous measures Pope Benedict could have taken, this is the worst. On the very week that the most anti-Catholic and pro-abortion President has taken office in Washington DC, the Pope seems to indicate that open flirtations with Le Pen and Pinochet,

Comments

[lyssiae]

That's some kind of vitriol against the Holy Father that surprises me from you

[fpb]

Let me put it as clear as I can. These people are an offshoot of the old Action Francaise, condemned by Popes Pius X and XI. They are Fascists. They are racist (Lefebvre himself resigned his archbishopric of Dakar over the issue of appointing native clergy). They are unbelievably arrogant; time and time again, Fellay, their leader, has treated the Pope as though the Pope were the one who had to crawl before him - and that was when he was not teaching that the Pope was a heretic. A recent paper by Williamson charges the whole Catholic Church with the Adoptionist heresy. These people have not done anything to deserve to be in the Church. And Pope Benedict's unilateral lifting of a thrice-deserved sentence of excommunication carries the message that there is nothing wrong or sinful about any of this

[dustthouart]

Sadly, I have to agree. The Holy Father has let his desire for unity overcome all other considerations.

I have prayed for reconciliation of the SSPX, but not like this, without the slightest hint of repentance on their side. Instead I have already seen many SSPX supporters crowing that this proves the excommunications were invalid all along.

[fpb]

You are exactly right, and I should have mentioned this feature of it. It will reinforce their vanity, their sense of superiority to all other Christians, and all their wandering and extreme views. As if the Church did not have the Devil's own plenty of arrogant, self-serving, obsessive fanatics as it is. It will make them more rather than less likely to stick to their condemned attitudes, and it will bring them closer to rather than further from Hell when they die. Misguided forgiveness can be as deadly as the worst injustice - even if you did not argue that it was itself injustice - and Jesus never commanded it.

[dustthouart]

PS I would put some line breaks in your post, to make it easier to read. Right now it's a bit hard on the eyes.

[kishiriadgr]

Came over to read the comments, from which I'm learning a lot.

Unrelated, YOUR ICON IS SO CUTE IT MAKES ME SQUEEEEEE!

[rfachir]

Prayer sent (and sending). And my prayers get answered especially well when the world is heaving.
Thanks for the news and please continue the updates. I have not kept up with "hater" politics and I am afraid our new leadership in this country especially makes me more afraid of new "frenemies" than ever. And it is always better to operate from a base of logic and knowledge, not fear.

[filialucis]

Wow. Fabio, for someone who generally comes across as a more nuanced thinker than most people, you've certainly gone all-out to tar the entirety of the SSPX with the same brush, haven't you?

"A few hundred thousand... schismatics"? Officials in high places in the Vatican have repeatedly and explicitly stated that even the SSPX priests are not in schism, never mind the lay people who only attend their Masses. Apparently you've decided you know better than the Vatican on this issue -- just as the SSPX claims to know better than the Vatican on the last Council -- and you have divined also that they are all, without exception, raving racists, as against, perhaps, only wanting to be able to attend a reverently celebrated Mass? Come on. This isn't worthy of you

[fpb]

And you are evidently bent on finding some good in the SSPX at all costs. Richard Williamson is there for a reason - said reason being that the founder of the schism was a racist, a Petainist, an impenitent supporter of tyrants and murderers, and ultimately a result of Action Francaise, a movement that had anticipated Fascism and that had been condemned by two Popes. To say that because we all are sinners therefore I should not condemn the likes of Lefebvre and Fellay is like saying that because we all feel lust I should not condemn Gene Robinson. After all, he is a bishop too. Who are we to condemn him? Just because their schism and their heresy smells nicer than his, is no reason to defend it. It is schism; it is heresy; and worst of all, it is thoroughly impenitent, and the Pope's misguided mercy will only have made it more so. What the Devil do we want unchanged, unshriven, unconverted schismatic heretics in the Church for? Because they celebrate nice Latin masses? Let me tell you this: their readmission, unless there are

[filialucis]

I see that you have completely ignored the main point I was making, namely that the SSPX is not a monolithic block. Yes, some of their members have been shown to be the kind of despicable racists and revisionists that you justly condemn. But no, it does not follow from this that every single soul in that organisation, every single lay person attending one of their Masses, shares that inexcusable mindset. Unless you can provide hard figures about all their 400-some priests and however many thousands or tens of thousands of Mass-goers to prove that this is the case, you have no right to declare them all guilty by association. Really, I expected better of you.

[fpb]

The association is theirs, not mine. They are the ones who have chosen to follow a movement whose foundation speech - the Lille sermon you insist on not reading - included a paean to the then recently enthroned "president" Augusto Pinochet of Chile. As for the current membership: Fellay is an incredibly arrogant man who still even today talks as if it were up to him to dictate terms to the Pope; Tisserand has written a biography of Lefebvre from which, I am told, Petainism drips from every page; and Williamson is what he is. The fourth I know nothing about. Three bishops out of four, including the leader, who should never have been made bishops at all, that's a lot, mademoiselle

[kgbman]

Calm down. If lifting a decree of excommunication meant the excommunicate was being welcomed back with open arms, then the Orthodox would have all been in communion with Rome for the past forty years. Lifting the decree is only a first step towards eventual reconciliation. Obviously there is still much that needs to be done.

I would add that it is pure wickedness to want to kick anyone out of the Church or to rejoice in their leaving. I guess you could call me "conservative," but I don't want Catholics who believe women should be ordained or that contraception is perfectly moral to become Episcopalians any more than I want racists, fascists, or other unpleasant types to go into schism. The Church is Christ's, and Christ wants everyone. Can you be a good Catholic and hate the Jews or any of your neighbors for that matter? Maybe not at the end, but we're not at the end; the tares are mixed in with the wheat. If Christ is willing to put up with someone like me until then, I'm willing to put up with them.

[fpb]

Oh yeah, right, we are all sinners so we should all put up with each other's sin. Sorry, I don't buy that. And my basic point is that these people have done nothing whatever to show that they repent even the sin of schism, let alone their various pathologies and hatreds. They are coming in unconverted and unexcused. Whoopee.

[kgbman]

Oh yeah, right, we are all sinners so we should all put up with each other's sin.

No. I'm saying we should be patient with sinners, just as the Lord is infinitely patient with you. And with me. And with everyone. Read Matthew 18:21-35 carefully and prayerfully, O unmerciful servant.

They are coming in unconverted and unexcused. Whoopee.

The Orthodox haven't submitted to the authority of the Pope. Should the Holy Father excommunicate them again?

[fpb]

The excommunication of the Easterners took place nearly a thousand years ago and was mutual; the people currently alive can hardly be called responsible for it. Most of the current SSPX leadership was put in place by Lefebvre and it was their consecration for which he and they were excommunicated. Apart from the children, every member of the SSPX has been guilty of schism as an adult and by his or her own free choice. That being the case, I see very little that is comparable.