Apologia pro Marcel Lefebvre - Volume III

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Apologia pro Marcel Lefebvre
Volume 3, Chapter XL

Letter of Cardinal Seper to Mgr. Lefebvre
20 October 1980

Your Excellency,

In the last few months of 1976 Pope Paul VI entrusted the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with the task of examining your stance with respect to the teaching and the discipline of the Apostolic See.

In the execution of this mandate, the Congregation studied your position according to the norms of its Ratio agendi of 15 January 1971; following the standard examination of the dossier by canon lawyers and cardinals, you were sent two letters – on 28 January 1978 and 16 March 1978 respectively – asking for explanations of points which raised difficulties. On receiving your replies, still in conformity with the Ratio agendi, a meeting was agreed, which events delayed and which could be held on 11/12 January 1979.1 On leaving this meeting you saw fit to take exception to the pursuit of the normal procedures and to appeal directly to His Holiness Pope John Paul II, whom you had met some weeks earlier.2 It was then that the Sovereign Pontiff personally mandated me to pursue the dialogue with you which took place in a series of private meetings on five occasions between 8 May 1979 and 27 March of this year (i.e., 1980). Several questions were broached at various points. I must now attempt an appraisal with a view to reaching a concrete solution if possible.

Thanks to your explanations, I believe I can say that certain aspects of your situation, intentions, and actions are now more clear than they were in your previous writings or sermons, and this has not been without some positive elements. Unfortunately the gap between your position and that of the Holy See has not been reduced for all that, for difficulties still exist in certain statements made by you during the meeting or in the course of our private discussions.

Furthermore, you have continued to do and to say things in public which present obstacles to the desired solution. For the sake of clarity I must mention them here.

Despite what you said at the end of the meeting in January 1979, and the promise that you gave me during our conversation on 23 June 1979, you have again administered Confirmation in certain dioceses, without good reason and in defiance of the prohibition legitimately imposed by the Ordinaries of the dioceses;3 worst of all, you have continued to confer the Sacrament of Orders, at Ecône and at other places, in June and October 1979 and in March, May and June 1980. Yet you know what representations have been made to you on this matter!

During the aforementioned meeting, you recognized the validity of the Novus Ordo Mass, something that you reaffirmed in writing to the Holy Father on 8 March 1980: "As for the Novus Ordo Mass, despite the reservations which must be shown in its respect, I have never affirmed that it is in itself invalid or heretical." Yet, on November 8 1979, in a pamphlet entitled "Mgr. Lefebvre's Position on the New Mass and the Pope" you state the following:4 “It must be understood immediately that we do not hold to the absurd idea that if the New Mass is valid, we are then free to assist at it. The Church has always forbidden the faithful to assist at the Masses of heretics or schismatics, even when they are valid. It is clear that no one can assist at sacrilegious Masses or at Masses which endanger our faith. Now, it is easy to show that the New Mass…manifests an inexplicable rapprochement with the theology and liturgy of the Protestant.” Further on you add: "One can fairly say without exaggeration that most of these Masses are sacrilegious acts which pervert the Faith by diminishing it." You affirm that they cannot satisfy Sunday obligation, and you cast suspicion on all those – priests and bishops – who celebrate them. Such clear and pointed statements do not allow me to accept the explanation that you gave me in our conversation of 27 March 1979, that is, that you had merely “failed to make yourself clear.”

Finally, it is not possible to pass over in silence the introduction which you signed for the publication in the periodical Itinéraires (May 1979) of  “des actes de la procédure” (“Tradition face to face with Liberal Ecumenism: Ecône and the former Holy Office”); and still less what you have said on your travels, constant remarks – and, allow me to say so, with hasty generalizations which are as many grave injustices – concerning some of the Acts of the Second Vatican Council, the reforms issuing from it, the Roman Curia, and the entire Catholic hierarchy. Let me remind you only of the lectures that you gave in Brussels on 30 November 1979 and in Madrid on 19 April1980, as well as your sermon in Venice on 7 April last5, and also the one that you gave on 27 June at Ecône.6

Despite all this, as I believe that I reminded you at each of our private meetings, the Holy Father has always shown that he wishes to find a solution in your case. While awaiting a clear expression of regret on your part for the unjust attacks that you have made upon the Council, the bishops, and even the Apostolic See, as well as for the difficulties, indeed the disquiet that your activities have caused the faithful, Pope John Paul II maintains feelings of fraternal charity for you. I now present you with our final proposals, dictated by him in person.

1. As far as the teaching of Vatican II is concerned: that you declare yourself ready to accept it in the sense suggested by Pope John Paul II, that is to say, "the Council must be understand in the light of the whole of holy Tradition, and on the basis of the unvarying Magisterium of Holy Mother Church." (Allocution to the Sacred College, 5 November 1979, d. A.A.S. LXXI [1979-11], p. 1452: “quatenus intelligitur sub sanctæ Traditionis lumine et quatenus ad constans Ecclesiæ ipsius magisterium refertur"). The Holy Father also expects from you what is demanded of all in the Church, that is religiosum voluntatis et intellect us obsequium owed to the true Magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra, and to the teaching on Faith and Morals given in Christ’s name by the bishops in communion with the Roman Pontiff (cf. the Constitution Lumen Gentium, No.25).

Of course, such adherence must take account of the theological qualification that the Council itself wished to give to its teachings, and which figures in its Acts as a Note made during the 125th Congregation, on 16 November 1964. I do not feel it inappropriate to call to mind the essentials of this here: “In view of conciliar practice and the pastoral purpose of the present Council, this sacred Synod defines matters of faith and morals as binding on the Church only when the Synod itself openly declares so. Other matters which the sacred Synod proposes as the doctrine of the supreme teaching authority of the Church, each and every member of the faithful is obliged to accept and embrace according to the mind of the sacred Synod itself, which becomes known either from the subject matter or from the language employed, according to the norms of theological interpretation."

2. As far as the Liturgy is concerned, the Holy Father expects you to accept without qualifications the legitimacy of the reforms demanded by the Second Vatican, both in principle and in practice, in conformity with Missal and the other liturgical books promulgated by the Holy See. He also expect you to desist from casting doubt upon the orthodoxy of the Ordo Missæ promulgated by Pope Paul VI.

You are to understand that this is a preliminary and indispensable condition. If it is fulfilled, the Holy Father could envisage authorizing the celebration of Holy Mass according to the rites of the Roman Missal before the reform of 1969.

3. As far as the pastoral ministry and its tasks are concerned, the Holy Father expects you to accept and to conform to the norms of Canon Law, especially in so far as Ordinations, Confirmations, pontifical ceremonies, the foundation of religious institutes, the training of the clergy and apostolic activity in the dioceses are concerned.

To this end, the Holy Father would be ready to designate a delegate directly responsible to himself, who would be entrusted with the task of studying, jointly with you, the means of regularizing your position as well as that of members of the Society of St. Pius X, by the drawing up of a statute appropriate for solving a question that is indeed complex.

In this respect may I remind you that you yourself said during the colloquium of January 1979 that you might accept such a nomination of a pontifical delegate in due course.

Once you have accepted the aforementioned points – and this must be in a declaration that can be published – the Sovereign Pontiff would be prepared to lift the canonical censure upon the irregularities, these censures having been incurred both by you yourself and by the priests you have ordained in breach of Canon Law since 1976 (as far as the latter are concerned, provided of course that they abide by your actions).

Such, Your Excellency, are the proposals that Pope John Paul II has asked me to put to you.

I entrust them to your attention and consideration in the sight of Our Lord and His holy Mother, asking you to remember that they demand a reply from you befitting the serious nature of the decisions that must now be taken.

Please accept, Excellency, the expression of my devoted and fraternal sentiments.

Fran. Card. Seper.


1. See Apologia II, pp. 277-295.
2. See Apologia II, pp. 302-304.
3. Ordinary, I.e., diocesan bishop.
4. See Apologia II, p. 368-373
5. See pages 134-140.
6. See pages 204-212.

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Apologia pro Marcel Lefebvre
Volume 3, Chapter XLI

The Bishops’ Synod – 1980
The Remnant – 17 October 1980

The following report indicates very clearly the extent to which Catholic teaching on marriage has been repudiated by a large proportion of the faithful throughout the report. It is even more alarming to note the extent to which national hierarchies endorsed this repudiation, rather than teaching those entrusted to their pastoral care that it is the duty of a Catholic to adhere to the teaching of the Magisterium. It was evidently hoped that the Pope might capitulate to such extensive pressure, but to his credit he did not. This will be made clear in a subsequent report dated 17 November 1980.


The Bishops’ Synod – Challenge to the Pope

The first serious challenge to Pope John Paul II’s pontificate since his election two years ago may be facing him now, at the Synod of Bishops meeting in the Vatican. More than 200 cardinals and bishops, representing the world’s Catholic hierarchies, have joined there with the Pope and senior prelates of the papal government in a month-long discussion of marriage and the family in today’s runaway world.

The challenge to the Pope, which has been more or less low key thus far, is apparently a result – at least in part – of the Vatican document prepared as an agenda for discussion. The document has been criticized as backward by the usual neo-Modernist theologians and has been challenged by some as misunderstanding the “realities” of present-day family life.

Ironically, the most severe criticism of the Synod agenda came from Africa, where the Pope spoke frequently last year on the ideals of Christian marriage, during his 10-day visit. A pastoral consultation in the diocese of Arusha in Kenya called the Vatican document "flawed," saying it gave its attention exclusively to the European concept of monogamous marriage. This marital structure does not represent the "reality" of the Universal Church, the Africans say.

Pastoral consultations in other sectors of the Church, while less extreme, also have criticized the Vatican document. They fault its alleged failure to confront the “actualities” of married love, divorce, the sexual revolution, homosexuality, and the population problem in a “realistic” fashion.

The French bishops coming to the Synod have also been prepared by a "consultation" with their priests and people to demand “an honest debate” on the papal encyclical Humanæ Vitæ the 1968 ban on artificial birth prevention.

In a national pastoral consultation last fall, the bishops of England and Wales were reportedly asked to call for a "fundamental re-examination" of Church teachings on marriage, sexuality and contraception.

A Belgian opinion poll reflected almost identical statistics, with U. S. surveys among practicing Catholics who use artificial contraceptives and challenge papal, directives on marriage.

As was to be expected, the Canadian and U.S. bishops are apparently taking the lead trying to soften Vatican strictures that deny divorced and re-married Catholics the right to receive the sacraments.

Representing the United States at the Synod are four elected delegates – Archbishop John Quinn of San Francisco, Archbishop Joseph Bemardin of Cincinnati, Archbishop Robert Sanchez of Santa Fe, N.M., and Auxiliary Bishop J. Francis Stafford of Baltimore. Cardinal Cooke of New York is one of approximately twenty synodal members directly appointed by the Pope.

The Synod result, if and when it materializes, will be a “thorough examination” of modern sexual mores and the breakdown of family structures that have led to the current epidemic of pre-marital and extra-marital sex, teenage pregnancies, and casual and frequent divorce among Catholics. It will, then, presumably, produce a document that will project a “realistic” approach to Christian marriage. And while the Synod’s deliberations are merely consultative and not ultimately binding, they can hardly be ignored by the Pope in this post-conciliar era of “shared responsibility” and collegiality.”

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Apologia pro Marcel Lefebvre
Volume 3, Chapter XLII

We Are Not Rebels

A Sermon Pronounced by His Excellency Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre
On the Occasion of the Tenth Anniversary of the Society of St. Pius X
1 November 1980


In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

My dear friends, my dear brothers,

The Feast of All Saints, the ordination which is going to take place in a few minutes, and the anniversary of the foundation of the Society – these are so many events which gives us a unique opportunity to meditate on the question of holiness, and of the holiness of the priesthood.

Actually, if there is one reason for choosing those who should offer the Holy Mysteries, it is their holiness. I think that if we consider all those who today enjoy the glory of heaven, all the saints who are united to Our Lord Jesus Christ, to the Most Holy Virgin Mary, to all the holy angels who sing the glory of God and of Our Lord Jesus Christ, if we should ask them, each one, the means, the path of their sanctification, there is no doubt that they would reply: the path of sanctification is Our Lord Jesus Christ, and Our Lord Jesus Christ Crucified, the path of perfection, the path of holiness is the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, if it is true that the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the means of our sanctification, you see immediately what the reason for the priest should be…the path of sanctification for him whose very identity is to offer the Holy Sacrifice, and to offer therefore in the very Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in His own name, the continuation of His Sacrifice of the Cross; it is in the Sacrifice of the Cross that the priest will find the fundamental reason, the essential, the continual reason of his sanctification, it will be also for him the means of sanctifying the faithful. For the faithful the path of sanctification is the same as that of the priest, it is the way of the Cross.

St. Paul so beautifully teaches us what a priest is in his Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter five. He says: “Every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. Because of this he is bound to offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people." He adds, as he is himself weighed down with weaknesses, that he (the priest) should sympathize with those who are ignorance and error. He should strive to have compassion on those who are in error and with those who are in ignorance. This is the secret of the Sacrament of Penance. The priest is therefore made to offer the Holy Sacrifice, to transmit the graces of the Sacrifice, especially in the Sacrament of Penance, exerting himself for those who are in error and ignorance. Since he is himself a sinner, he must offer the Holy Sacrifice also for himself, for his own sins, and not only for the sins of the people of God. See how, in a few lines, St. Paul sums up the very essence of the priest.

Thus, my dear friends, you who are going up to the altar in a few minutes to receive an ordination which will prepare you to offer the Holy Mysteries of God, the Holy Mysteries of Our Lord Jesus Christ – meditate on these words of St. Paul. Know that you too are weak, know too that you are sinners, and yet the Good Lord has chosen you! St. Paul further says: the priest has not chosen himself but he has been chosen, like Aaron, like the Levites, chosen by God to offer the Holy Sacrifice, to offer the true Sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Prepare yourselves, my dear friends, to receive the grace of the priesthood in order to be true priests, holy priests such as the Church wants.

What have we seen for twenty years now? Instead of returning to these fundamental notions of the Church, which are her foundation and cornerstone, a new spirit has been introduced; a new spirit which, far from bringing a return to the true meaning of the Holy Mysteries, has approached the mysteries of the Protestant Last Supper, thus destroying what there was of mystery – profound, divine, sacred – in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In comparing our Sacrifice, the sacrifice of Our Lord, with the unworthy sacrifice of the Protestants, the Sacrifice of the Mass has been emptied of meaning. Now it is plainly evident; we can see every day, the results of this change of attitude in priests, a change which has been introduced under the influence of the Modernists who have invaded the Church. The Church has not done this thing, it is the Modernists and progressivists who have invaded the Church and who have imposed on Catholics an idea of the Sacrifice of the Mass which is not the true idea of the Sacrifice of the Mass, which has emptied the Sacrifice of the Mass of meaning.

That is why we have resisted. We are not rebels, we are not schismatics, we are not heretics. We resist. We resist this wave of Modernism which has invaded the Church, this wave of laicism, of progressivism which has invaded the Church in a wholly unwarranted and unjust manner and which has tried to erase in the Church all that was sacred in it, all that was supernatural, divine, in order to reduce it to the dimension of man. So we resist and we will resist, not in a spirit of rebellion, but in the spirit of fidelity to the Church, the spirit of fidelity to God, and to Our Lord Jesus Christ, the spirit of fidelity to all who have taught us our holy religion, the spirit of fidelity to all the popes who have maintained Tradition. This is why we have decided simply to keep going, to persevere in Tradition, to persevere in that which has sanctified the saints who are in heaven. Doing so we are persuaded we are rendering a great service to the church, to all the faithful who wish to keep the Faith, all the faithful who wish to receive truly the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Little by little, apparently, some authorities in the Church are beginning to realize – more objectively – that serious mistakes have been made, and that it is perhaps time, if not to return completely to the former ways of things, which would be ideal, then to reform their reforms. It is at least a first step. Alas! It has taken twelve years of these tragic results: defection of priests, defection of members of religious orders, the ruin of novitiates, the ruin even of religious holiness, the ruin of churches, the apostasy of so many faithful. All this had to happen before our eyes so that a start could be made slowly to realize the damage which this reform has caused – reform which was not made by the Church but which has been carried out by those who were imbued with ideas contrary to those which the Church has always taught.

Recently I have been re-reading the encyclical Humani Generis of Pope Pius XII, which he promulgated in 1950. This encyclical is neither more nor less than a condemnation of all that has happened since the Council. It is impossible to admit that what has happened since the Council and to admit at the same time that Pope Pius XII was right in his encyclical Humani Generis.

We have made our choice. We obey the popes, the popes of Tradition and we are persuaded we are rendering great service to the Church and that we find here the way of Truth.

This, I think, is what we should see in today's Feast, in this ordination which is an ordination performed like those of Tradition; in the Feast of All Saints; where all the saints teach us to remain in Tradition, to do what they did to sanctify themselves, to do what they did to get to heaven.

This is quite simply what we are doing. We carry out the same rites, the same rubrics, the same prayers, we adore the same God, we adore Our Lord Jesus Christ, we believe in our immemorial catechism as they did and believed. This is what got them to heaven. We too wish to save our souls, we wish to follow our ancestors in the faith and to be martyrs with them if necessary, like those who became martyrs in order to profess their faith.

Finally, we wish, because the Society has been the means of maintaining Tradition, we wish to maintain the ends of the Society and thus to keep the Church going, to keep the Church going in order to save souls, in order to give holy priests to the souls of the faithful who wait impatiently until they can again find true and holy priests.

There you have it, my dear friends, that is what the ceremonies and the Feast we celebrate today have to teach us. I would like you to find in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the whole reason of your holiness, so that under the vigilance and protection of the of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, who so well understood the Mystery of the Cross, who lived the Mystery of the Cross with Our Lord Jesus Christ in an entirely unique way, with an infinite wisdom. Yes, we ask the Most Holy Virgin Mary to help us understand the profound Mystery of the Cross. There we find all the answers, my dear friends, all the answers.

Whenever in our lives problems arise, problems of all sorts, every possible and imaginable human problem, do not search anywhere but in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. There you will find the answer to the problems of each and every individual. Souls will come to confide in you, they will confide all kinds of problems to you. You will say to them always: look at the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, because in this Cross – which the Apostles taught, especially St. Paul – in this Cross is the answer to all problems, because the Cross is Charity, it is Love, love to the point of Sacrifice. All problems resolve themselves in Charity, Charity carried to the point of death if necessary.

Recently, during the Synod, I was in Rome and had the opportunity to meet with several cardinals who were discussing the problems of marriage, problems which seem today much more difficult than formerly – it would seem that problems were not found among married until today – I had the opportunity of saying to them: without sacrifice it is impossible to resolve the problems of marriage, and all other problems besides, not just these. But to exclude sacrifice from marriage is to exclude Christianity from marriage. It is useless to talk for weeks on end about the Christian family and exclude the idea of sacrifice. That is leaving out the real answer, leaving out the real remedy, and thus to remain without an answer.

When it comes to economic, social, political problems, problems of those in hospital beds, there is only one answer: the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is justice, such as Our Lord Jesus Christ realized on the Cross; to render to God that which is God's and to render to our neighbor what is our neighbor's. This is what Our Lord did on the Cross. There is no more beautiful act of love of God, no more beautiful act of love of neighbor, than that which Our Lord accomplished on the Cross. All problems resolve themselves in this Figure of the Cross, of Sacrifice.

There you have it, dear friends, what your program should be, the program of your seminary, the program of your priesthood. Thus you will truly be disciples of Our Lord Jesus Christ, you will be truly what is said of a priest – what should be said of a priest: that a priest is another Christ.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

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Apologia pro Marcel Lefebvre
Volume 3, Chapter XLIII

The 1980 Bishops’ Synod

Its Conclusion
The Remnant – 17 November 1980

The following report is one which must bring satisfaction to all traditional Catholics and reflects great credit upon Pope John Paul II for the manner in which he upheld the traditional teaching on marriage in the face of considerable pressure from national hierarches to modify it for so-called pastoral reasons, i.e., to bring the Church into line with the permissive society. This is one more of the many instances of the manner in which the Vatican has upheld fundamental teachings on faith and morals while failing to implements its teaching at diocesan and parochial levels.


Synod Ends
Marriage is Indissoluble, Pope says

Last week Pope John Paul II brought the Bishop’s Synod to a formal close by reminding the assembly that the Church’s traditional teaching on marriage remains unchanged.

Speaking in Latin to the synod participants in the Sistine Chapel, the Pope said that the only divorced and remarried Catholics who may receive the Eucharist are those who refrain from sexual relations with their second spouse.

He had strong words of praise for the Synod’s affirmation of “the validity and clear truth of the prophetic message contained in the encyclical Humanæ Vitæ (of Human Life).”

Church teachings on contraception and re-marriage after divorce have been major topics of discussion during the Synod which opened Sept. 26, on "The Role Christian Family in the World Today."

Archbishop Jozef Tomki, secretary general of the Synod, read the Synod’s “Message to Christian Families in opposition to the use of artificial means of contraception, and divorce, but expressed compassion for couples who “although they sincerely want to observe the moral norms taught by the Church, find themselves unequal to the task.”

Pope John Paul gave his own reflection in the message and on the 43 propositions which had been presented to him but not made public. He said divorced and remarried Catholics should “not be considered separate from the Church” but cannot be admitted to the Eucharist unless they “take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from acts in which only married couples can engage.”

The Synod stressed the urgent need of greater preparedness prior to marriage by Catholic couples.

Here is a summary of what the Synod concluded on some of the key issues discussed:

• On artificial birth prevention: the Synod “firmly holds to what was set forth in the Second Vatican Council and subsequently in the encyclical Humanæ Vitæ, and specifically that conjugal love must be fully human, exclusive and open to new life."
  
• Any pressure exercised by government or public authorities "for sterilization or contraception and the procurement of abortion must be completely condemned and rejected."
  
• In order to make the Church's teaching on artificial birth control more understood and accepted, the Synod "invites theologians to work, joining their forces with the hierarchical Magisterium (the Church's teaching authority), so that the biblical foundations and personalist grounds of this doctrine might be brought to light more fully.”
  
• The prohibition on artificial birth control is normative, not just an ideal.
  
• On divorce and re-marriage: those Catholics who are divorced and remarried cannot be admitted to the Eucharist, but they “can and must participate in the life of the church. They should hear the word of God, frequent the Sacrifice of the Mass, devote themselves to prayer, engage in promoting charity and justice in the community, educating their children in the Christian Faith.”