The Prestigious Destiny of a Founding Text (4)
Archbishop Lefebvre, faithful to his clear-cut position of principle, remained indifferent to all intimidation. He wanted to be subject only to the truth of the Church's Tradition, even if it meant facing the most painful opposition.
In this delicate context, his Declaration of November 21, 1974, stands out as a sure line of conduct, a high point transcending all dialectics, in a climate of authentically Catholic freshness.
No pressure would separate him from eternal Rome; no contradiction would weaken the vigor of his attachment to Peter; no fear would divert him from his fundamental opposition to all the liberal orientations that were demolishing the Church, however much they may have emanated from a council or from the Pope himself.
A Profession of Faith
In 1982, Archbishop Lefebvre read to his seminarians a short text written at the end of 1974, which sounds like an echo of his November 21 Declaration, and recalls its faith-infused spirit:
“Instead of understanding the reasons which oblige us to maintain the traditional doctrine and the traditional liturgy, and authorizing us to continue, even if only as an experiment, what we are doing to provide the Church with true priests as she has always had them, the present Roman Curia is using every means of moral pressure to make us accept the liberal orientation of the Church;
“That is, a new expression of faith, of catechesis, which is closer to Modernism than to Tradition and the Magisterium; the new liturgy, with the new conception of the priest, which is closer to Protestantism than to orthodox doctrine.
“This liberal orientation, which triumphed at the Second Vatican Council, is precisely that of the liberals and liberal Catholics who have been repeatedly condemned by the Roman Pontiffs. Pius IX referred to them as the worst enemies of the Church, as traitors; Leo XIII definitively condemned their false theories, based on the principles of the French Revolution; St. Pius X condemned the application of this liberalism in Modernism and the Sillonist movement.
“We are therefore, without our having wanted or desired it, faced with a choice to make: either, under the pretext of obedience, to enter into this liberal orientation, destructive to the faith and to all Christian values, an orientation forced upon us by those who hold power in the Roman Curia;
“Or maintain the sources and ramparts of the Faith, following in the footsteps of all the Popes of the 18th and 19th centuries, and of the 20th century up to John XXIII, before the Council, and live in a general climate of mistrust and of criticism from Rome and its bishops.
“Obviously, our choice has been made. It is more than ever for the orthodoxy of the Faith and for Tradition, guardian of the Faith. We want to believe and live in communion with the Catholic Church of all time, of all the saints, of all the Popes who have propagated and transmitted the true Catholic Faith.
“We are in communion with the Church of today in that it continues the Church of yesterday. But we do not recognize her in this attitude and in these liberal, Protestant, and Modernist convictions.
“We cannot therefore accept anything in the recent reform that is inspired by these principles, such as the new catechisms, the new catechesis, the retrainings which replace retreats, the liturgical reform inspired by a false ecumenism, the reform of the Church's public law inspired by a false religious liberty.
“The betrayal of the Church by its clerics and its liberal Catholics is bearing bitter fruits of which the whole world is witness, from which some rejoice and others suffer cruelly.”
(Source : MG – FSSPX.Actualités)
