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, notorious sympathies for Petain, open Jew-bashing of the vilest sort, are no obstacle to reconciliation with Rome. Thos of us who try to fight on a principled opposition to abortion and murder in all its forms have now had a ton of banana oil poured under our feet; any opponent of Catholic teaching will be able to raise the ugly spectre of Marcel "Marechal a nous!" Lefebvre, and the horrible living presence of Richard Williamson, whose moral and intellectual sins go even beyond his obscene denial of the Holocaust and belief in the Protocols. And what about Catholic leadership among Christians? For the last few decades, the mere force of events had driven many Christian bodies closer together, to discover that they shared so much of morality and belief, and against that dictatorship of relativism against which the Pope himself spoke such memorable words. And now, for the sake of a few hundred thousand obstinate, wilful and often bizarre schismatics, who never did anything on their own to earn or even encourage reunion, and who positively insulted the last two Popes, all this common ground, all this real and verifiable growth together, is endangered; because most Christians will see the Lefebvrists for what they are. Just because Richard Williamson is such an ugly caricature of the worst sort of traditionalists, real conservatives, let alone middle and liberals, will want nothing to do with him. How many Protestants and Anglicans in search of a decent Christian centre away from the various heresies and schisms of their own confessions will have seen this as confirmation that everything they had been told about Rome was in fact true? I am willing to bet that the conversion of adults will slow down considerably. And what about the Church itself? This act has been taken as much on the Pope's own decision as the famous Motu Proprio that sought to reinstate the Latin Mass. If the one can be described as reactionary, ill-advised, insensitive to Jew-bashing and admiration for tyrants, then so can the other. Far from strengthening the conservative side of the Church, the Pope has just delivered them a vial of poison. And at the same time, he has done nothing to please liberals, many of whom will read this to mean that one hard-right soul is more important to the Pope than one left-wing one, and either leave or reinforce even further their "inner schismatic" position. I will not leave the Church - I know how many like Williamson there are already; but many others may. There is absolutely no upside to this decision; every aspect of it is completely mistaken.

God help the Church. Mother of Victory, pray for us.

Comments

[lyssiae.livejournal.com]

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

I most likely know much less about this than you, but it seems to me that in lifting those excommunications the Pope has not said that Bp. Williamson's views are permissable. I've read other viewpoints from people within or somehow connected to SSPX that consider him a bit of a nutcase. But being a nutcase - well, the Church has (had) several of those.

What should the Holy Father have done, postponed this? And let Bp. W's silly tirade get in the way of a movement towards reconciliation? That's just letting the unfortunate bishop have his own way - he spews out whatever it is he wants to, and ooooooo Rome doesn't like SSPX anymore, Nasty Nasty Rome.

The problems are not entirely solved, and I agree with Damian Thompson insofar that the Pope is taking a big risk. But, you know, we all take risks when it comes to following Christ. This daring step - foolish in your eyes - is something Papa would not do rashly. Either he knows much more about everything than we do (which is likely the case anyway), including how this is going to turn out, or he is partially stepping into the unknown and trusting that Christ's Spirit will lead him on.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

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.

The only people to rejoice at this are the enemies of the Church. You are in the Netherlands - you will see and hear it. And unfortunately, it will have been deserved. Granted that there already are Fascist maniacs in the Church - I have one as parish priest, for my sins - does that mean that we have to go look for them in the hedges and fields?