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

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

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.livejournal.com]

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.livejournal.com]

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.livejournal.com]

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

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

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

Hee, thanks.
I have a thing for cute icons.

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

PPS I would add that the timing of the announcement is doubtless due to this being the Week of Christian Unity.

The timing of Williamson's remarks, someone on catholicism said, are probably due to the devil. I agree with that.