May 2005 - Neither in Illusion, nor Close-minded

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

The death of John Paul II has been the occasion for the media's presentation of an accurate picture of the long years of his Pontificate. They have done this with great rejoicing. We share their analysis, but we are saddened by it.

Prompted by his false liberal vision of man as an absolute, John Paul II considered himself the servant of man, with Christ as the most beautiful exemplar of humanity. In the service of mankind, and trying to reconcile it with itself, he also became the champion of ecumenism. It is true that this premise of man as an absolute has permitted the Pope to keep firmly attached to the moral principles. On this point, our sentiments are radically different from those of the press because it has, in general, complained about this firmness. But this shadow has been very slight and it has not been an impediment to the world-wide media triumph that was his funeral. Although we have rejoiced to see the reaction of Christian people justly saddened by the loss of the Holy Father, we cannot but regret that this filial reaction has been transformed into a sentimental manifestation of devotion towards a charismatic man.

Following up even the slightest rumor in search of sensational news, journalists swirled around the Vatican for two weeks, certain that this or that papabile would be elected and would hasten to adapt Catholic morals to the demands of modern man. The candidate chosen by the conclave does not have the expected profile. Benedict XVI is Pope, but he does not have the good fortune of being pleasing to journalists. The same media, who for more than two weeks exalted the Pope and his influence, are now rattled by the intransigence of the newly elected and have started a campaign of systematic defamation, trotting out again the ancient arguments of a German danger and daring to call him, injuriously, from the very day of his election, "the German shepherd." The journalists are upset and accuse the Pope of being a conservative whose action will impede the positive evolution of the Church. :

This accusation is false. Far from destroying the revolutionary process, the action of conservatives favors it. Revolution cannot be established but through the conservatives who are, many times unconsciously, its necessary agents. Without them, revolution cannot be perpetuated. The French Revolution is the proof. It became definitively rooted in the spirits and hearts of the French only at the end of the 19th century, and only thanks to the domination of the eminently conservative bourgeoisie, whose influence shaped the century. The bourgeoisie rejected the excesses of the Terror of 1792, but conserved the "immortal principles" of 1789. Faithful in this regard to its conservative creed that consists in not contesting the principles which direct policy, either lay or religious, the bourgeoisie defended those principles and returned to them repeatedly as the guarantee of order.

Those "immortal principles" of 1789 were adopted by the ecclesiastics during the last Council. The famous phrase of Cardinal Suenens affirmed it clearly: "Vatican II is 1789 in the Church. " This formula, never retracted, is exact. May God protect us from the conservatives!

Cardinal Ratzinger, as Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, has acted as a conservative. He has maintained that the present errors do not have their origin in the Council, but in its erroneous interpretation, and has chastised the "modernists," authors of these interpretations.

But isn't the Council itself a modernist realization? Is there any difference of nature between 1789 and 1792? What use is there to go back to the letter of the Council, which is no more than voluntary ambiguity? Let us pray to the Holy Ghost that the grace of the Supreme Pontificate may enable the Pope to renounce this dangerous illusion that makes the disorder appear as the source of order. Let us pray and let us avoid falling into the illusion that we have a traditional Pope, an illusion based only on the hatred of the journalists and on our own human hope of a solution.

Faced with the mystery of the Church, the Mystical Spouse of Christ called to follow her Divine Bridegroom on the way to Calvary to share in His sufferings, we cannot be content with reacting according to our own habitual human criteria. The mystery of the Cross remains a scandal and madness if we limit ourselves to seeing it in a natural light. Only faith allows us to penetrate it and opens our souls to hope. We do not seek a solution, especially a human solution. We wait in prayer, sacrifice, and fidelity to the indefectible Faith raised on the day of the Resurrection. The hour and the mode of realization of a solution belong to God alone.

Thus, as we refuse to be deceived by the sirens' song luring us into forsaking our vigilance, we must also refuse to judge the intentions of Benedict XVI.

God never retracts his gifts and acts – most of the time – using ordinary means. In this terrible crisis, in which the Church participates in the agony of Our Lord on the Cross, the Papacy cannot be spared. Yet in spite of the human weaknesses and the attacks of the devil, the Pope will be the chosen apostle of the Resurrection of the Church. The Society of St. Pius X is not called to replace him, and does not pretend to do so. Salvation will come only from Our Lord Jesus Christ, certainly, but He will use the Pope to confirm the shepherds and the faithful in the Faith. Christ will do it when He decides to do so, and not according to our designs.

"Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren" (St. Luke 22:31-32). We know that God wants to purify His Church by this terrible trial we are going through – but He wants to purify it, not to annihilate it. Our hope and our respect for the Pope and for his mission rest upon this Faith.

What will our concrete attitude be? Supported by the grace of God, staying in our station, we will continue to wage the combat of Faith. We reiterate to the Pope our firm will to serve the Holy Roman Church and to fight against the modernism which defaces it and renders it "without form or beauty." This combat demands from us our refusal to find a modus vivendiwhich will put aside doctrinal questions. Revolution is a modern monster that devours those who rub shoulders with it. The recent denials of Campos have proven it. We do not seek any benefits; we do not aspire to any acknowledgement. We do not work for ourselves, but for God, the Church, and souls.

May the Holy Father understand that we do not aspire to anything else but this, and that we are, in spite of all the defamation, the servants of Peter, Vicar of Christ, head and leader of Holy Mother Church.

In Christo Sacerdote et Maria,

Fr. Yves le Roux