Address to the Holy Father

More than thirty years ago, under your predecessor, Pope Paul VI, a major reform modified the Latin rite of the Catholic Liturgy, especially the "Order of the Mass."

This reform immediately raised troubles and controversies across the entire world. Some studies which were made, notably the "Brief Critical Examination of the Novus Ordo Missae" given to Pope Paul VI by Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci, pointed out the troubling deficiencies and ambiguities affecting this reform.

The Liturgy has certainly evolved over the course of history, as is shown by the reforms made during the past century by Saint Pius X, Pius XII and John XXIII. But the post-conciliar liturgical reform, by its extension and brutality, represents a disturbing upheaval, as a radical rupture from the traditional Roman Liturgy. Above all, this reform contains disconcerting elements, ambiguous and dangerous for the faith.

Before this spiritual danger, the true obedience to the Seat of Peter, the true submission to the Church Mother and Mistress obliges us, along with a great number of Catholics around the world, to remain faithful no matter the cost to this venerable Liturgy which the Roman Church has celebrated for centuries, the Liturgy which you yourself have celebrated in the past. Such is the sacred heritage which the founder of our Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, Archbishop Lefebvre, has entrusted to us: "It is clear, it is evident that the entire drama between Ecône and Rome is due to the problem of the mass. (…) We are convinced that the new rite of Mass expresses a new faith, a faith which is not ours, a faith which is not the Catholic Faith; (…) that this new rite is misleading and, if I may say, supposes another conception of the Catholic Religion. (…) This is why we are attached to this Tradition which is expressed in such an admirable manner, and in a definitive manner, as Pope Saint Pius V said so well, in the sacrifice of the Mass" (June 29, 1976).

After much reflection and prayer, we feel the duty before God to address the Holy Father once again with regard to this problem of the Liturgy. We have asked those pastors of souls who are qualified in theological, Liturgical and Canonical matters, to compose a synthesis of the certain difficulties, including the most important ones, which the Liturgy of the post-Conciliar reform poses to the faith of Catholics.

This work has sought to go back to the doctrinal causes properly so called of the actual crisis, bringing to light the principles which are at the origin of the Liturgical reform and contrasting them with Catholic doctrine.

The reading of this document manifests clearly, we believe, that the "theology of the paschal mystery," to which the door was left open at the occasion of Vatican II, is the soul of the liturgical reform. Because it minimizes the mystery of the Redemption, because it considers the sacrament only in its relation with the "mystery," and because the conception that it makes of the "memorial" alters the sacrificial dimension of the Mass, this "theology of the paschal mystery" renders the post-Conciliar Liturgy dangerously distant from Catholic doctrine, to which however the Christian conscience remains bound forever.

The Catholic Faith imposes upon us a grave obligation not to remain silent about the questions which assail our mind.

Are not the deficiencies of this theology and of the liturgy which issues from it one of the principal causes of the crisis affecting the Church for more than thirty years? And does not such a situation demand the doctrinal and liturgical clarifications on the part of the supreme Authority of the Church? Do not the subjects, for whose good a law is made, have the right and duty, if the law manifests itself harmful, with filial confidence to demand from the legislator its modification or its abrogation?

Among the measures which are the most urgent, does it not seem appropriate to make publicly known that every priest possesses the faculty to use the integral and fruitful Roman Missal revised by Saint Pius V, a treasure so profoundly rooted in the thousand-year Tradition of the Church, Mother and Mistress?

These doctrinal and liturgical clarifications, joined with the universal renewal of the traditional Roman Liturgy, would not fail to produce immense spiritual fruits: the restoration of the true notion of the priesthood and of sacrifice, and consequently, the renewal of priestly and religious sanctity; the increase of fervor in the faithful; the strengthening of the unity of the Church; the powerful momentum for the evangelization of former Christian nations and of infidel nations.

We strongly beseech Your Holiness, who alone has the power as Successor of Peter and Shepherd of the universal Church, to strengthen his brethren in the faith and to sanction with his apostolic authority the indispensable clarifications which are demanded by the present tragic situation in the Church.

However, such a necessary restoration cannot be done in the Church without an extraordinary recourse to the Holy Ghost, obtained by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is, therefore, by prayer, especially by the holy sacrifice of the Mass, that this long desired renewal will be accomplished, and, for our part, it is to this, with the grace of God, that we give ourselves and desire to give ourselves always more.

Deign, Your Holiness, to accept our sentiments of filial respect in Jesus and Mary.

+Bernard Fellay Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X Flavigny, France, on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, February 2, 2001.

This should be read in the light of the Fontgombault conference at which it was admitted that the animus behind the Novus Ordo was hostility to the Council of Trent and sympathy for Luther's anti-Catholic perspective. If the Church is rent, it is owing to the unwillingness of this Pope--who has been so wrong on so many issues and under whose pontificate the Church has suffered a radical decline of Catholic faith--to admit the truth of this.

Not at all. I always give the Pope himself the benefit of a doubt, though he has come close to the line at times and this gets increasingly difficult. But I don't do that with Rome. I am convinced it is no longer fully Catholic. If it were, it would not tolerate the abominations it tolerates. Nor would heretics like Kasper be having such influence.

Why can't some of you be more honest? If Rome were truly Catholic, would it impose policies which destroy Catholicism? Wouldn't it shore-up the faith everywhere by better programs of catechesis, by disciplining bad bishops, by eliminating the Novus Ordo which has directly caused the loss of faith of hundreds of millions of Catholics? Instead it does the opposite.

Some of you will liken what I say to dissent. But it is not dissent--it is common sense. It is not dissent to say that you know what Catholicism is and is not; it is not, after all, some distant memory--it was alive among us only thirty or forty years ago. It is within the actual memory of many of us. It is still alive in little pockets of resistance everywhere. But it is not coming out of Rome.

Don't like what I say? Then leave. I will continue to say what I think--which is that Rome is no longer Catholic. If you can't handle this, then try another site.

Don't like what *I* say? Then *you* leave. *I* will continue to say what *I* think -- which is that you schismatics are no longer Catholic. If you can't hadle this, then try another site.

All you've got left is invective. Fine--but that's not Catholicism, it's a lie. You need to face the lie--it's staring you in the face. Funny how the only use for the word "schismatic" these days is to aim it at people who practice Catholicism in earnest. REAL schismatics are given a pass. It figures.

Rome is the collection of individuals that comprise the Vatican institution. Some are Catholic, some are clearly not. I am not sure about this pope. He is too busy writing poetry to make himself fully known. He says nice things, but does horrendous things. His job is primarily to protect the deposit of faith. This he has not done--for whatever reasons I don't pretend to know. Perhaps he has been too ill. It cannot be because he lacks the power--since he exercises it frequently against tradition. It must be by choice--for which he must answer to Heaven. But this much is certain: there can be no doubt which actions and beliefs are Catholic and which are not. Kneeling for Communion is Catholic, standing is not. Believing in the historicity of the Resurrection is Catholic, doubting it is not. Placing the tabernacle in a church's central place of honor is Catholic, hiding it is not. Looking to the next world as our hope and destiny is Catholic, focusing exclusively on this world is not. Awareness of our sinfulness and need for redemption is Catholic, avoiding any mention of these unpleasantries is not. I can go on and on--but why bother? The fact is, people have the scales drop from their eyes at different rates. Most on this site have a way to go--but more and more Catholics are learning the truth. Catholicism is being systematically destroyed--deliberately, consciously--by prelates who hate the real Catholic Church.

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