17 April 1985
Your Eminence,
In your last reply, dated July 20, 1983, you foresee the possibility of changing the terms of the Declaration you proposed in your letter of December 23, 1982, and eventually of incorporating certain suggestions in the new Declaration.
The following reply takes up this proposal of yours. However, it seems to me absolutely necessary not to isolate the Declaration from the remarks which follow it, in order to set it in context and thus understand our attitude which is in no way that of dissidents or rebels, but which results from an unfailing attachment to the Magisterium of the Church, which seems to us thwarted by certain documents of Vatican II. This is also what elicited the "Open Letter" of Mgr. Antonio de Castro Mayer and myself dated November 21, 1983.
Here then is the proposed text of the Declaration:
"We have always accepted and we declare that we do accept the texts of the Council in accordance with the criterion of Tradition, that is to say, according to the traditional Magisterium of the Church. We have never stated and we do not state that the Novus Ordo Mass, celebrated according to the rite published in Rome, is automatically invalid or heretical." May we be allowed a few remarks flowing from this Declaration, or making it more explicit:
1. Considering that the Declaration on Religious Liberty is contrary to the Magisterium of the Church, we ask for a wholesale revision of this text.
We consider to be likewise indispensable, noteworthy revisions of documents like "The Church in the World", "Non-Christian Religions", "Ecumenism", and clarifications of numerous texts presently tending to confusion.
Similarly on several points of prime importance the new Code of Canon Law is unacceptable by its opposition to the definitive Magisterium of the Church.
2. Considering that the Liturgical Reform was influenced by ecumenism of that fact is a very grave danger for the Catholic Faith, we ask that this to give due prominence to the dogmas of Faith, as does the Mass of all time.
3. Faced by the immense advances of atheistic communism and socialism, towards Protestants, and because Reform be entirely revised so as destroying all human and Christian values, we urgently ask that these diabolical doctrines and enterprises be publicly condemned and that the Catholic States be encouraged to recognize the Catholic religion as the only official religion, with all the salutary consequences of such a declaration enshrined in their Constitutions.
And, with a view to bringing this infernal assault to an end, would it not be fitting to comply with the express desire of the Virgin Mary at Fatima by consecrating Russia, by name, to her Immaculate Heart?
Besides, being persuaded that we are rendering an outstanding service to the Church and the Successor of Peter by maintaining the doctrinal, pastoral and liturgical Tradition of the Church, we think that this service would be even more effective were it to be carried out under the following conditions:
1. That the official recognition we enjoyed from 1970 to 1975 should be given back to us and that the Society should be recognized as being of Pontifical status, given that it is installed in many dioceses throughout the world.
2. That by the very fact of that recognition, there should be no more alluding to sanctions against the Society.
3. That our use of the four liturgical books re-edited by Pope John XXIII be recognized.
4. That to replace me in my episcopal functions in the Society and in its various works scattered throughout the world, the Superior General should be able to propose "Ternae" (Editor's note: groups of three candidates proposed for the selection of one) for the nomination of two or three bishops, at the present time.
5. That the Society will strive to answer the call of Bishops who appreciate the apostolate of its members.
Hoping that this letter will be considered as a new approach to a happy solution, may I beg you, your Eminence, to accept my most respectful and fraternal sentiments in Jesus and Mary.
Marcel Lefebvre
Archbishop & Bishop Emeritus of Tulle,
Founder of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X
Your Eminence,
In your last reply, dated July 20, 1983, you foresee the possibility of changing the terms of the Declaration you proposed in your letter of December 23, 1982, and eventually of incorporating certain suggestions in the new Declaration.
The following reply takes up this proposal of yours. However, it seems to me absolutely necessary not to isolate the Declaration from the remarks which follow it, in order to set it in context and thus understand our attitude which is in no way that of dissidents or rebels, but which results from an unfailing attachment to the Magisterium of the Church, which seems to us thwarted by certain documents of Vatican II. This is also what elicited the "Open Letter" of Mgr. Antonio de Castro Mayer and myself dated November 21, 1983.
Here then is the proposed text of the Declaration:
"We have always accepted and we declare that we do accept the texts of the Council in accordance with the criterion of Tradition, that is to say, according to the traditional Magisterium of the Church. We have never stated and we do not state that the Novus Ordo Mass, celebrated according to the rite published in Rome, is automatically invalid or heretical." May we be allowed a few remarks flowing from this Declaration, or making it more explicit:
1. Considering that the Declaration on Religious Liberty is contrary to the Magisterium of the Church, we ask for a wholesale revision of this text.
We consider to be likewise indispensable, noteworthy revisions of documents like "The Church in the World", "Non-Christian Religions", "Ecumenism", and clarifications of numerous texts presently tending to confusion.
Similarly on several points of prime importance the new Code of Canon Law is unacceptable by its opposition to the definitive Magisterium of the Church.
2. Considering that the Liturgical Reform was influenced by ecumenism of that fact is a very grave danger for the Catholic Faith, we ask that this to give due prominence to the dogmas of Faith, as does the Mass of all time.
3. Faced by the immense advances of atheistic communism and socialism, towards Protestants, and because Reform be entirely revised so as destroying all human and Christian values, we urgently ask that these diabolical doctrines and enterprises be publicly condemned and that the Catholic States be encouraged to recognize the Catholic religion as the only official religion, with all the salutary consequences of such a declaration enshrined in their Constitutions.
And, with a view to bringing this infernal assault to an end, would it not be fitting to comply with the express desire of the Virgin Mary at Fatima by consecrating Russia, by name, to her Immaculate Heart?
Besides, being persuaded that we are rendering an outstanding service to the Church and the Successor of Peter by maintaining the doctrinal, pastoral and liturgical Tradition of the Church, we think that this service would be even more effective were it to be carried out under the following conditions:
1. That the official recognition we enjoyed from 1970 to 1975 should be given back to us and that the Society should be recognized as being of Pontifical status, given that it is installed in many dioceses throughout the world.
2. That by the very fact of that recognition, there should be no more alluding to sanctions against the Society.
3. That our use of the four liturgical books re-edited by Pope John XXIII be recognized.
4. That to replace me in my episcopal functions in the Society and in its various works scattered throughout the world, the Superior General should be able to propose "Ternae" (Editor's note: groups of three candidates proposed for the selection of one) for the nomination of two or three bishops, at the present time.
5. That the Society will strive to answer the call of Bishops who appreciate the apostolate of its members.
Hoping that this letter will be considered as a new approach to a happy solution, may I beg you, your Eminence, to accept my most respectful and fraternal sentiments in Jesus and Mary.
Marcel Lefebvre
Archbishop & Bishop Emeritus of Tulle,
Founder of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X
