Letter of Mgr. Marcel Lefebvre to Pope Paul VI
24 September 1975
Dear Holy Father,
If my reply to the letter of Your Holiness is belated, it is that it was repugnant to me to make a public act that could have led people to think that I had the pretension of treating the successor of Peter on a footing of equality.
On the other hand, on the advice of the Nunciature, I hasten to write these few lines to Your Holiness in order to express my unreserved attachment to the Holy See and to the Vicar of Christ. I very much regret that my feelings in this regard could have been called in question and that certain of my expressions may have been wrongly interpreted.
It is to His Vicar that Jesus Christ confided the responsibilities of confirming his brethren in the faith and whom He asked to watch that each Bishop should faithfully guard the deposit of faith, in accordance with the words of Paul to Timothy.
It is this conviction which guides me and has always guided me throughout the whole of my priestly and apostolic life. It is this faith which I endeavour with God's help to inculcate in the youth who are preparing themselves for the priesthood.
This faith is the soul of Catholicism affirmed by the Gospels: "on this I shall build my Church."
With all my heart, I renew my devotion towards the Successor of Peter, "The Master of Truth" for the whole Church, "columna et firmamentum Veritatis."
†Marcel Lefebvre
24 September 1975
Dear Holy Father,
If my reply to the letter of Your Holiness is belated, it is that it was repugnant to me to make a public act that could have led people to think that I had the pretension of treating the successor of Peter on a footing of equality.
On the other hand, on the advice of the Nunciature, I hasten to write these few lines to Your Holiness in order to express my unreserved attachment to the Holy See and to the Vicar of Christ. I very much regret that my feelings in this regard could have been called in question and that certain of my expressions may have been wrongly interpreted.
It is to His Vicar that Jesus Christ confided the responsibilities of confirming his brethren in the faith and whom He asked to watch that each Bishop should faithfully guard the deposit of faith, in accordance with the words of Paul to Timothy.
It is this conviction which guides me and has always guided me throughout the whole of my priestly and apostolic life. It is this faith which I endeavour with God's help to inculcate in the youth who are preparing themselves for the priesthood.
This faith is the soul of Catholicism affirmed by the Gospels: "on this I shall build my Church."
With all my heart, I renew my devotion towards the Successor of Peter, "The Master of Truth" for the whole Church, "columna et firmamentum Veritatis."
†Marcel Lefebvre
