Archbishop
Lefebvre's Letter to Eight Cardinals About Assisi I986
Your
Eminence,
Confronted
with events taking place in the Church that have John Paul
II as their author and faced with those he intends carrying
out at Taizé and Assisi in October, I cannot refrain from
addressing you and begging you in the name of numerous priests
and faithful to save the honor of the Church never before
humiliated to such an extent in the course of her history.
The
speeches and actions of John Paul II in Togo,
Morocco, and the
Indies cause a righteous indignation to rise up in our heart.
What do the Saints, the holy men and women of the Old and
New Testaments make of this? What would the Holy Inquisition
do if it were still in existence?
He
who now sits upon the Throne of Peter mocks publicly the
first article of the Creed and the first Commandment of
the Decalogue.
The
scandal given to Catholic souls cannot be measured. The
Church is shaken to its very foundations. If faith in the
Church, the only ark of salvation, disappears, then the
Church herself disappears.
Is
John Paul II to continue ruining the Church, in particular
at Assisi, with the planned procession of religions in the
streets of the town of St. Francis and the sharing out of
religions in the chapels of the basilica with a view to
practicing their worship in favor of peace as conceived
by the United Nations?
It
is what Cardinal Etchegaray, in charge of this abominable
congress, has announced.
Is
it conceivable that no authoritative voice has been raised
in the Church to condemn these public sins? Where are the
Machabees?
Eminence,
for the honor of the one true God and of our Lord Jesus
Christ, make a public protest, come to the help of the still
faithful bishops, priests and Catholics.
Eminence,
if I took the step of contacting you it is because I do
not doubt your sentiments in this matter.
I am
also addressing this appeal to those Cardinals named below
so that eventually you may be able to work together.
May
the Holy Ghost come to your aid, and please accept, Eminence,
my devoted and fraternal greetings in Christ and Mary.
Archbishop
Lefebvre, Emeritus Bishop‑Archbishop of Tulle
Econe,
August 27, 1986
It
is a truism that men come to accept anything if they see
it often enough; hence it is good to recall the theological
criteria by which to judge this kind of undertaking. The
review SISINONO published an excellent study
in 1986 which is reprinted here because of its timeliness.
What
Should We Make of Assisi?
It
has been said, with undoubtedly unintended exactness, that
the "prayer meeting" at Assisi is a "personal
initiative" of Pope John Paul II. In so far as it is
only a "personal" initiative, it does not engage
his mandate as "pastor and teacher of all Christians"
(Vatican I). By
conforming itself to the political theme set by the United
Nations, which proclaimed the year 1986 an "international
year of peace," neither does it concern doctrine.
At
Assisi, next October 27, not only will the Catholics gather
at Assisi, but also "the representatives of the world's
other religions" will join them in an assembly for
peace.1 Those whom Pope John Paul II has called
"the representatives of the other religions" the
Church has always more appropriately called infidels. "Broadly
speaking, infidels are those who do not possess the true
faith; in the strict sense infidels are the unbaptized.
They are divided into monotheists (Jews and Moslems), polytheists
(Hindus, Buddhists, etc.), and atheists."2
What Pope John Paul II has called the "other"
religions, the Church has more properly called the false
religions. A false religion is any non-Christian religion
"in so far as it is not the religion that God revealed
and wants to see practiced. Moreover, every non‑Catholic
Christian sect is false in so far as it neither accepts
nor faithfully practices the entire content of Revelation."3
This having been said, in light of the Catholic Faith, the
prayer meeting of religions at Assisi can be considered
tantamount to: 1) an insult to God; 2)
a denial of the universal necessity of Redemption; 3)
a lack of justice and charity towards the infidels; 4)
a danger and a scandal to Catholics; and 5)
a betrayal of the Church's and Peter's mission.
I)
An Insult to God
All
prayer, including petition, is an act of worship.4
As such, it must be addressed to Whom it is due, and in
the right way. To whom it is due: The one true God, Creator
and Lord of all men, the one to whom the Lord Jesus Christ
has brought them back (I Jn. 5:20)
by confirming the first commandment of the Law. "I
am the Lord thy God ...Thou shalt not have strange gods
before me ....Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them..."
(Ex. 20:2‑5).5 In the right way: Thus,
it must be prayer that corresponds to the fullness of Revelation
without admixture of error: "But the hour cometh and
now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in
spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to
adore him" Jn. 4:23).
Prayer
which is addressed to false gods or inspired by religious
opinions differing in whole or in part from divine Revelation,
is not an act of worship, but of superstition. It does not
honor God; it offends Him. At least, objectively, it is
a sin against the first commandment.6 To whom
are the persons to gather at Assisi going to pray, and in
what way? Invited in their capacity as "representatives
of the other religions," "everyone will pray in
his own way and customary style." This was explained
by Cardinal Willebrands, President of the Secretariat for
Non‑Christian Religions.7 This was confirmed
last June 27 by Cardinal Etchegaray at a press conference
published by Documentation Catholique of September
7‑21, 1986, under the rubric "Acts of the Holy
See": "It involves respecting each one's prayer,
and allowing everyone to express himself in the fullness
of his faith, of his belief."
On
October 27 at Assisi, superstition will be widely practiced
in its most serious forms, from the "false
worship"
of Jews who, during the era of grace, pretend to honor God
by denying His Christ,8 to the idolatry of Hindus
and Buddhists who offer a cult to creatures instead of to
God.9
The
Catholic hierarchy's apparent approbation of this is especially
insulting to God, for it supposes and allows it to be supposed
that He looks with equal complacency upon acts of true worship
and acts of superstition, upon manifestations of faith and
manifestations of incredulity, upon the true religion and
upon the false religions; in short, upon truth and upon
error.
2)
Denial of the Universal Necessity of Redemption
There
is but one Mediator between God and men: the Lord Jesus
Christ, Son of God and true man (I Tim. 2:5). By nature,
men are "children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3); by Him,
they have been reconciled with the Father (Col. 1:20), and
it is only by faith in Him that they can have the boldness
to approach God with entire confidence (Eph. 3:12). To Him
was given all power in heaven and on earth (Mt. 28:18),
and at His name every knee must bend, in heaven, on earth,
and under the earth (Phil. 2:10,11).
No one goes to the Father save by Him (Jn. 14:6), and there
is no other name under heaven given to man by which he must
be saved (Acts 4:12). He is the Light that enlightens every man who comes
into the world (Jn.1:9), and whoever does not follow Him
wanders in darkness (Jn. 8:12). Who is not with Him is against Him (Mt.
13:30), and who
does not honor Him also dishonors His Father who sent Him
(as the Jews do) (Jn. 5:23).
To Him has the Father given the judgment of men, but he
who refuses belief has already been judged, because he has
not believed in the name of the Only Son of God (Jn. 3:18),
nor in the Father who sent Him (Jn. 17:3). He is, moreover,
the Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6),11 for divisions,
conflicts, and wars are the bitter fruit of sin from which
man cannot free himself by his own virtue, but only in virtue
of the Redeemer's blood.
What
place will the Lord Jesus Christ have at Assisi in the prayer
of the "representatives of the other religions"?
None, for to them He remains either unknown, or a stumbling
block, or a sign of contradiction. The invitation that was
addressed to them to pray for peace in the world supposes,
and inevitably allows it to be supposed, that there are
people ‑ the Christians ‑ who must approach
God by the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ and in His
name, and others ‑ the rest of the human race ‑
who can approach God directly and in their own name, without
regard to the Mediator; that there are some men who must
bend the knee before the Lord Jesus Christ, and some who
are exempt; some men who must seek peace in the reign of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and others who can obtain peace outside
His reign and even in opposing it.
This
is the idea that comes from the declarations of the two
cardinals quoted above: "While for us Christians Christ
is our peace, for all believers peace is a gift of God"
12; "for Christians, prayer goes through
Christ."13
The
"prayer meeting" of Assisi, then, is the public
negation of the universal necessity of Redemption.
3)
A Lack of Justice and Charity Towards the Infidels
"Jesus
Christ is not optional," said Cardinal Pie. There are
not some men who are justified by faith in Him, and others
who are justified without regard to Him: Every man is either
saved by Christ or is lost without Him. Nor are there any
purely natural ends for which a man can opt instead of his
unique supernatural end. If, gone astray in sin, he finds
himself out of Christ, the unique Way (Jn. 4:6) by which
to attain the end for which he was created, all that is
left him is everlasting ruin.
Real
faith, and not mere "good faith," is the subjective
condition for salvation for everyone, even for the pagans.
Since it is a necessity of means, "if it is lacking
(even involuntarily) it is absolutely impossible to effect
eternal salvation."14 Voluntary infidelity,
St. Thomas explains, is a fault and involuntary infidelity
is a punishment. In fact, the infidels who are not lost
because of the sin of incredulity, that is, by the sin of
not having believed in Christ about whom they never knew
anything, are lost by their other sins, the remission of
which cannot be given to anyone without the true faith."15
Nothing,
then, is more important for man than to accept the Redeemer
and union with the Mediator: it is a matter of eternal death
or life. This is what the infidels have a right to hear
announced by the Catholic Church, in conformity to the divine
command.16 And this is what the Catholic Church
has always announced to the infidels by praying, not with
them, but for them.
What
will happen at Assisi? They certainly won't pray for the
infidels, thus presuming implicitly and publicly that they
no longer need the true faith. Instead of that, they will
pray in union with them, or rather, according to the rabbinical
subtlety of Radio Vatican,
they will pray near them, presuming thus implicitly and
publicly that prayer dictated by error is received by God
as much as prayer made "in spirit and in truth."
"It involves respecting each one's prayer," Cardinal
Etchegaray explained in his brief declaration. That means
that the infidels who will gather at Assisi, who, let us
be clear, are not "savages brought up in the forest"
who have "never known anything about the faith,"
as the theologians hypothesize when discussing the problem
of the salvation of infidels,17 will be "respectfully"
left "in the darkness and in the shadow of death"
(Lk. 1:79).
Authorized
to pray in their distinctive costumes as "representatives
of the other religions" and in conformity with their
erroneous religious beliefs, they are even encouraged to
persevere in sins, at least material, against the faith:
infidelity, heresy, etc… Invited to pray for peace
in the world, defined as a "fundamental" and "supreme"
good,18 they are turned away from the eternal
goods towards a temporal good, towards a secondary natural
end, as if they didn't need to procure their supernatural
last end, which really is fundamental and supreme: "Seek
first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these
things shall be added unto you" (Mt. 6:33). For all
these reasons, the "prayer meeting" of Assisi
is, at least viewed from the outside, a lack of justice
and charity towards the infidels.
4)
A Danger and a Scandal to Catholics
True
faith is indispensable for salvation. Catholics are thus
obliged to avoid every proximate danger to their faith.
Among the exterior dangers is contact with infidels when
it is not the result of genuine necessity. This contact
is illicit in virtue of divine and natural law even without
considering ecclesiastical law, and even in the case where
ecclesiastical law does not prohibit it, for example in
social relations: Haereticum hominem devita (Avoid
the heretic) (Tit. 3:10).
Moreover,
out of maternal concern, the Church has always forbidden
not only what might be a danger to the faith but also an
occasion of scandal.19 As for the false religions,
the Church has always refused them the right to public worship.
She has tolerated it when it was necessary, but tolerance
always means "in relation to an evil to be allowed
for a proportionate reason."20 In any case,
she has always avoided and forbidden any apparent approval
of non‑Catholic rites.
What
is going to happen at Assisi? Catholics and infidels "will
gather to pray" (even though it will not be "to
pray together"...). That simply means that they will
pray together at Assisi, first simultaneously in their own
residences, and then, by turns when united at the closing
ceremony before the basilica of St. Francis. And this is
not being done in order to protect the faith of Catholics
or to at least avoid scandalizing them. Rather, it is to
allow all to pray "according to their own manner and
style," and to "respect each one's prayer"
and to "allow everyone to express himself in the fullness
of his faith, of his belief."21 All this
constitutes at least an exterior approbation of: 1)
false religions, to which the Church as always denied
any right; 2) religious subjectivism,
which she has always condemned under the names of indifferentism
or latitudinarianism, and which "seeks to justify itself
under the pretended claims of liberty, failing to recognize
the rights of objective truth which are made manifest either
by the lights of reason or by Revelation.22
Religious
indifferentism, which is "one of the most deleterious
heresies" and which "places all religions on an
equal footing," inevitably leads one to consider the
truth of religious belief as merely a matter of utility
for a well‑regulated life .... "One ends by considering
religion as an entirely individual thing which can be adapted
to the dispositions of each one, letting everyone form his
own personal religion, and by concluding that all the religions
are good even though they contradict each other."
23 But with this point of view we are outside the
Catholic act of faith, and have reached something ...like
an act of incredulity towards divine Revelation.
Revelation
is a reality, a fact, a truth accredited by God by sure
signs, because error in this domain would have had disastrous
consequences for men.24 But
in
the presence of an undeniable fact or of an evident truth,
one cannot be tolerant to the point of approving the attitude
of those who consider them to be non‑existent or false.
That would suppose that we do not really believe or are
not fully convinced of the truth of our position, or that
we are (or deem ourselves to be) dealing with a matter that
is absolutely banal or indifferent, or that we would consider
truth and error to be purely relative positions.25
And
since the "prayer meeting" is characterized by
all of that, it is an occasion of scandal for Catholics
and of grave danger to their faith. Because of ecumenism,
they find themselves united to the infidels, but in their
"common ruin."26
5)
Betrayal of the Mission Confided to Peter and to the
Church
The
Church's mission is to announce to all nations that 1)
there is one true God, who revealed Himself for the benefit
of all men in our Lord Jesus Christ; 2)
that there is only one true religion, the only one by
which God wishes to be honored, because He is Truth, and
everything in the false religions which goes against the
truth is repugnant to Him: doctrinal errors, immoral laws,
unseemly rites; 3) that there is only
one Mediator between God and men, by whom men can hope to
be saved, because all are sinners and remain in their sin
if they are deprived of the Blood of Christ; 4)
that there is one true Church, the perpetual guardian of
this Blood, and that "it is necessary to believe that
no one can be saved outside the apostolic Roman Church,
which is the unique ark of salvation, and those who do not
enter it will perish in the deluge27; moreover,
among their moral dispositions must be the desire, explicit
or implicit, to fully accomplish the will of God, if their
ignorance is truly invincible.28
The
Church's proper mission is to announce all this: "Going
therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you"
(Mt. 28:19‑20). "He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned"
(Mk. 16:16).
So
that the Church could accomplish with assurance this mission
throughout the centuries, our Lord Jesus Christ conferred
on St. Peter and his successors the mission of visibly representing
Him (Mt. 16, 17‑19; Jn. 21:15‑17)
The
Vicar of Jesus Christ is not charged with establishing a
new doctrine with the help of new revelations, nor of creating
a new order of things, nor of instituting new sacraments:
such is not his function. He represents Jesus Christ at
the head of His Church, whose constitution has been finalized.
This essential constitution, that is to say, the creation
of the Church, was Jesus Christ's proper task which He,
Himself, had to conclude, and of which He said to the Father:
"I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do"
(Jn. 17:4). Nothing more needs to be added; it only remains
to maintain this creation, to assure the Church's work and
preside over the functioning of its organs. Two things are
necessary for this: govern it, and perpetuate the teaching
of the truth. Vatican Council I reduced to these two points
the supreme function of the Vicar of Jesus Christ. Peter
represents Jesus Christ under these two aspects.29
There
is no power in the Church like Peter's, but it is power
as vicar, and as such, is no wise absolute, but limited
by the divine right of Him whom he represents. "The
Lord confided to Peter, not Peter's sheep, but His own in
order to pasture them, not in his own interest, but God's."30
It is not within Peter's power, therefore, to promote initiatives
in disaccord with the mission of the Church and of the Roman
Pontiff, as clearly is the "prayer meeting" of
Assisi. The Vicar of Him who said: "Begone, Satan,
for it is written, ‘The Lord thy God thou shalt adore, and
him only shalt thou serve’" (Mt. 4:10;
Deut. 6:13),
cannot invite "the representatives" of the false
religions to pray to their false gods in places consecrated
to the faith in the true God. The Successor of him who obtained
the primacy by his act of faith when he said, "Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt. 16:16; cf. Jn. 6:69‑70), cannot authorize
anyone to treat Jesus Christ as irrelevant. The Successor
of him who received the commission to confirm his brethren
in the faith (Lk. 22:32), has no right to be a stumbling block
for their faith.Ω
1
Cf. L'Osservatore Romano, Jan. 26‑27,
1986.
2
Roberti‑Palazzini, Dizionario di teologia
morale, p.813.
3
Ibid.
4
Summa Theologica, II‑II, Q.83.
5
Cf. Mt. 4:3‑10; Jn. 17:3; Tim. 2:.5. See also
on this topic Pietro Cardinal Palazzini, Vita a virtu
cristiane, p.52, and Garrigou‑Lagrange, De
Revelatione (Rome‑Paris: 1918), vol. 1, p.136.
6
Cf. Summa Theologica, II‑II, QQ 92‑96.
7
See L'Osservatore Romano, January 27‑28, 1986,
p.4.
8
Summa Theologica, Il‑II, Q92, Art.2, ad 3,
and I II, Q10, Art. 11
9
Cf. Acts 17:16.
10
Cf. Summa Theologica, II‑II,
Q94, Art. 1.
11
Cf. Eph. 2:14 and Mich. 5:.5.
12
Cardinal Willebrands in L'Osservatore Romano cited
above.
13
Cardinal Etchegaray, cited above in Documentation Catholique.
14
Dizionario di teologia morale, p.66.
15
See Mk. 16:15‑16; Jn. 20:31; Heb. 11:6; Council of Trent in Denzinger 799 and 801;
Vatican II, Dz. 1793. Cf. Summa Theologica, II‑II,
Q. 11, Art. 1.
16
Mk. 6:16; Mt. 28:19‑20.
17
St. Thomas Aquinas, De Veritate,
14, 11.
18
John Paul II and Cardinal Willebrands in L'Osservatore
Romano, April 7‑8, and Jan. 27‑28, 1986,
respectively.
19
See the 1917 Code of Canon Law, canons
1258 and 2316; and Summma Theologica,II‑Il,
Q. 10, Art. 9‑11.
20
Dizionario de teologia morale, p.1702.
21
See the declarations of Cardinals Willebrands
and Etchegaray cited above.
22
Dizionario de teologia morale, p.805.
23
Ibid.
24
Pope Leo XIII, encyclical letter Libertas,
1888.
25
Dizionario di teologia morale, p.1703.
26
Pope Pius XII, Humani Generis, 1950.
27
Pope Pius IX, Dz.1647.
28
Ibid.
29
Dom Adrien Gréa, De l’Eglise et de sa divine constitution;
cf. Vatican I,
constitution Pastor Aeternus, Ch. 4
30
St. Augustine, Sermon 285, No.3.
Press
Release from Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of
the Society of Saint Pius X, Concerning the Interreligious
Day of Prayer in Assisi on January 24, 2002.
Pope
John Paul II is inviting all the major religions of the
world, the Moslems in particular, to a great prayer meeting
in Assisi, in the same spirit of the first meeting for peace
that took place there in 1986. We are deeply distressed
by this event and condemn it totally.
- Because
it offends God in His first commandment.
- Because
it denies the unity of the Church and Her mission of saving
souls.
- Because
it can only lead the faithful into confusion and indifferentism.
- Because
it deceives the unfortunate infidels and members of other
religions.
The
problem does not lie in the object of the prayers‑peace.
To pray for peace and to seek to establish and strengthen
peace between peoples and nations is a good thing in itself.
The Catholic liturgy is full of beautiful prayers for peace.
We pray these prayers with all our hearts. Moreover, given
the fact that the angels announced, on the birth of our
Lord .Jesus Christ, peace on earth to men of good will,
it is totally fitting to ask the faithful to implore the
One True God to grant us a gift of such great value at this
stage in the year.
The
reason for our indignation lies in the confusion, scandal
and blasphemy that result from an invitation from the Vicar
of our Lord Jesus Christ, sole mediator between God and
man, to other religions to come to Assisi to pray for peace.
It
has been stated that to avoid any syncretism, those attending
will not be praying "together," but that each
religion will pray in separate rooms in the Franciscan convent
at Assisi. Cardinal Kasper went so far ‑ and rightly
so ‑ to affirm that "Christians cannot pray with
members of other religions." (Osservatore Romano,
Jan. 5, 2002). However, this affirmation
is not enough to dissipate the dreadful uneasiness and confusion
caused by the event; it cannot be denied that all kinds
of religions will be praying "each in their own
camp" to obtain from these prayers said at the
same time, but in different locations, the same result:
peace. The fact that all have been invited to pray, at the
same time and in the same town, for the same intention is
clear proof of the desire for unity. On the other hand,
the fact that the prayers will be offered in separate locations
betrays the contradictory and impossible nature of the project.
In reality, the distinction is false, even though, thanks
be to God, it avoids a direct communicatio in sacris.
However, the syncretic nature of the operation is obvious
to all. Recourse to deceitful words has made it possible
to deny the painfully obvious reality. But words do not
mean anything any more: we will be going to Assisi, not
to pray together, we are going there together to pray ...no
syncretism, etc.
The
establishment of civil (political) peace between nations
by congresses, discussions, diplomacy, with the intervention
of influential persons of different nations and religions,
is one thing. It is another to claim to obtain the gift
of peace from God by the prayer of all (false) religions.
Such an initiative is completely inconsistent with the Catholic
Faith and goes against the first commandment.
This
is not a question of individual prayer, that of one man,
in his own particular relationship with God, whether as
Creator or Sanctifier, but the prayer of different religions,
as such, with their own particular rite addressed to their
own particular divinity. Holy Scripture, (both the Old and
the New Testaments) teaches us that the only prayer pleasing
to God is that of Him, whom He established as sole mediator
between Himself and men, and that this prayer can only be
found in the one true religion. God considers an abomination
all other religions, especially idolatry, the summum
of all superstitions.
Moreover,
how can one hope to claim that religions that fail to recognize
the one true God can possibly obtain anything from Him?
St. Paul assures us that these false gods are fallen angels
and demons.
But
the things which the heathens sacrifice, they sacrifice
to devils and not to God. And I would not that you should
be made partakers with devils. You cannot drink the chalice
of the Lord, and the chalice of devils: you cannot be partakers
of the table of the Lord, and of the table of devils (I
Cor. 10: 20‑21).
Inviting
these religions to pray is inviting them to make an act
that God reproves, that He condemns in the first commandment,
one God alone shall you adore. It is leading the members
of such religions into error and condoning their ignorance
and misfortune.
Worse
still: this invitation implies that their prayers might
be useful, or even necessary, in order to obtain peace.
Almighty God made it perfectly clear what He thinks of this,
via the words of His apostle St. Paul:
Bear
not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath
justice with injustice? Or what fellowship has light with
darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what
part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? And what agreement
hath the temple of God
with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as
God saith: "I will dwell in them, and walk among them;
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people"
(II Cor. 6:14‑16).
"We
will never fully understand the struggle between the good
and the wicked throughout history, as long as we do not
see it as the personal and unyielding battle for all time
between Satan and Jesus Christ" wrote Archbishop Lefebvre
in all his wisdom (Spiritual Journey, p.37 [available
from Angelus Press, Price: $7.95]). This fundamental truth,
as far as war and peace are concerned, would appear to have
been totally forgotten in the thinking behind the initiative
in Assisi.
At
one point during the day, everyone will be gathered together.
When, then, will the participants hear the cry of the first
Pope, St. Peter: "Neither is there salvation in any
other. For there is no other name under heaven given to
men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). The same Jesus Christ, sole Savior, is
also the sole author of peace. But will anyone dare point
out these elementary truths to guests who are strangers
to Christianity? Fear of hurting their feelings will mean
that this absolutely essential condition for true peace
will be overlooked or reduced to a purely subjective belief
("for us Christians, Jesus Christ is God," etc.)
As
we have just pointed out: Not only is there only one true
God and "so that they are inexcusable" (Rom. 1:20),
but there is also only one mediator (I Tim. 2:5), one sole
ambassador authorized by God, who intercedes ceaselessly
on our behalf (Heb. 7:25). Religions which refuse to recognize His
divinity explicitly, such as Judaism and Islam, have no
chance of having their prayers answered, because of so fundamental
an error.
Who
is a liar, but he who denieth that Jesus is the Christ?
This is Antichrist, who denieth the Father and the Son.
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father.
He that confesseth the Son, hath the Father also (I Jn.
2:22‑23).
Despite
monotheistic appearances, we do not have the same God, we
do not have the same mediator. Only the mystical bride of
Christ (Eph. 5:32) has the prerogative of obtaining from
God, in the name of, and through, our Lord Jesus Christ,
any favors, in particular that of peace. Such is the faith
that the Church has taught and believed constantly, throughout
the ages and from time immemorial. This is, by no means,
a question of intolerance or of disdain for one's neighbor,
it is a question of an unchangeable truth. "No one
comes to the Father but through me" (Jn. 14:6).
To
make gestures, or to get others to make them, that no longer
express this, is to deceive oneself. It offends God, our
Lord Jesus Christ in whom He is well pleased, and His Holy
Church (Mt. 16:18). How can those who refuse this mediation
‑ as do the Jews and Moslems explicitly, in refusing
to recognize His divinity ‑ possibly hope to have
their prayers answered? The same goes for those who refuse
to accept the Church's role as mediator.
John
Paul II has attempted to justify the prayer meetings in
Assisi on several occasions. In fact, one of his arguments
is founded on the definition of prayer. "All authentic
prayer comes from the Holy Ghost, who dwells mysteriously
in every soul." Inasmuch as one attributes the correct
meaning to the word "authentic," one could accept
the first part of the sentence. But it is obvious that one
cannot say that the prayer of a Buddhist, before an idol
of Buddha, or that of a witchdoctor smoking the peace pipe,
or that of an animist, is authentic.
The
only authentic prayer is true prayer addressed to the true
God. It is totally wrong to qualify a prayer addressed to
the devil as authentic. Can the prayer of a fanatical terrorist,
before crashing into the Manhattan tower, "Allah is
great," be called authentic?
Wasn't
he convinced that he was doing the right thing, doesn't
that make him sincere? It is clear that a purely subjective
way of looking at things is not sufficient to make a prayer
authentic.
The
second part of the sentence: "the Holy Ghost dwells
mysteriously in every soul," or in every man, is certainly
false. The word "mysteriously" can be misleading:
in Catholic theology, as in Holy Scripture, the dwelling
of the Holy Ghost is directly linked to the presence of
sanctifying grace. One of the first formulae used in baptism
consists of commanding the devil to leave the soul in order
to let the Holy Ghost enter it. This demonstrates quite
clearly that the Holy Ghost did not dwell in the soul before
baptism. And so, the justification for the interdenominational
day of prayer at Assisi is based on a false premise.
Those
wishing to promote dialogue, which requires considering
the other party in a highly positive light, argue that there
is much good in other religions, and, given that God is
the sole source of good, God is at work in other religions.
This is pure sophistry, based on the lack of distinction
between natural order and supernatural order. It goes without
saying that, when one speaks of the action of God in a religion,
one implies a work of salvation. This means God who saves
by His grace. His supernatural grace. On the other hand,
the good referred to in other religions, (non-Christian
ones at any rate) is merely natural; in such cases, God
is acting as Creator, who gives being to all things, and
not as savior. The determination of the Vatican II Council
to dispense with the distinction between the order of grace
and natural order bears, in this respect, its most poisonous
fruits. The result is the worst sort of confusion, that
which leads people to think that any religion can finally
obtain the greatest favors from God. This is a huge fraud,
a ridiculous error.
It
is in keeping with the Masonic plot to establish a grand
temple of universal brotherhood above all
religions
and beliefs, "Unity in diversity," a concept so
dear to the New Age and to globalization.
We
were excommunicated by Clement XI in 1738 because of our
interdenominational principles. But the Church was definitely
in error, if it is true that, on October 27, 1986, the present Pope
gathered together men of all religious confessions in Assisi
to pray for peace. What else are our brothers looking for
when they gather together in temples, than love between
men, tolerance, solidarity, defense of the dignity of the
human being, considering themselves equal, above political
and religious beliefs and the color of their skin? (Grand
Master Armando Corona, of the Grand Lodge of the Spring
Equinox, Hiram‑ Voice of the Grand Orient of ltaly,
April 1987)
One
thing is certain: there is no better way to provoke the
anger of God.
This
is why, despite our strong desire for the peace of God,
we will have absolutely nothing to do with this day of prayer
on January 24th, in Assisi. Nullam partem.
+ Bernard
Fellay
January
21, 2002
Courtesy of the Angelus
Press, Kansas City, MO 64109
translated from the Italian
Fr. Du Chalard
Via Madonna degli Angeli, 14
Italia 00049 Velletri (Roma)
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