Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre Quotes

I want to be and to stay Catholic. So why am I required to suppress our seminary? Why am I required to suppress our Sacerdotal Fraternity of Saint Pius X? Why am I required not to perform these ordinations? There is only one reason: to bring me into line with this policy. They want me to lend a hand in this destruction of the Church, to join in this communion which, for the Church, is adultery. I will not be an adulterer. I will Keep my Catholic Faith! That is why I refuse. I refuse to collaborate in the destruction of the Church. I refuse to collaborate in loss of faith, in the general apostasy. I know perfectly well that if I do not perform these ordinations, if I stop, I shall be given nothing. Ordination sermon of June 29, 1977

I will limit my enumeration of the errors to these: I do not say that everything is bad in this Council, that there are not some fine texts to meditate on. Contrarily, I assert, with the evidence in my hands, that there are some documents that are dangerous and even erroneous, which show liberal tendencies, and modernist tendencies, which afterwards inspired the reforms which are now bringing the Church down to the ground.

These, then, are the reasons why we cannot accept compromises concerning Econe. Whatever may be said to us, we shall not agree to abandon the Tradition of the Church. We shall not agree to separate ourselves from all the Popes who have spoken since the Council of Trent or from the Council of Trent. We prefer to be with the Popes of four centuries than be with the present Roman Curia, which wants and institutes all kinds of novelties and thus tends to make us Protestants and Modernists. We do not want that and we are persuaded that, in so acting with the Pope. For the Pope cannot be against Tradition. It is impossible. (lecture given September 9, 1975 in Vienna, Austria)

Now this is exactly the same battle we are presently fighting. Why are we being persecuted? Why am I being persecuted today? And why are you, and all of us who are in Tradition, being persecuted? Because we affirm the truth and condemn error; we condemn liberalism; we condemn modernism. This is inadmissible for the Conciliar Church. The Council has changed all this; now we are supposed to be on good terms with the liberals, with the modernists, with the Freemasons, with the Communists, with everyone; we are supposed to be ecumenical with everyone. We are opposed to this; therefore we are against the Council, we are against the Pope, and so we are condemned! Yes, it is true, condemned! The reasons are the same; the combat is the same.

It is fashionable today to praise the Church of the first four centuries, to extol primative practice. How would the Church of the first four centuries have regarded Archbishop Whealon? Anyone who is remotely acquainted with Church history can give one answer and one answer only. Archbishop Whealon would have been regarded as an apostate; he would have been anathemized, and every true Catholic bishop would have broken off communion with him. I believe that the Church of the first four centuries was right. I believe that Archbishop Whealon is at least a de facto apostate. It seems a harsh thing to say. It may make me appear harsh and intolerant - but nonetheless it is the truth. Cardinal Newman has a magnificent sermon upon this very point, "Tolerance of Religious Error". He castigates those who concern us not to uphold truth but to avoid the appearance of being intolerant. Once again I must repeat, those who possess the truth, those who love the truth, cannot tolerate error . . . Furthermore, I submit that Archbishop Whealon's conduct would have been considered incompatible with Catholicism not only by the Church of the first four centuries - it would have resulted in his immediate excommunication by every Roman Pontiff up to and including Pope John XXIII. I accept that what I am saying will make me appear singular, intemperate, and extreme in the ecumenical climate of the Conciliar Church but the viewpoint I am putting forward would have been accepted by 99% of Catholics up to Vatican II. Read the encyclical Mortalium Animos of Pope Pius XI, read the relevant encyclicals of Pope Pius XII. If Archbishop Whealon is right, the the Church has been wrong for 2,000 years. (chapter 8)

I am asked how it is that I can refuse orders which come from Rome. Indeed, these orders do come from Rome, but which Rome? I believe in the Eternal Rome, the Rome of the Sovereign Pontiffs, the Rome which dispenses the very life of the Church, the Rome which transmits the true Tradition of the Church. I am considered disobedient, but I am moved to ask, why have those who are issuing orders which in themselves are blameworthy been given their authority? The Pope, the cardinals, the bishops, the priests have been given their authority for the purpose of transmitting life, the spiritual life, the supernatural life, eternal life, just as parents and society as a whole have been given their authority to transmit and protect life. The word "authority" itself is from the Latin, "auctoritas', and "auctor" which means "author", author of life. We have authority insofar as we transmit and sustain life. We are not authorized to transmit death, society is not permitted to pass laws which authorize abortion, because abortion is death. In like manner, the Pope, the cardinals, the bishops, and the priests exist as such to transmit and sustain spiritual life. Unfortunately, it is apparent that many of them today no longer transmit or sustain life, but rather authorize spiritual abortion.

We should like to reply to the objection that will certainly be leveed against it on the matter of obedience, and of the jurisdiction by those who seek to impose their liberalization on us. Our reply is - In the Church, law and jurisdiction are at the service of the Faith, the chief end of the Church. There is no law, no jurisdiction which can impose on us a lessening of our Faith. We accept this jurisdiction and this law when they are at the service of the Faith. But who can be the judge of that? The Tradition, the Faith taught for 2,000 years. Every Catholic can and must resist anyone in the Church who lays hands on his Faith, the Faith of the eternal Church, upheld by his childhood catechism. The defense of his Faith is the first duty of every Christian, more especially of every priest and bishop. Wherever an order carries with it the danger of corrupting Faith and morals, "disobedience" becomes a grave duty. It is because we believe that our whole faith is endangered by the post-conciliar reforms and changes that it is our duty to "disobey", and to maintain Tradition. The greatest service we can render the Catholic Church, the successor of Peter, the salvation of souls and of our own, is to say no to the reformed liberal Church, because we believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God made man, who is neither liberal nor reformable.

One of the most horrifying practical applications of these liberal principles is the laying of the Church open to all errors, particularly the most monstrous error ever thought up by Satan - communism. Communism now has official access to the Vatican and its world revolution is made markedly easier by the official non-resistance of the Church, nay, by her regular support of the revolution, despite the despairing warnings of cardinals who have been through communist jails. The refusal by this pastoral Council to issue any official condemnation of communism alone suffices to disgrace it for all time, when one remembers the tens of millions of martyrs, of people having their personalities scientifically destroyed in psychiatric hospitals, serving as guinea pigs for all sorts of experiments. And the pastoral Council which brought together 2,350 Bishops said not a word, in spite of the 450 signatures of Fathers demanding a condemnation, which I myself took to Mgr. Felici, secretary of the Council, together with Mgr. Sigaud, Archbishop of Diamantina.

The Archbishop of Cincinnati said that, in Rome itself during the Synod: "It is clear that the priest has lost his identity." What does that mean? The priest no longer knows what he is. So then, we want to form priests who know what they are, who know that they are made for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, to carry the Gospel and proclaim the Gospel, that is to say, to proclaim the catechism which we all learned, which our parents learned, and our grandparents and our ancestors; that is, Faith in the divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ and in His reign. (ordination sermon of June 29, 1977)

Certainly, I am taken as a reactionary, as an "ultra-traditionalist", as someone who impedes reform - and it is true! I am hindering reform. Yes, indeed, for I do not accept it! I consider this reform a reform to destroy the Church. I think that I have showed you this. It is, therefore, clear that it is for this that I am attacked by Rome, by this power of subversion that is found there. I have been asked to close my seminary; I have been asked to send away all my seminarians. In conscience, however, I think that I must say that I will not collaborate in the destruction of the Church; I cannot collaborate in the destruction of the Church!

Let us point out, in concluding this brief outline, that Satan's masterstroke is to have succeeded in sowing disobedience to all Tradition through obedience." This special insight elucidates why the coming battle between Rome and this one Archbishop became inevitable. His Excellency Marcel Lefebvre had been granted the divine sagacity to see through the demonic shell game being played by the modern Church officials - he saw that the game was fixed and discerned how it was fixed, and therefore he refused to enter the contest. Obedience is certainly a virtue, but no one can compel you to obey an unjust command. Besides, as St. Thomas Aquinas makes clear, faith is a higher virtue than obedience. No one can compel you to be obedient to a command to give up or destroy your faith, much less the faith of others if you are a churchman who has taken a vow to pass on that faith complete, whole and undefiled.

Here too we see the disparity of treatment as between traditional Catholics who in any way present an obstacle to the new orientation, and those who embrace the new orientation wholly and entirely. In contrast with the Vatican's pandering to the CPA, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre was publicly pronounced both excommunicated and schismatic in a motu proprio prepared for the Pope's signature within 48 hours of Archbishop Lefebvre's consecration of four bishops without a papal mandate - an action the Archbishop took in an effort (however misguided some may think it to be) to maintain Catholic tradition in a Church that appears to have gone mad. The Red Chinese procure (through former Catholic bishops) the consecration of 100 bishops without a papal mandate for their pro-abortion "church" and the Vatican takes no punitive action. Quite the contrary, it sends a Cardinal (no less) as a representative to hobnob with some of the illicit bishops! Yet, when Archbishop Lefebvre consecrates four bishops to serve Catholic Tradition, he is immediately cast into outer darkness by the same Vatican apparatus, even though Archbishop Lefebvre and the four newly consecrated bishops consistently professed their loyalty to the Pope whom they were attempting to serve by preserving traditional Catholic practice and belief. Why this striking disparity of treatment? The answer, once again, is that Archbishop Lefebvre resisted the Adaptation; the Red Chinese bishops, on the other hand, exemplify it. (page 124)

I will never compromise. I will accept that which comes from proper authority which is in keeping with the Truths, Doctrines, and the Traditions of Holy Mother Church, and I will reject what does not conform to that criteria.

Either we choose what the Popes have taught and we therefore choose the Church; or we choose what was said by the Council. But we can not choose both simultaneously, since they are contradictory.

We cleave with all our heart and with all our soul, to Catholic Rome, the guardian of the Catholic Faith and to eternal Rome, mistress of wisdom and truth. On the other hand we refuse and have always refused to follow the Rome of the new-Protestant trend clearly manifested throughout Vatican II Council and, later, in all the reforms born out of it. (Doctrinal Declaration of 1974)

We may no longer speak of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we may speak of God, of the rights of man, of a certain philanthropy, but we may no longer speak of the rights of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ. But that is why we are Christians. It is to extend the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ, no only in heaven but on earth. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven - the will of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This then is what makes me afraid. I am afraid that they will continue in the same orientation which is destroying the Church, destroying her from top to bottom because it is our faith which is at stake. We cannot keep silent about the fact that Our Lord Jesus Christ is our King, that He is our God, that He is the only way to salvation. We cannot be silent about this, even if it means that we may be persecuted, even if we have to shed our blood to affirm our faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ. We must then pray that at Rome they will come back to the true orientation of the Church, that they do not change the orientation of the Church, the path which was followed by the Apostles, by the Popes, by the councils, by the saints, by the good faithful for twenty centuries, but rather that we continue on the road. (sermon of August 25, 1985 Flueli, Switzerland)

What was the orientation of the Church for twenty centuries if not that Our Lord Jesus Christ alone is our King? Our Lord Jesus Christ alone is the way to heaven and the road to salvation. As Our Lord Himself said: "I am the Way, I am the Truth, I am the Life. Nobody can enter the sheepfold unless they enter through Me, the door. Ego sum ostium. I am the door to the sheepfold." That means, "I am the door of heaven. Nobody can enter heaven without going through Me." This is what the Church has always taught. And that is why the Church sent missionaries everywhere, into the whole world to say to the Moslems, the Protestants, the pagans, and all those who do not know Our Lord or who fight against Jesus Christ; there is only one way that you can be saved, that you can save your souls: Our Lord Jesus Christ. And so evidently those who directed these religions seized those missionaries and massacred them; they spilled the blood of the missionaries, the Apostles. All the Apostles were martyrs. Why? Because they heralded Our Lord Jesus Christ, they wished to destroy these religions which were enslaving souls and leading them to hell. So the Apostles said: "No, you must no longer believe in all these false divinities, come to Our Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. He alone is Savior, He alone is salvation. Tu solus altissimus, Tu solus Dominus, Jesu Christe:Thou alone art Most High, Thou alone art Lord, Jesus Christ." We sing this in the Gloria. This is the true orientation of the Church. (sermon given August 25, 1985 Flueli, Switzerland)

Now it was during the Council that the enemies of the Church infiltrated her, and their first objective was to demolish and destroy the Mass insofar as they could. you can read the books of Michael Davies, an English Catholic, who has written magnificent works which demonstrate how the liturgical reform of Vatican II closely resemble that produced under Cranmer at the birth of English Protestantism. If one reads the history of that liturgical transformation, made also by Luther, one sees that now it is exactly the same procedure which is being slowly followed and to all appearances, still apparently good and Catholic. But is just that character of the Mass which is sacrificial and redemptive of sim, through the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which they have removed. They have made of the Mass a simple assembly, one among others, merely presided over by the priest. That is not the Mass! (Jubilee Sermon of September 1979)

Why does the Church exist on this earth, if not to propagate the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to bring by means of this Kingship Christian civilization, the only visible civilization? There is nothing outside of Our Lord Jesus Christ. St. Peter said it: "Non est in alio aliquo salus. There is no other name on earth given for our salvation but that of Our Lord Jesus Christ." Consequently, if a State is Catholic, if the head of a government is Catholic, if 98% of a population is Catholic, it is the duty of the head of State to refuse the other religions, to allow them merely a certain tolerance, if he cannot do otherwise, but to guard the Faith, the Faith that is the source of the salvation of every soul and, as a result, to contribute to the work of the Church in keeping souls united to Our Lord and of saving them for eternity. That is the role of every Catholic head of a Catholic state; that is what the Church has always taught. (Conference at Barcelona, Spain, December 29, 1975)

My dear children, my dear brethren, today is the Feast of the Holy Pope, St. Pius V. We must thank God because he has given this Holy Pope for the Church. You know that it is by this Holy Pope that we now have the Sacrifice of the Mass as the Church, given in the name of Jesus Christ, has given us. And it is very important for the Church to maintain this Rite of the Sacrifice of the Mass as the Holy Pope, Pius V, has given us; to maintain this canonized, true Mass. The Mass is the heart of the Church; it is the heart of your school; it is the heart of the seminary. We thank God today to have this true Rite of the true Catholic Mass, because by this Mass we receive many, many blessings from God and many graces. (Sermon at St. Mary's College, Kansas, May 5, 1982)