The Angelus - July 1985

Various Works of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre - online format

Books
Archbishop Lefebvre & the Vatican - A complete set of the documents exchanged between Rome and Archbishop Lefebvre in the time leading up to and immediately following the episcopal consecrations of June 30, 1988 - Compiled by Rev. Fr. François Laisney
An Open Letter to Confused Catholics - complete book by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre
Apologia pro Marcel Lefebvre -Volumes I, II and III


1993
The New Catechism (January 12, 1993)

1991
Remarks with Respect to the New Bishop to Succeed His Excellency Bishop de Castro Mayer (February 20, 1991)
To Express Our Love of God in Prayer The Last Sermon of His Excellency Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (February 17, 1991)
Archbishop Lefebvre and Padre Pio

1990
Letter to Bishop de Castro Mayer (December 4, 1990)
Truth, Justice & the News Media (May 12, 1990)

1989
Archbishop's Sermon on his 60th Anniversary of Ordination (November 19, 1989)
Sermon for the Feast of Christ the King (October 29, 1989)
Ubi Maria Ibi Ecclesia (May 14, 1989)

1988
Schism and Monsignor Lefebvre (November 1988) -by Rev. T.C.G. Glover
Episcopal Consecrations (June 30, 1988) - Sermon of Archbishop Lefebvre
The Sermon On the Occasion of Ordinations to the Holy Priesthood (June 29, 1988)
Episcopal Consecrations:Recommendations to the Four Bishops Elect (June 12, 1988)
Episcopal Consecrations: Recommendations to the Four Bishops Elect (June 13, 1988)
Letter to His Holiness John Paul II (June 2, 1988)
The Episcopal Consecrations: A Decision and Explanatory Documents (June 15, 1988)
A Sermon for Pentecost (May, 1988)
Conference at St. Nicolas du Chardonnet (May 5, 1988)
Can Obedience Oblige Us to Disobey? (March 29, 1988)

1987
Sermon of His Excellency Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre On His Fourtieth Anniversary As a Bishop (Oct. 3, 1987)
Letter to the Future Bishops On the Feast of St. Augustine (August 29, 1987)
Bishops to save the Church (June 29, 1987) - Sermon at the Priestly ordinations in Ecône
Pastoral Lenten Letter (January 25, 1987)
Disobedience (1987)

1986
Twenty Years of Struggle (September, 1986)
Letter to Each of Eight Cardinals (August 27, 1986)
On the Occasion of the Reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation (20 April 1986)
Conference of Archbishop Lefebvre at Campbell, California (January 5, 1986)
Interview with Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (January, 1986)

1985
What is a Carmel? (Nov. 13, 1985)
A Letter to His Holiness Pope John Paul II (August 31, 1985)
On the Occasion of Ordinations at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary (May 17,1985)

1984
In Conformity to God's Will (December 13, 1984) - Conference given to the priests of the District of France, at St. Nicholas du Chardonnet, Paris
The Church, The Priesthood and the Tridentine Indult (Oct. 29, 1984)
The New Code of Canon Law (March 24, 1984) - Conference given in Turin, Italy

1983
The Archbishop's Press Conference (December 9, 1983) -Conference given by Archbishop Lefebvre to focus light on the Episcopal Manifesto of November 21
An Episcopal Manifesto: (Nov. 21, 1983) -Two Bishops write to the Pope
Conference Of His Excellency Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (November 5, 1983)
On the Occasion of the Episcopal Consecration of Several Priests of the Society of St. Pius X (19 October 1983)
The declaration of Religious Liberty reduces the Church to the status of equality with false religions
A Message of Importance To American Friends & Benefactors (April 28, 1983)
Letter to Friends and Benefactors No. 24 (March 7, 1983)
The Case for the Defence (1983) -by Michael Davies

1982
The Infiltration of Modernism in the Church (1982) -the Archbishop's personal experience of the tragic corruption of modernism

1981
Sermon for the Feast of Our Lady of Compassion (April 10, 1981)

1980
On the Occasion of the Tenth Anniversary of the Society of St. Pius X (1 November 1980)
Letter To Friends & Benefactors, No. 19 (October 1, 1980)
Sermon on the Occasion of the Ordinations To The Holy Priesthood, Ecône (27 June 1980)
Letter to Friends & Benefactors, No. 18 (April 13, 1980)
What is Happening In The Church? A Sermon delivered at the Church of St. Simon Piccolo, Venice (April 7, 1980)

1979
Sermon to the Seminarians of Albano on their Entrance into the SSPX (Dec. 8, 1979)
Sermon the Feast Of Christ The King (28 October 1979)
Jubilee Sermon of Archbishop Lefebvre (Sept. 23, 1979)
On the Feast of the Assumption during the Angelus Pilgrimage (15 August 1979)
The 1979 Ordination Sermon (June 29, 1979)
Letter to Friends and Benefactors No. 16 (March 19,1979)

1978
Interview with Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (1978)
The reality of purgatory and how we can help the souls there (Nov. 1, 1978)
On the Occasion of the Ordination of 28 Deacons (October 29,1978)
Letter to Friends and Benefactors No. 15 (September 8, 1978)
Archbishop Lefebvre On the Conclave (August 28, 1978)
Article in Il Gionale di Bergamo regarding ordinations (June 29,1978)
Sermon at the Ordination of 18 priest and 22 sub-deacons (June 29, 1976)
Letter to Friends and Benefactors No. 14 (May 1, 1978)
Sermon Delivered on Pentecost (1978)
Sermon Delivered on Easter Sunday (March 26, 1978)

1977
Three Great Gifts of God (September 18, 1977)
Real and Apparent Disobedience (September 3, 1977)
Tota Pulchra es, Maria, et Macula Originalis non est in te (December 8, 1977)
Sermon On the Occasion of the Profession of Three Sisters (April 17, 1977)
Fidelity (April 10, 1977)

1976
Sermon On the Occasion of Engagements in the Society of St. Pius X (Dec. 8, 1976)
Excerpts from a Sermon on the Occasion of the First Solemn High Mass of Father Denis Roch - (July 4,1976)
Sermon of Archbishop Lefebvre on the Feast of Corpus Christi (June 17, 1976)
Sermon at the Ordination of 13 priest and 13 sub-deacons (June, 1976)
The Ordinations of June 29, 1976 -by Michael Davies
Sermon Before an Association of Catholic Families in Southern France (May 2, 1976)

1975
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (November 1975)
Devotion to the mystery of the Cross (September, 14 1975) - Sermon on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
The true Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Priesthood of Our Lord Jesus Christ (September 8, 1975)
Twenty fifth Anniversary of the Promulgation of the Dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 15, 1975)
Charity Remains Forever (Vigil of Pentecost, 1975)
Luther's Mass (February 15, 1975)

1974
The Campaign against Ecône, part I (1974)
To Preserve the Faith (Pentecost Sunday, 1974)
The Declaration of November 21, 1974

1973
Homily on the Feast of the Epiphany (7 January 1973)

1972
Feast of The Immaculate Conception (December 8, 1972)

1949
Confronting Godlessness (February 24, 1949)


Source

From a previous member on the 'Archived' Catacombs site:

Many know in Tradition the bio of the great Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre both of his family life and his service to the Catholic Church.  Exemplary in fact.  With his many achievements in the mission field, he was also elected as a Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers  on July 26, 1962. Their Motto being: "Cor unum et anima una" - "One heart and one soul".

Quote:Excerpt:
Abp. Lefebvre first instituted a major reform of the seminaries run by the Holy Ghost Fathers. He transferred several Modernist (relativistic, liberal) professors to non-educational posts. He ordered books by certain modern theologians, including Yves Congar and Marie-Dominique Chenu, to be removed from the seminary library, finding them too Neo-Modernistic. (One book of Chenu was inserted into the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in the 1942.[4])

Lefebvre was increasingly criticized by influential pro-reform members of his large religious congregation who considered him out-of-step with modern Church leaders and the demand of bishops' conferences, particularly in France, for drastic revision and reform.[5] A general chapter of the Holy Ghost Fathers was convened in Rome in September 1968. The first action of the chapter was to name several moderators to lead the chapter's sessions instead of Lefebvre.[6] Finding it impossible to lead the congregation after being undermined, Lefebvre then handed in his resignation as Superior General to Pope Paul VI.[7]

He would later say that it had become impossible for him to remain Superior of an institute that no longer wanted him nor listened to him. To replace him, on October 28 a new superior general was elected who proved willing to allow the demands for reforms. Lefebvre's tenure as Superior saw the congregation at its zenith in terms of numbers, missions, and missionary activity. Lefebvre left the Holy Ghost Fathers and went on to found the Society of Saint Pius X in Écône (Diocese of Fribourg), Switzerland.

There are only three:

This is an account with important contextual information and with commentary interspersed throughout. The Sermon, in it's entirety, will follow this account.

Quote:The union desired by these Liberal Catholics, a union between the Church and the Revolution and subversion is, for the Church, an adulterous union, adulterous. And that adulterous union can produce only bastards. And who are those bastards? They are our rites: the rite of Mass is a bastard rite, the sacraments are bastard sacraments-we no longer know if they are sacraments which give grace or which do not give grace. We no longer know if this Mass gives the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ or if it does not give them. The priests coming out of the seminaries do not themselves know what they are. In Rome it was the Archbishop of Cincinnati who said: "Why are there no more vocations? Because the Church no longer knows what a priest is." How then can She still form priests if She does not know what a priest is? The priests coming out of the seminaries are bastard priests. They do not know what they are. They do not know that they were made to go up to the altar to offer the sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to give Jesus Christ to souls, and to call souls to Jesus Christ. That is what a priest is. Our young men here know that very well. Their whole life is going to be consecrated to that, to love, adore, and serve Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

The adulterous union of the Church with the Revolution is consolidated with dialogue. When the Church entered into dialogue it was to convert. Our Lord said: "Go, teach all nations, convert them." But He did not say to hold dialogue with them so as not to convert them, so as to try to put us on the same footing with them.

Error and truth are not compatible. We must see if we have charity towards others, as the Gospel says: he who has charity is one who serves others. But those who have charity should give Our Lord, they should give the riches they possess to others and not just converse with them and enter into dialogue on an equal footing. Truth and error are not on the same footing. That would be putting God and the Devil on the same footing, for the Devil is the father of lies, the father of error.

We must therefore be missionaries.

We must preach the Gospel, convert souls to Jesus Christ and not engage in dialogue with them in an effort to adopt their principles. That is what this bastard Mass and these bastard rites are doing to us, for we wanted dialogue with the Protestants and the Protestants said to us: "We will not have your Mass; we will not have it because it contains things incompatible with our Protestant faith. So change the Mass and we shall be able to pray with you. We can have intercommunion. We can receive your sacraments. You can come to our churches and we can come to yours; then it will be all finished and we shall have unity." We shall have unity in confusion, in bastardy. That we do not want. The Church has never wanted it. We love the Protestants; we want to convert them. But it is not loving them to let them think they have the same religion as the Catholic religion.

Quote:There will be no peace on this earth except in the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The nations are at war -every day we have page after page of the newspapers about it, we have it on radio and television. Now because of a change of Prime Minister they are asking what can be done to improve the economic situation, what will strengthen the currency, what will bring prosperity to industry, and so on. All the papers in the world are full of it. But even from an economic point of view Our Lord Jesus Christ must reign, because the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the reign of the principles of love, indeed of the commandments of God which give society its balance, which make justice and peace reign in society .It is only when society has order, justice, and peace that the economy can prevail and revive. That is easily seen. Take the Argentine Republic as an example. What state was it in just two or three months ago? Complete anarchy, brigands killing right and left, industries totally ruined, factory owners seized and held to ransom, and so on. An incredible revolution, and that in a country so beautiful, so balanced, and so congenial as the Argentine Republic, a Republic which could be extraordinarily prosperous and enormously wealthy. Now there is a government of principle, with authority, which brings back order into life and stops the brigands murdering; and lo and behold! the economy is reviving, workers have employment, and they can return to their homes knowing that no one is going to knock them on the head because they will not strike when they do not wish to strike. That is the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ that we want; and we profess our faith, saying that Our Lord Jesus Christ is God.

Quote:"You have recently been reproached with your sympathy for regimes like that in Argentina. Is this true or false?"

Quote:I have just been talking to you about principles, I might say political principles, which one may have, the political principles of the Church. She has principles, political principles, principles for society, for She considers that society is created by God, like the family. The family has its laws: there are father, mother, and child; and each has a law and a position in the family. Similarly in civil society. The Church considers that it is a creature of God, and that this creature of God also has its laws so that it can develop normally and give all its members the fullest possibility for their own development. Of course we want governments to observe these laws. I took that example, but I might have taken another, for, as you know, I do not write my speeches -a pity, perhaps -but I do not think about them well in advance. So, trying to give an example of Christian order, of the notion people have of Christian order which brings things back to peace and justice, with the hierarchy which is necessary in a society, I quoted this example because it is recent and known to everybody, and also because the situation was really frightful, the Argentine being in a state of anarchy, with assassinations and abductions-a situation on the brink of the abyss, on the verge of total anarchy. A government then took over, but I think that, given the ideas of some of these men (I know some of the Argentinian bishops and I was there myself not long ago), I think that these men who took over the government did so in a Christian spirit. That they are not governing perfectly, that they exaggerate, that not everything is perfect, I do not doubt for a moment (I do not think that any government in the world has ever been perfect) ; but they did, I think, return to principles of justice, and that is why I gave that example. I said: you see that when Christian principles are restored a society is rediscovered which can live, which is livable, in which people can live, where they need not always be asking themselves if they are going to be assassinated at the street corner, or be robbed, or have a bomb in their garden, and so on. All I wanted to do was give an example: but that does not mean I am a supporter of the government of the Argentine or of the government of Chile. I might have used Chile as an example. I could perhaps have quoted governments which were in total anarchy and which then re-established order. Such an order might be tyrannical, and then it is a different matter: we are not talking of introducing slavery .I must say that I did not use that example so as to support the government in the Argentine or to play politics. I do not play politics.

I would not wish to make any detailed comments on the regimes in Argentina and Chile as I have made no detailed personal study of them. What is perfectly clear is that in both cases the military only took over the government because life had been made literally impossible by the previous regimes. Let British or American readers spend a few moments calculating the precise meaning of an 800 per cent inflation rate, let them calculate the cost of the basic necessities of life multiplied eightfold and decide just how tolerable they would have found regimes which had brought about such a state of affairs.

It must also be remembered that in both countries Marxist terrorists consider themselves bound by no ethical norms in achieving their aims. During my own military service I had personal experience of two terrorist campaigns, in Malaya and Cyprus, and, leaving aside the question as to whether right is on the side of the military or the terrorists, it is hard for the security forces to conform to the rule book when dealing with men who violate civilized standards of behavior. To take Northern Ireland as an example, there can be no doubt that the situation there has been caused by an unjust partition of Ireland and unjust treatment of the Catholic population. The Catholics have a legitimate grievance which they have been unable to rectify through the accepted political channels. Nonetheless, when a soldier or policeman has seen his comrades blown to pieces by a terrorist bomb, or seen the carnage in a bomb-blasted shop, with woman and children lying dead or bleeding from lost limbs, is not likely to think much about the historical background when he gets his hands on a gunman. He should - but doesn't. It is wrong but understandable.

It is thus quite unjust for Liberals, Catholic or otherwise, to sit in judgment on the regimes in Chile and Argentine when they have no first- and probably even little second- or even third-hand knowledge of the background to the current situation in these countries. It is also a fact that the governments of Chile and Argentina have been subjected to a campaign of systematic defamation in the secular and Catholic press. To take just one example, those who rely for their information on the British Catholic press would imagine that the prisons of Chile are bursting with political prisoners when, in fact, there is not a single political prisoner in the entire country.3

Quote:General Videla, brought to power by a coup d'etat, has managed at the last moment to save the economic situation of the country .With an 800 per cent inflation during the last twelve months of Isabel Peron's presidency, with no means of paying off its debts abroad, the Argentine was on the verge of bankruptcy. By freezing prices and freezing salaries, inflation has been brought down by at least 3 per cent a month.... The Argentine can resume its development on a solid foundation.

Quote:The Argentinian armed forces refused for a long time to act, and on 24 March 1976, when they made their decision, the chaos had reached such a pitch that they could no longer delay. I remind you, moreover, of what I wrote to you on 17 March, a week before their seizure of power: "The armed forces are going to have to make draconian decisions whether they like it or not.'

Quote:We are against no one. We are not commandos. We wish nobody harm.

All we want is to be allowed to profess our faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, for that reason, we are driven from our churches. The poor priests are driven out for saying the Old Mass by which all our saints were sanctified: Saint Jeanne d'Arc, the holy Cure of Ars, the little Therese of the Child Jesus were sanctified by this Mass; and now priests are driven brutally, cruelly, from their parishes because they say the Mass which has sanctified saints for centuries. It is crazy. I would almost say it is a story of madmen. I ask myself if I am dreaming. How can this Mass have become some kind of horror for our bishops and for those who should preserve our faith? But we will keep the Mass of Saint Pius V because the Mass of Saint Pius V is the Mass of twenty centuries. It is the Mass of all time, not just the Mass of Saint Pius V; and it represents our faith, it is a bulwark of our faith, and we need that bulwark.

We shall be told that we are making it a question of Latin and soutanes. Obviously it is easy that way to discredit those you disagree with. But Latin has its importance; and when I was in Africa it was marvellous to see those crowds of Africans of different languages -we sometimes had five or six different tribes who did not understand one another - who could assist at Mass in our churches and sing the Latin chants with extraordinary fervor. Go and see them now : they quarrel in the churches because Mass is being said in a language other than theirs, so they are displeased and they want a Mass in their own language. The confusion is total, where before there was perfect unity. That is just one example, You have just heard the epistle and gospel read in French -I see no difficulty in that; and if more prayers in French were added, to be said all together, I still see no difficulty. But it still seems to me that the body of the Mass, which runs from the offertory to the priest's Communion, should remain in a unique language so that all men of all nations can assist together at Mass and can feel unity in that unity of faith, in that unity of prayer. So we ask, indeed we address an appeal to the bishops and to Rome: will they, please, take into consideration our desire to pray as our ancestors did, to keep the Catholic faith, our desire to adore Our Lord Jesus Christ and to want His reign. That is what I said in my last letter to the Holy Father-and I thought it really was the last, because I did not think the Holy Father would have written to me again.

Quote:

The One True Religion

My dear brethren:

If there is one day on which the Church's liturgy affirms our Faith, that day is the Feast of the Blessed Trinity. This morning, in the breviary which the priest formerly had to recite, he had to add to the psalms of Prime the Creed of St. Athanasius. This is the creed which affirms clearly, serenely, but perfectly, what we are bound to believe concerning the Blessed Trinity, and also concerning the divinity and the humanity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, all our faith is summed up in our belief in the Most Holy Trinity and in Our Lord Jesus Christ, God made Man. The whole of our Creed, which we shall sing in a few minutes, is focused, as it were, on the very person of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He it is who is our God, He our Savior; it is through Him that we shall enter Heaven. He is the door of the sheep-fold, He is the Way, the Truth, the Life. There is no other name on earth by which we may be saved: the Gospels tell us all this.

Therefore, when our Faith is being attacked from all sides we must hold steadfastly and firmly to it. We must never accept that there can be any compromise in the affirmation of our Faith. Herein, I think, lies the drama through which we have lived for the last ten, perhaps fifteen years. This drama, this tragic situation we are going through, lies in seeing that our Faith is no longer affirmed with certainty: that through a false ecumenism we have, as it were, reached the point of putting all religions on the same footing, of granting what is called "equal rights" to all religions. This is a tragedy because it is all entirely contrary to the truth of the Church. We believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ is our God, our Savior, our Redeemer; we believe that the Catholic Church alone has the Truth, thus we draw the proper conclusions, by respecting in our personal lives the Religion which Our Lord Jesus Christ founded. For, if other religions are quite prepared to admit that there can be other beliefs and other religious groups, we cannot do so. Why do other religions admit this? Because their religions are religions which have been founded by men and not by God. Our holy and beloved Religion has been founded by God Himself, by Our Lord Jesus Christ.

He it is who has given us the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, He who died upon the Cross. Already on the day of the Last Supper He wished, in a certain manner, to enact in advance what was to take place on the Cross, commanding us to do likewise continually to the end of time, thus making priests of those to whom He gave the power to consecrate the Eucharist. He did this by His own Will, His Will as God, because Jesus Christ is God; He has, thus, given us the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which we love so much, which is our life, our hope, and our salvation. This Sacrifice of Calvary cannot be transformed, the Sacrifice of the Last Supper cannot be transformed - for there was a Sacrifice at the Last Supper - we cannot transform this Sacrifice into a simple commemorative meal, a simple repast at which a memory is recalled, this is not possible. To do such a thing would be to destroy the whole of our Religion, to destroy the most precious thing which Our Lord has given us here on earth, the immaculate and divine treasure which He put into the hands of His Church, which He made a priestly Church. The Church is essentially priestly because she offers the redemptive Sacrifice which Our Lord made on Calvary, and which she renews upon our altars. For a true Catholic, one who is truly faithful to Our Lord Jesus Christ, anything which touches what He Himself established moves him to the very depths of his heart, for he loves it as the apple of his eye. So, if it comes, in any way, to the point of destroying from within what Our Lord Jesus Christ gave to us as the source of life, as the source of grace, then we suffer, we suffer dreadfully, and we demand absolutely that this spring, this fountain of life, this fountain of eternal life, this fountain of Grace be preserved for us whole and entire.

And if such is true of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, it is also true of the Sacraments. It is not possible to make any considerable changes in the Sacraments without destroying them, without running the risk of rendering them invalid, and consequently without running the risk of drying up the grace, the supernatural and eternal life which they bring to us. It is again Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself who established the Sacraments; it is not for us, we are not the masters of the Sacraments: even the Sovereign Pontiff cannot change them. Without doubt he can make changes in the rites, in what is accidental in any Sacrament; but no Sovereign Pontiff can change the substance of a Sacrament, for that was established by Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself who took such care in the founding of our holy Religion, Who left us directions as to what we must do, Who gave Himself to us in the Holy Eucharist through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. What more could we ask? What other religion can lay claim to possess such a thing? And why? Because the only true religion is that of the Catholic Church.

This is a matter of fundamental importance, fundamental for our behavior, fundamental for our religion, and fundamental also for the way we should behave towards those people who do not believe in our holy Religion. This is extremely important, because it is precisely towards those who do not believe, those who do not have our Faith, that we must have immense charity, the true charity. We must not deceive them by telling them that their religion is as good as ours - that is a lie, that is selfishness, that is not true charity. If we consider what profound riches have been given to us in this Religion of ours, then we should have the desire to make it known to others, and share these riches and not say to them: "But you already have all you need! There is no point in your joining us, your religion is as good as ours." See how this matter is one of paramount importance, for it is precisely such false ecumenism which makes the adherents of all the other religions believe that they have certain means of salvation. Now this is false. Only the Catholic Religion, and only the Mystical Body of Christ, possesses the means of salvation. We cannot be saved without Jesus, and we cannot be saved without grace. "He who does not believe," said Our Lord, "will be condemned." We must believe in Our Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved. "He who believes shall be saved; he who obeys My commandments shall have eternal life; he who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood shall have eternal life." Here is what Our Lord taught us. Therefore, we should have a tremendous desire, a really tremendous desire, to communicate our Faith to others. And this is exactly what made the missionary spirit of the Church. If the strength, the certainty, of our faith is weakened, then the missionary spirit of the Church also diminishes, since it is no longer necessary to cross the seas, to cross the oceans, to go and preach the Gospel, for what is the good of it? Let us leave each man to his own religion, if that religion is going to save him.

Therefore, we must hold fast to our Faith, we must adhere strictly to its affirmation, and we must not accept this false ecumenism which makes all religions into sister-religions of Christianity, for they are nothing of the kind. It is very important to state this nowadays, because it is precisely this false ecumenism which had too much influence after the Council. False ecumenism is the reason why the seminaries are empty. Why is this so? Why are there no more vocations for the missionary orders? Precisely because young men no longer feel the need to make the Truth known to the whole world. They no longer feel the need to give themselves completely to Our Lord Jesus Christ simply because Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only Truth, the only Way, the only Life. What attracts the young to preach the Gospel is that they know they have the Truth. If vocations are withering away, it is due to this false ecumenism. How we suffer at the thought that, in certain countries, people speak of "eucharistic hospitality," of "inter-communion" - as if one could give the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ to those who do not believe in the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, consequently to those who do not adore the Holy Eucharist, because they do not believe in it! Without sacrilege, without blasphemy, the Body and Blood of Our Savior cannot be given to a person who denies His Real Presence in the Eucharist. On this point, therefore, we must have a firm and solid faith, a faith which does not compromise. This is entirely in keeping with the tradition of the Church.

Thus the martyrs believed who lie buried everywhere in this basilica, and in all the churches of Rome, who suffered here in this forum of Augustus, who lived among pagans for three centuries and were persecuted as soon as they were known to be Christians. They were thrown into prison...our thoughts turn to the Mamertine prison, so close to us here, where Peter and Paul were put in chains because of their faith: And shall we be afraid to affirm our faith? We would not in that case be the true descendants of the martyrs, the true descendants of those Christians who shed their blood for Our Lord Jesus Christ in affirmation of their faith in Him. They, too, could indeed have said, "But, since all religions are of equal value, if I burn a little incense before an idol, what does that matter? My life will be saved." But they preferred to die, they preferred to be thrown to the beasts in the Colosseum, quite close to us here. So many, many martyrs were thrown to the beasts, rather than offer incense to pagan gods!

So, may our presence here in Rome be an occasion for us to strengthen our faith, to have, if necessary, the souls of martyrs, the souls of witnesses (for a martyr is a witness), the souls of witnesses of Our Lord Jesus Christ, witnesses of the Church. Here is what I wish you, my most dear brethren, and in this we must be unflinching, whatever happens. We must never agree to diminish our faith; and if by misfortune it were to happen that those who ought to defend our Faith came to tell us to lessen or diminish it, then we must say: "NO." Saint Paul put this very well: "Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema." Well, that, I think, sums up clearly what I wanted to say to you, so that when you return to your homes you may have the courage, the strength, despite difficulties, despite trials, to remain true to your Faith, come what may, to uphold it for yourselves, your children and future generations, the Faith which Our Lord Jesus Christ gave to us; so that the pathway to heaven may still have many pilgrims, that it may still be crowded with people on their journey upwards, that it may not be a deserted byway, while on the other hand, the road leading to hell is filled with those who did not believe in Our Lord Jesus Christ, or who rejected Him. We must think on these things, because it is what Our Lord told us: "If we do not believe, we shall be condemned."

Source

The Angelus - July 2017

Quote:“Those who are still zealous for the glory of God seek to know why things divine are being held in less esteem. Some give one reason, some another, and according to his opinion each proposes a different means for the defense or the reestablishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. For Ourself, without wishing to disparage the opinions of others, we concur wholeheartedly with the judgment of those who attribute today’s spiritual laxity and weakness and their attendant grave ills, mainly to ignorance of the things of God. This is precisely what God spoke through the mouth of the Prophet Osee, saying:

Quote:‘Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed: and blood hath touched blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth in it shall languish.’”

Quote:“Human will, led astray and blinded as it is by wicked passions, has need of a guide to show it the way and to bring it back into the paths of righteousness whence it has mistakenly wandered. We do not have to seek this guide outside ourselves, for it is given to us by nature, it is our own intelligence. If that is not truly enlightened, that is, if it lacks the knowledge of the things of God, then we shall be back to the situation of the blind leading the blind: they will both fall into the ditch.”

Quote:“Let the bishops lend their support to every initiative undertaken by zealous apostles with the laudable aim of promoting and nurturing among the faithful the knowledge and love the Holy Books. Let them therefore support and smooth the way for those pious associations whose purpose is to disseminate among the faithful copies of the Sacred Scriptures, especially the Gospels, and which encourage the devout reading of them each day in Christian families…as St. Jerome says, “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ,” and “if there be one thing in this life which keeps a man virtuous, and convinces him to maintain the equanimity of his soul amid all the sufferings and torments of this world, I believe that thing to be the meditation and the knowledge of the Scriptures.”

By Michael Davies: