Archbishop Lefebvre and the Vatican by Fr. François Laisney [1988]

[Stone]

July 9, 1988

The Roman Commission

L’Osservatore Romano, (July 11, 1988)

The Holy Father has named His Eminence Paul Augustin Cardinal Mayer,114 previously Prefect of the Congregation for the Sacraments and of the Congregation for Divine Worship, President of the Commission instituted in accordance with the terms of the motu proprio, Ecclesia Dei (§ 7, a.b.) of July 7, 1988.

It is significant that the President of this Commission is not Cardinal Gagnon, who was better disposed toward the Society of Saint Pius X, but rather the former Prefect of the Roman Congregation who participated in the recent degradation in the liturgy in his capacity as former Prefect of the Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship.

It is also significant that the three members who prepared the May 5th Protocol are in this Commission. Archbishop Lefebvre said, in his interview with 30 Days,115 that during the discussions preparing this Protocol there was no real collaboration but the only way to progress in the discussions were by threats of the consecration: “It was necessary to continually threaten in order to obtain something. No collaboration was any longer possible.”

His Holiness has named as permanent experts of the Commission the Reverend:

Msgr. Peter Tena Garriaga, Undersecretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship;
Msgr. Milan Simcic, Undersecretary of the Congregation for the Clergy;
Msgr. Jesus Torres Llorente, C.M.F., Undersecretary for Religious of the Congregation for Religious and for Secular Institutes;
Msgr. Frantisek Rypar, Head of the Office for Seminaries in the Congregation for Catholic Education;
Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., Consultor of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith;
Fernando Ocariz, Consultor for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith;
Benoît Duroux, O.P., Professor in the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.

The Holy Father has named Secretary of the said Commission Rev. Msgr. Camille Perl, official of the Congregation for Divine Worship.

Fr. Tarcisio Bertone, of the Commission applies the detailed prescription of the law without reference to the prescriptions of law, the consideration of which is necessary to resolve particular cases in exceptional circumstances. This is the true letter and spirit of the law which legalists fail to see.116

Such a canonist can never understand the canonical principle of the actions of Archbishop Lefebvre and of traditional priests in the past 25 years, that is, the rules of the Church in exceptional cases. He does not understand that the masterstroke of Satan is to have led souls into disobedience to Tradition in the name of obedience. The enemies of the Church have infiltrated and climbed to its highest places to destroy it from the top. The presence of a canonist like Fr. Bertone and confreres of similar ilk on the Ecclesia Dei Commission is not a good sign.



114 . A German Benedictine, Cardinal Mayer was born in Altötting, Germany on May 23, 1911. He studied Philosophy in Salzburg and Theology at Sant’ Anselmo in Rome. He was ordained on August 25, 1935. In 1939 after earning his doctorate, he became a professor at Sant’ Anselmo. He remained for 27 years, from 1940 to 1966 as Rector. Mayer’s fame as a scholar led first Pope John XXIII, then Pope Paul VI to make him secretary of the Preparatory Commission for Vatican II. Named in 1965 Ecclesiastical Delegate for the Focolare Movement and in 1966 Abbot of Metten (Germany), he was recalled to Rome in 1971 to become Secretary of the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes. Later, Mayer became Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Wor¬ship and President of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei.” He was named a titu¬lar Archbishop on January 6, 1972 and was elevated to the cardinalate by John Paul II during the Consistroy of May 25, 1985. (Inside the Vatican, Jan. 1997, p.55.)
115. July August 1988, p.13.
116. See Texas Catholic Herald, July 22, 1988.