True Popes Never Need To "Convert" To The Faith

by Thomas A. Droleskey

The false ecclesiology of the Society of Saint Pius X has been critiqued on this site a number of times (see March to Oblivion, High Church, Low Church, Nothing to Negotiate, Those Who Deny The Holocaust, Recognize and Capitulate, A Little Bit "In," A Little Bit "Out", Disciples of Caiphas, Under The Bus, Story Time in Econe, Shell Games With Souls, Pots and Kettles, One Sentence Says It All, Smashing Through the Conciliar Looking Glass, and Winning at the Waiting Game). It is necessary to do so once again as Father Franz Schmidberger is clearly preparing Catholics who are attached to the chapels of the Society of Saint Pius X for what appears to be a pretty imminent absorption into the structures of the One World Church of the counterfeit church of conciliarism.

The Society of Saint Pius X is founded in the false belief that it is possible and even is necessary to sift the words and actions of men who claim to be true "popes" and to compare those words and actions with those of the popes of the past. Indeed, the Society of Saint Pius X sees itself as the vessel anointed by God to do this work of sifting the words and actions of men they have recognized as true "popes" as its bishops and priests "compare" those words and actions with what they call "the supreme magisterium" of Tradition.

Although it took me a few years to divest myself of this Gallicanism, I have indeed learned that it is never necessary to seek to "convert" a true Successor of Saint Peter as it not possible for there to be "heretical" popes (see the section from Fathers Francisco and Dominic Radecki's Tumultuous Times provided in Story Time in Econe). The Catholic Church brings forth the teaching that she has received from her Divine Founder and Invisible Head in precise fidelity to the spirit expressed by Pope Pius XI in Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928:

For the teaching authority of the Church, which in the divine wisdom was constituted on earth in order that revealed doctrines might remain intact for ever, and that they might be brought with ease and security to the knowledge of men, and which is daily exercised through the Roman Pontiff and the Bishops who are in communion with him, has also the office of defining, when it sees fit, any truth with solemn rites and decrees, whenever this is necessary either to oppose the errors or the attacks of heretics, or more clearly and in greater detail to stamp the minds of the faithful with the articles of sacred doctrine which have been explained. (Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928.)

 

The very fact that there is a "need' for "negotiations" on the teachings of the "Second" Vatican Council and the conciliar "pontiffs" proves the apostate nature of conciliarism as the doctrines of the Faith "remain intact forever" "that they might be brought with ease and security to the knowledge of men."

Indeed, the Society of Saint Pius X's belief that Catholics are not bound by all pronouncements made by a true pope or issued with his approval by the authority of the Catholic Church has been condemned by Pope Pius IX in The Syllabus of Errors:

22. The obligation by which Catholic teachers and authors are strictly bound is confined to those things only which are proposed to universal belief as dogmas of faith by the infallible judgment of the Church. -- Letter to the Archbishop of Munich, "Tuas libenter," Dec. 21, 1863. (Proposition condemned by Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus of Errors, December 8, 1864.)

 

The Society of Saint Pius X's belief that it is necessary for various bishops or a council not convened by a true pope to review the words and actions of a legitimate Successor of Saint Peter has been condemned by Pope Pius VI in Auctorem Fidei, August 28, 1794:

6. The doctrine of the synod by which it professes that "it is convinced that a bishop has received from Christ all necessary rights for the good government of his diocese," just as if for the good government of each diocese higher ordinances dealing either with faith and morals, or with general discipline, are not necessary, the right of which belongs to the supreme Pontiffs and the General Councils for the universal Church,—schismatic, at least erroneous.

7. Likewise, in this, that it encourages a bishop "to pursue zealously a more perfect constitution of ecclesiastical discipline," and this "against all contrary customs, exemptions, reservations which are opposed to the good order of the diocese, for the greater glory of God and for the greater edification of the faithful"; in that it supposes that a bishop has the right by his own judgment and will to decree and decide contrary to customs, exemptions, reservations, whether they prevail in the universal Church or even in each province, without the consent or the intervention of a higher hierarchic power, by which these customs, etc., have been introduced or approved and have the force of law,—leading to schism and subversion of hierarchic rule, erroneous.

8. Likewise, in that it says it is convinced that "the rights of a bishop received from Jesus Christ for the government of the Church cannot be altered nor hindered, and, when it has happened that the exercise of these rights has been interrupted for any reason whatsoever, a bishop can always and should return to his original rights, as often as the greater good of his church demands it"; in the fact that it intimates that the exercise of episcopal rights can be hindered and coerced by no higher power, whenever a bishop shall judge that it does not further the greater good of his church,—leading to schism, and to subversion of hierarchic government, erroneous.

 

The Society of Saint Pius X has considered itself to be a "check" upon the sacramental rites authorized by and the statements made and the actions committed by men they have considered to be true, valid and legitimate Successors of Saint Peter. Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, however, founded the Catholic Church upon the rock of Peter, the Pope, not upon the bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X. It  is without precedent for a society of apostolic life that has not had a "canonical mission" to exercise any ministry within the Catholic Church for over thirty-three years to serve as "check" on the theological orthodoxy and the liturgical reverence exhibited by men deemed to be true popes. Is it necessary for the infallible guidance of God the Holy Ghost that is guaranteed to Holy Mother Church to be augmented by the Society of Saint Pius X? This is without precedent in the history of the Catholic Church.

Father Schmidberger admitted in his recent interview with the Catholic News Agency of Germany that the Society of Saint Pius X desires to provide "medicine" to the "pope" and his "bishops" even though they may not realize that they are need the Society's "medical" assistance:

KNA: More ordinations are planned for the coming weekend, although Rome has said that they are illicit. Why do you insist on these ordinations?

Schmidberger: The highest law of the Church is the salvation of souls. The faithful have the right to the celebration of the traditional form of the Mass. It is all about providing priests that desire to proclaim the gospel. The ordinations are not meant to be an affront to anybody. They are actually being done to help the Pope and the bishops, but they are acting like sick people who refuse to take the medicine that would help the improve their health.

KNA: And so you claim the role of physician.

Schmidberger: Yes that is true. Tradition is the only guide to bringing the Church out of the present crisis. In 1950, 13 million Catholics [in Germany] went to Sunday Mass. Now it is just under 2 million. That is a drop of 85 percent. In ten years all of the Churches will be empty. Is that what the bishops want? What is going to happen to our children? It is about preserving Christianity in the West. (Fr. Schmidberger: 'In the direction of Tradition)

 

Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI sees his role as a physician as well! He wants to "heal" the Society of Saint Pius X of "one-sided" positions so that they will learn to "broaden" their "vistas" just as other traditionally-minded Catholics in the conciliar structures have been pacified as a result of the 1984 and 1988 "indults" granted by Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II and his own Summorum Pontificum, which was issued on July 7, 2007:

So if the arduous task of working for faith, hope and love in the world is presently (and, in various ways, always) the Church's real priority, then part of this is also made up of acts of reconciliation, small and not so small. That the quiet gesture of extending a hand gave rise to a huge uproar, and thus became exactly the opposite of a gesture of reconciliation, is a fact which we must accept. But I ask now: Was it, and is it, truly wrong in this case to meet half-way the brother who 'has something against you' and to seek reconciliation? Should not civil society also try to forestall forms of extremism and to incorporate their eventual adherents - to the extent possible - in the great currents shaping social life, and thus avoid their being segregated, with all its consequences? Can it be completely mistaken to work to break down obstinacy and narrowness, and to make space for what is positive and retrievable for the whole? I myself saw, in the years after 1988, how the return of communities which had been separated from Rome changed their interior attitudes; I saw how returning to the bigger and broader Church enabled them to move beyond one-sided positions and broke down rigidity so that positive energies could emerge for the whole. Can we be totally indifferent about a community which has 491 priests, 215 seminarians, 6 seminaries, 88 schools, 2 university-level institutes, 117 religious brothers, 164 religious sisters and thousands of lay faithful? Should we casually let them drift farther from the Church? I think for example of the 491 priests. We cannot know how mixed their motives may be. All the same, I do not think that they would have chosen the priesthood if, alongside various distorted and unhealthy elements, they did not have a love for Christ and a desire to proclaim Him and, with Him, the living God. Can we simply exclude them, as representatives of a radical fringe, from our pursuit of reconciliation and unity? What would then become of them?

"Certainly, for some time now, and once again on this specific occasion, we have heard from some representatives of that community many unpleasant things - arrogance and presumptuousness, an obsession with one-sided positions, etc. Yet to tell the truth, I must add that I have also received a number of touching testimonials of gratitude which clearly showed an openness of heart. But should not the great Church also allow herself to be generous in the knowledge of her great breadth, in the knowledge of the promise made to her? Should not we, as good educators, also be capable of overlooking various faults and making every effort to open up broader vistas? And should we not admit that some unpleasant things have also emerged in Church circles? At times one gets the impression that our society needs to have at least one group to which no tolerance may be shown; which one can easily attack and hate. And should someone dare to approach them - in this case the Pope - he too loses any right to tolerance; he too can be treated hatefully, without misgiving or restraint. (LETTER ON REMISSION OF EXCOMMUNICATION LEFEBVRE BISHOPS)

 

Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's dose of "sleepy-time" medicine is already taking its effect on the bishops and priests of the Society of Saint Pius X as they have learned how to be as silent about offenses he, Ratzinger/Benedict, has given to the honor and majesty and glory of the Most Holy Trinity by praising false religions and their places of "worship" and their "values" as means to help "build" the "better" world. Bishop Bernard Fellay, the Superior-General of the Society of Saint Pius X, and Father Schmidberger have been as silent as Bishop Fernando Rifan of the Society of Saint John Mary Vianney and Father John Berg of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter and Monsignor Gilles Wach of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest and every other traditionally-minded priest or presbyter attached to the structures of the counterfeit church of conciliarism about the apostasies and blasphemies committed by Ratzinger/Benedict during his recent pilgrimage to Jordan and Israel.

Ratzinger/Benedict wants to pacify the bishops and priests of the Society of Saint Pius X by giving them a "personal prelature" somewhat along the lines of Opus Dei, something admitted by Father Schmidberger in his German news agency interview, while at the same time reassuring his "ultra-progressive" conciliar "bishops" that their own participation in this exercise of pacification will help to institutionalize acceptance of the "Second" Vatican Council and the "magisterium" of the "post-conciliar" popes and of the Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo service. Ratzinger/Benedict wants to put an end to the totally baseless suspicions of those "ultra-progressive" bishops that he, the false "pontiff," desires to use the Society of Saint Pius X to undo the "council" when his goal is to purchase silence from the Society of Saint Pius X about conciliarism in exchange for a place in a little corner of the conciliar "zoo," to borrow a phrase used by Bishop Fellay himself in a sermon he gave at Christ the King Church in Ridgefield, Connecticut, on Sunday, November 7, 2004. Ratzinger/Benedict believes in his "diversity in unity" as the model for "false ecumenism" with non-Catholics and as the basis for "reconciling" "diverse" views and practices within the conciliar church.

Father Schmidberger criticized false ecumenism and took a swipe at the Novus Ordo in his German news agency interview while working to "correct" these matters:

KNA: Be frank, Do you believe that the old and new rites can continue to coexist over the long term?

Schmidberger: Well we will have to see how things develop. There are profound differences between the two rites; for example, the direction of the celebration. The old rite is God-centered. The new is man-centered. Many of the gestures, symbols, and rituals have been fundamentally changed. Today the old rite is like a solid rock amidst the pounding surf, that must remain unchanged. The new rite requires radical reworking so that the sacrificial nature is once again explicitly expressed.

KNA: What does the society think about the councils decree on ecumenism?

Schmidberger: It says that other religions also possess the means of salvation. If that is true, then there is no longer any point in engaging in missionary activity. That needs to be cleared up. (German news agency interview.)

 

The belief that the Catholic Church can give us liturgical rites that are incentives to impiety that need to be "reworked" so that their "sacrificial nature" can be "explicitly expressed" has been condemned by the Council of Trent:

CANON VII.--If any one saith, that the ceremonies, vestments, and outward signs, which the Catholic Church makes use of in the celebration of masses, are incentives to impiety, rather than offices of piety; let him be anathema. (Session Twenty-Two, Chapter IX, Canon VII, Council of Trent, September 17, 1562, CT022.)

 

Nothing provided us by the Catholic Church needs to be "cleared up." Yet, of course, this is what Father Schmidberger believes. It was Father Schmidberger who told the conciliar "bishops" of Germany to accept the doctrine of the Social Reign of Christ the King that has been specifically rejected by Ratzinger/Benedict himself. This is madness. It is insanity, as I pointed out in Pots and Kettles three months ago now:

The "Pier Six" donnybrook between the German "bishops" and the leaders of the Society of Saint Pius X has included a missive written by the Society's District Superior of Germany, Father Franz Schmidberger, who made a point of emphasizing the Society's commitment to the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church enunciated by popes prior to 1958. Father Schmidberger demonstrates in just a few brief words the Society's fabrication of what he terms a "Supreme Magisterium" to support itself against the teaching of the "Second" Vatican Council:

What the SSPX cannot accept are the false social and moral principles which have always been rejected by the Magisterium of the Popes and tradition and which must be discarded by every Catholic to be in communion with the Catholic Church, even any German bishop.

These false principles are rejected for example in the papal teaching document Quanta cura of Blessed Pius IX., Immortale Dei of Leo XIII.Quas Primas of Pius XI and in the many statements of Pius XII on the social doctrine of the church.

The pastoral council of Vatican II must also be measured against these pronouncements of the Supreme Magisterium. We expect the German bishops to make a clear commitment to the social kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, as Pope Pius XII and his predecessors made the duty of all Catholics. (Father Schmidberger Letter)

 

There is no such thing as a "supreme" magisterium. This is a total fabrication of the theologians of the Society of Saint Pius X who have spent a good deal of the last thirty years trying to devise various theological justifications for their novel ecclesiology that was condemned by Pope Pius VI in Auctorem Fidei, August 28, 1794. And Father Schmidberger's demand that the German "bishops" "make a clear commitment too the social kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ" is absolutely laughable as this Social Kingship has been rejected by the conciliar "pontiffs" themselves, a rejection that the founder of the Society of Saint Pius X, the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, confronted the then Joseph "Cardinal" Ratzinger about on July 14, 1987, using, it should be noted, the same false ecclesiology ("traditional magisterium") as Father Schmidberger used with the German "bishops:"

Under pressure, Rome gave in. On July 14, Cardinal Ratzinger received Archbishop Lefebvre at the Holy Office. At first the Cardinal persisted in arguing that "the State is competent in religious matters."

"But the State must have an ultimate and eternal end," replied the Archbishop.

"Your Grace, that is the case for the Church, not the State. By itself the State does not know."

Archbishop Lefebvre was distraught: a Cardinal and Prefect of the Holy Office wanted to show him that the State can have no religion and cannot prevent the spread of error. However, before talking about concessions, the Cardinal made a threat: the consequence of an illicit episcopal consecration would be "schism and excommunication."

"Schism?" retorted the Archbishop. "If there is a schism, it is because of what the Vatican did at Assisi and how you replied to our Dubiae: the Church is breaking with the traditional Magisterium. But the Church against her past and her Tradition is not the Catholic Church; this is why being excommunicated by a liberal, ecumenical, and revolutionary Church is a matter of indifference to us."

As this tirade ended, Joseph Ratzinger gave in: "Let us find a practical solution. Make a moderate declaration on the Council and the new missal a bit like the one that Jean Guitton has suggested to you. Then, we would give you a bishop for ordinations, we could work out an arrangement with the diocesan bishops, and you could continue as you are doing. As for a Cardinal Protector, and make your suggestions."

How did Marcel Lefebvre not jump for joy? Rome was giving in! But his penetrating faith went to the very heart of the Cardinal's rejection of doctrine. He said to himself: "So, must Jesus no longer reign? Is Jesus no longer God? Rome has lost the Faith. Rome is in apostasy. We can no longer trust this lot!" To the Cardinal, he said:

"Eminence, even if you give us everything--a bishop, some autonomy from the bishops, the 1962 liturgy, allow us to continue our seminaries--we cannot work together because we are going in different directions. You are working to dechristianize society and the Church, and we are working to Christianize them.

"For us, our Lord Jesus Christ is everything. He is our life. The Church is our Lord Jesus Christ; the priest is another Christ; the Mass is the triumph of Jesus Christ on the cross; in our seminaries everything tends towards the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ. But you! You are doing the opposite: you have just wanted to prove to me that our Lord Jesus Christ cannot, and must not, reign over society.

Recounting this incident, the Archbishop described the Cardinal's attitude: "Motionless, he looked at me, his eyes expressionless, as if I had just suggested something incomprehensible or unheard of." Then Ratzinger tried to argue that "the Church can still say whatever she wants to the State," while Lefebvre, the intuitive master of Catholic metaphysics, did not lose sight of the true end of human societies: the Reign of Christ." Fr. de Tinguy hit the nail on the head when he said of Marcel Lefebvre: "His faith defies those who love theological quibbles." (His Excellency Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, The Biography of Marcel Lefebvre, Kansas City, Missouri: Angelus Press, 2004, pp. 547-548.)

 

For Father Franz Schmidberger to call upon the German "bishops" to make a "clear commitment" to the Social Kingship of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ when the German posing as the conciliar "pontiff" rejects this Kingship utterly and is about to issue an "encyclical letter" using his Hegelian "reasoning" to endorse the separation of Church and State once and for all is the height of theological audacity. It defies all logic and rationality to expect the German "bishops" to endorse the Social Reign of Christ the King that Ratzinger/Benedict himself rejects. Alas, this is what any effort to "reconcile" oneself to the counterfeit church of conciliarism entails: insanity and illogic. The fight between the conciliar German "bishops" and the leaders of the Society of Saint Pius X is truly a case of pots calling kettles black. Each set of combatants dissents from Catholic teaching.

Once "reconciled" to the counterfeit church of conciliarism, the Society of Saint Pius X will have to "celebrate" the "feast day" of the soon-to-be "beatified" Giovanni Paolo il Secondo il Grande. And the "reconciled" Society of Saint Pius X will have to remain silent about travesties such as this one that took place during a "papal" "offering" of the Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo service in Africa last week (Offertory procession at Antipapal Travesty in Africa).

Well, actually, if you really think about it, that is, one can see elements of the future "reform of the reform" of the Novus Ordo in this video. The natives who are bringing up their "gifts" are going about their sacrilegious business as Ratzinger/Benedict ignores them and goes about his business of saying the Talmudic table prayers that constitute what is called the "Preparation of the Gifts" in the Novus Ordo service. Yes, sireebob, that Benedict XVI sure wants to restore "tradition," doesn't he? That "Benedictine" missal is going to set everything right, right?

This is all a cruel farce, a travesty, a mockery of God and of the Holy Faith that He has entrusted exclusively to the Catholic Church for Its infallible explication and eternal safekeeping. The Catholic Church cannot be stained by any taint of error, as pope after pope has taught us. It is the Society of Saint Pius X that is in error and that has misled countless thousands of souls into believing that a true pope can give us defective liturgies and liturgical rites and can contradict articles contained in the Deposit of Faith while remaining a member of the Catholic Church in good standing.

While each person must come to recognize this for himself (it took me long enough to do so!), we must nevertheless embrace the truth once we do come to recognize and accept it without caring for one moment what anyone else may think about us. I am doing the background work for a soon-to-be published article about a man who has come to this conclusion and who is suffering mightily for it at the present time. He is willing to suffer with the Divine Redeemer in order to embrace the truth of the Catholic Faith as It has been maintained in the Catholic catacombs by true bishops and true priests who make no concessions to conciliarism or the nonexistent legitimacy of its false shepherds. We would do well to follow his courageous example.

 

It is evil to maintain that a true and legitimate Successor of Saint Peter can give us false or "ambiguous" doctrines and defective liturgies (please listen, yes, once again, to Father Anthony Cekada's The Errors of the Society of St Pius X and read His Excellency Bishop Donald Sanborn's Logical Chickens Coming Home to Roost: A Commentary on Recent Events in SSPX). Father Schmidberger's laundry list of the problems with the "Second" Vatican Council provided in his German news agency interview is proof that the Catholic Church simply cannot be responsible for any of those problems. It is impossible to reconcile the "ambiguities" and errors of the "Second" Vatican Council and of the conciliar "popes" with this aforementioned passage from Pope Pius XI's Mortalium Animos:

For the teaching authority of the Church, which in the divine wisdom was constituted on earth in order that revealed doctrines might remain intact for ever, and that they might be brought with ease and security to the knowledge of men, and which is daily exercised through the Roman Pontiff and the Bishops who are in communion with him, has also the office of defining, when it sees fit, any truth with solemn rites and decrees, whenever this is necessary either to oppose the errors or the attacks of heretics, or more clearly and in greater detail to stamp the minds of the faithful with the articles of sacred doctrine which have been explained. (Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928.)

 

There is little from the counterfeit church of conciliarism that is brought to the faithful "with ease and security to the knowledge of men," which is in and of itself proof positive of its apostate nature.

This day, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, reminds us that it is necessary for us to cleave to our true bishops and priests, many of whom were ordained on this very day, who make no concessions to conciliarism or to the nonexistent legitimacy of its false shepherds. A true pope maintains the Catholic Faith so that "revealed doctrines might remain intact for ever, and that they might be brought with ease and security to the knowledge of men." A true pope never goes to places of false worship or prays as a Jew or gives the appearance of reaffirming adherents of false religions in their false beliefs as he exhorts them to use those false beliefs as the basis for "building" the "better" world. A true pope is never silent about the Holy Name when addressing those who deny the Sacred Divinity of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is really that simple, and how dumb and stubborn and blind was I for failing to see what so many of the true bishops and priests ordained on this very day have seen for so long?

The month of June, the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, ends at 11:59:59 p.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, June 30, 2009, the Commemoration of Saint Paul. It is always time, however, to enfold ourselves in the tender mercies of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary as we seek to make reparation for our sins and those of the whole world.

Every extra moment we spend before the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament and every extra set of mysteries of Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary that we pray will help us to be more and more conformed to the likeness of Our Divine Redeemer, Who permitted His own Most Sacred Heart to be wounded by our sins during His Passion and Death.at the same time He permitted our sins to pierce His Blessed Mother's Immaculate Heart with the Fourth through the Seventh Swords of Sorrow.

We must always remember that this is the time that God has appointed from all eternity for us to live and thus to sanctify and to save our immortal souls as members of the Catholic Church. The graces won for us by the shedding of every single drop of Our Lord's Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross and that flows into our hearts and souls through the loving hands of Our Lady, the Mediatrix of All Graces, are sufficient for us to handle whatever crosses--personal, social and ecclesiastical--that we are asked to carry. We must give thanks to God at all times for each of our crosses as we seek to serve Him through Our Lady in this time of apostasy and betrayal.

Remember the words of the late William C. Koneazny: "Our Lady will come and throw the bums out!"

Immaculate Heart of Mary, triumph soon.

 

Viva Cristo Rey! Vivat Christus Rex!

 

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, pray for us.

Saint Zachary, pray for us.

Saint Elizabeth, pray for us.

See also: A Litany of Saints