Declaration of Catholic Fidelity

Introduction

This “Declaration of catholic fidelity”, written by a lay person who has played an active role in the combat for the faith since the Council, is an adaptation of the famous Declaration of Archbishop Lefebvre of November 21st 1974.

After many “declarations” more or less successful these past few years, this one seems to us to be the best. As its author says, “One is surprised to see that its distribution by a few lay people outside the sanctuary or Lourdes (and therefore in the public streets, and not in the sanctuary itself) on October 26, 2014, on the occasion of the annual SSPX pilgrimage, was met with opposition on the part of the pilgrimage security”.

Let us hope that all those who want to continue the fight for catholic Tradition will be able to rally around a declaration of fidelity that is truly catholic, such as this one.

Text of the declaration

Faithful to the heritage of Archbishop Lefebvre and in particular to his memorable Declaration of November 21, 1974, we adhere with all our hearts and all our souls to Catholic Rome, the keeper of the Catholic Faith and the traditions that are necessary to the preservation of this Faith, and to Eternal Rome, the mistress of wisdom and truth.

Following the example of the great prelate, the intrepid defender of the Church and of the Apostolic Seat, we categorically refuse, and we have always refused, to follow the neo-Modernist and neo-Protestant Rome that has clearly manifested itself in the Vatican Council II and since then in all the reforms and orientations issuing from it.

The reforms and orientations have in fact contributed and continue to contribute to the demolition of the Church, to the loss of her missionary spirit, to the spread of indifferentism (by means of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue), to the destruction of the priesthood, to the denial of the Sacrifice and of the sacraments, to the weakening of the pontifical authority, to theological anarchy, to disordered pastoral approaches, to the disappearance of religious life, to naturalistic and Teilhardian teaching in universities, seminaries, and catechesism – a teaching issuing from Liberalism and Protestantism, both of which were condemned time and time again by the solemn Magisterium of the Church.

No authority, not even the highest authority in the hierarchy, can force us to abandon or to diminish our Catholic Faith so clearly expressed and professed both by the Magisterium of the Church for the past twenty centuries, and, in more recent times, in key documents dealing with anti-liberal and anti-modernist doctrine, notably the following:

  •  Mirari vos, by Gregory XVI ;
  •  Quanta cura and the Syllabus, by Pius IX ;
  •  Immortale Dei and Libertas, by Leo XIII ;
  •  Pascendi, by Pius X (including the Anti-modernist Oath)
  •  Quas primas and Mortalium animos, by Pius XI ;
  •  Humani generis, by Pius XII.

Saint Paul says: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema.” And the Apostle repeats: “As we said before, so now I say again: If any one preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema” (Epistle of St Paul to the Galatians 1, 8-9).

Therefore, if words or actions of the Pope or actions of the Roman dicasteries openly contradict traditional doctrine, we then choose that which has always been taught, and we turn a deaf ear to novelties that are destructive to the Church and to the very “Hermeneutic” that pretends to demonstrate that there is a continuity between the novelties and the constant Magisterium of the past centuries.

One cannot make profound modifications to lex orandi (the liturgy) without modifying lex credendi (the rule of the Faith). The following novelties correspond to the new mass: new catechism, new priesthood and new seminaries, new administering of the sacraments, new canon law, ecumenical bible, new forms of devotion, new criteria of saintliness, a charismatic and a pentecostal Church that is divided into disparate “communities”. All these novelties are opposed to Orthodoxy, to the Magisterium of all time, and to Catholic unity.

The Reform that issued from Liberalism and from Modernism is completely poisoned; this Reform comes from heresy and ends in heresy. It is therefore impossible for any informed and faithful Catholic to accept this Reform and to submit to it in any way.

The only way to be faithful to the Church and to the Catholic doctrine which is our salvation is to categorically refuse to accept the Reform, even if, in order to survive, we must resort to solutions that are canonical exceptions – since the salvation of souls is the supreme law – and even if, were it to become necessary, we must suffer unjust condemnation.

Therefore, without any rebellion, bitterness or resentment, we intend to adhere to the complete profession of Faith that is under the protection of the Magisterium of all time, fully confident that in this way we may render the greatest service to the Holy Catholic Church, to the sovereign pontiff and to the future generations.

And therefore, we firmly adhere to everything regarding faith, customs, devotions, catechism, priestly formation, and Church institution, as it has always been believed and practiced by the Church of all time, and codified in books printed before the modernist influence of the Council, while we wait for the true light of Tradition to dissipate the shadows that darken the skies of Eternal Rome.

As things stand, today more than ever, our love for the Church and our fidelity to the memory and to the fight of Archbishop Lefebvre require a strong and public confession of Faith against all possible promoters of error.

In this spirit, and in order to do our part to hasten the return of the Church to her rightful two-thousand-year-old Tradition, we respectfully and earnestly beg the Sovereign Pontiff, as Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of Peter, and Doctor of the Faith, to fulfill as soon as possible three acts that are of the utmost importance:

1. [We ask the Pontiff] to declare that he firmly upholds, in the same sense as did his predecessors, the doctrine of Gregory XVI, Pius IX, Leo XIII, Pius X, Pius XI, and Pius XII, and that he denounces the errors of the “liberal culture”. By denouncing false “religious liberty” and the “rights-of-man-without-God”, The Pontiff would thus reaffirm the Social Kingship of Jesus Christ.

2. [We ask the Pontiff] to re-establish the Anti-Modernist Oath, prescribed in 1910 and abrogated in 1967, required for those who enter the ecclesiastical hierarchy. This Oath would put an end to the corruption of the Faith among the clergy and the faithful, which has been the cause of the “silent apostasy” among multitudes of Catholics.

3. By invoking the privilege of papal infallibility (see the Dogmatic Constitution Pastor aeternus of Vatican I), we ask the Pontiff to solemnly condemn Vatican II documents which are contrary to the irrevocable definitions of the previous Magisterium. This would revoke the falsely assumed authority of a “pastoral” Council – “ a new Pentecost” in the Church – which, fifty years later, has proved to be the greatest disaster in the history of the Church.

4. Finally, in order to obtain peace in the world, we also respectfully implore Pope Francis to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, according to the demands of Heaven made at Fatima and in the correct form as requested.

This being done, with God’s grace and with the assistance of the Virgin Mary, St Joseph, and St Pius X, we trust that we will remain united to the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church, as well as to the successors of St Peter, and that we will faithfully spread far and wide the mysteries of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Spiritu Sancto.

Given on the Feast of Christ the King, October 26, 2014.

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