3. Legitimate suspicion and withdrawal of obedience towards a perfidious pontiff

IT is true, Most Holy Father, that You could offset, not my interpretation of your writings but the writings themselves, the obvious meaning of which I have just expounded, with dozens of homilies and addresses given by Your Holiness in the exercise of his pastoral ministry, when You are wont to give each one the food he yearns for and the drink for which he thirsts. You often speak of religion and even appear implicitly to condemn the very humanism for which you so constantly and resolutely militate.

THE PERFIDY OF THE MODERNIST

But there is no mistaking an integral faith and an upright conscience. What is written is written. From the time you preached your Retreat before Paul VI in 1976 and relentlessly up to the conversations you had with Frossard, which were published with no objection on your part in 1982, this humanism has been yours and you have professed it publicly. You propose and impose this humanism both as the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in other words the truth of two thousand years ago – so let us have no talk of evolution ! – and as the teaching of the Council, that is to say, of the whole Church, behind which you shelter.

Now, this humanism constitutes a lie with regard to the Gospel, which you falsify. It contradicts both Scripture and Apostolic Tradition, which are thereby smothered beneath the most blatant of anachronisms. In essence, this humanism is an impiety, a sacrilege and a hideous blasphemy, for it transfers to every man the Kingship claimed by Jesus Christ for Himself alone, first before Caiaphas – incidentally, why do you always omit to say before the Jews ? why do refuse to designate them by name, thus censoring the Gospel ? – and then before Pilate, the Roman governor.

You divest Christ of His priestly and royal vestments in order to clothe man – sinful man ? any man ? – in them. You recognise in Christ no more than the mission of “ prophet ”, a prophet of “ the mystery of man ”, not of His own Mystery or that of His Father ! But, if Jesus lays claim to Holiness – or “ transcendence ” – and Kingship, it is by virtue of His divinity and of His exceptional manhood as Son of God come in the flesh and sacrificed on the Cross for our sins. By replacing Christ with man in your faith, religion and service, you have made man usurp Christ’s many divine perfections and sovereign privileges, with which you then proceed to transfigure him. Man, become transcendent king through your ministry, makes himself god. It is an idol, an idol of the modern world to be sure, for it is entirely in the power of Satan, but it is also an idol of yours, You the Pope !

And by means of a further shameless falsification of the Gospel, you make Jesus and the Church, His chaste and fruitful Spouse, the servant and handmaid of this idol in your system ! Jesus supposedly came on earth solely and exclusively in order to pay homage to man’s transcendent grandeur and royal dignity ? And supposedly would have striven, He and his martyrs after Him, to have man’s grandeur and dignity universally recognised, to win peoples over to this egolatry, to conscientise the masses, to teach them their value and so launch them into the fight for their dignity, freedom and rights against all political authority ? And why not also against all ecclesiastical authority, episcopal and pontifical ! The whole thing is preposterous. It is sacrilegious and anarchic madness. Let those who think thus subscribe their names to it... I open the subscription book and wait… But nobody, Most Holy Father, will dare to commit such an act of idolatry before God, not even to please you, for fear of incurring eternal damnation.

How then is the double record of your speeches and thoughts to be explained ? What is your “ equal faith in God and in man ” ? It is explained by your predecessor St. Pius X, in his denunciation of the Modernists’ conscious and perverse duplicity. The Modernists, who through the expedient of an orthodox faith and touching piety, maintain their positions at the heart and even on the highest rungs of the Church’s divine hierarchy, the better to ravage the Church with the poison of their monstrous heresy.

“ And thus they go their way, reprimands and condemnations notwithstanding, masking an incredible audacity under a mock semblance of humility. While they make a pretence of bowing their heads, their minds and hands are more boldly intent than ever on carrying out their purposes. ”

Today, you hardly need to allay suspicions. Modernism has become pope, successor of St. Peter and Vicar of Jesus Christ !

“ And this policy they follow willingly and wittingly, both because it is part of their system that authority is to be stimulated but not dethroned, and because it is necessary for them to remain within the ranks of the Church in order that they may gradually transform the collective conscience. And in saying this, they fail to perceive that they are avowing that the collective conscience is not with them, and that they have no right to claim to be its interpreters. ”

And lest it be thought that I am picking a quarrel with Your Holiness over nothing, looking for injury in a word or expression or in a paradoxical theme that is merely provocative rather than deplorable, we shall dwell on the point as St. Pius X did for the Modernists. This in fact is what he wrote with such triumphant lucidity:

“ It may, perhaps, seem to some, Venerable Brethren, that we have dwelt at too great length on this exposition of the doctrines of the Modernists. But it was necessary that We should do so, both in order to meet their customary charge that We do not understand their ideas, and to show that their system does not consist in scattered and unconnected theories, but, as it were, in a closely connected whole, so that it is not possible to admit one without admitting all. For this reason too, We have had to give to this exposition a somewhat didactic form, and not to shrink from employing certain unwonted terms which the Modernists have brought into use.

“ And now with Our eyes fixed upon the whole system, no one will be surprised that We should define it to be the synthesis of all heresies. Undoubtedly, were anyone to attempt the task of collecting together all the errors that have been broached against the faith and to concentrate into one the sap and substance of them all, he could not succeed in doing so better than the Modernists have done. Nay, they have gone farther than this, for, as We have already intimated, their system means the destruction not of the Catholic religion alone, but of all religion...

“ Modernism leads to atheism and to the annihilation of all religion. The error of Protestantism made the first step on this path; that of Modernism makes the second; atheism makes the next ”, wrote the holy Pope, St. Pius X on September 8, 1907.

With his perfect knowledge of the system and its tendencies, he was justified in making this announcement. But he was also endowed with the gift of prophecy. Well, it is through Vatican II and Paul VI, through You, Most Holy Father, that today, with your humanism, the Church has finally rushed into atheism in both theory and practice, an atheism for which you have nothing but praise.

WE AWAIT THE CHURCH’S INFALLIBLE JUDGEMENT

Today, Modernism has become pope. The successor of St. Peter and Vicar of Jesus Christ is reiterating the perfidy of Caiaphas, with a view to perpetrating the new deicide foretold by the Scriptures, that of man dethroning Jesus Christ in his own temple to enthrone himself there instead and so receive the world’s adoration of himself as God and Saviour. And for this he requires the consent of the princes of the Church and of the whole People of God.

Such being the Abomination of Desolation, we cannot but legitimately suspect your authority, Most Holy Father, and maintain a watchful and resolute withdrawal of obedience until such time as the Infallible Truth and Holy Justice be made manifest. In this we shall follow the example of that poor bishop of Poitiers, Hilary, with regard to the magnificent Auxentius, Bishop of the imperial city of Milan, whom the bishops, clergy and faithful of the entire West seemed to follow devoutly. Here then is what Hilary of Poitiers declared in his letter against Auxentius in the year of grace 364. We are entitled to make this appeal and this denunciation our own. All that needs changing is Your name, Most Holy Father, for that of Auxentius and the terms humanist and Modernism in place of Arian and Arianism. For to make Christ the Son of God a creature and to make a god of man is basically the same apostasy, is it not ?

PEACE AND UNITY APPARENT WHERE ANTICHRIST IS

“ The name of peace is certainly attractive and the thought of unity admirable. But who can doubt that the only peace and unity that really exist are those of the Church and of the Gospels, that is to say of Christ ? The peace of which Christ spoke to his Apostles after the glory of His Passion and which, before leaving them, He bequeathed as the sign of His eternal presence, is that peace, beloved brethren, which we strive to recover if lost, to restore if troubled and to maintain if gained.

“ But this peace does not permit us to share in the scandals perpetrated in our times nor to take part in that zeal which forewarns of the impending Antichrist. They boast of their peace, but it is the peace of union in impiety, for they conduct themselves not as bishops of Christ, but as ministers of Antichrist.

“ And so, we shall not keep silent in order to avoid the accusation of slanderous invective against them. On the contrary, we shall speak out, so that no one remain ignorant. We are aware of what the Apostle John foretold: there is more than one Antichrist. For whoever denies that Christ is as the Apostles preached is antichrist. And the name of Antichrist suits him well, for it is proper to Antichrist to be against Christ. And that is what has come about in our day. They are against Christ under their reputation for false piety, at which they work, and under their apparent evangelical preaching. And whilst they are believed to be preaching Our Lord Jesus Christ, they are actually abjuring Him. ”

HUMANISM, LAICISM, MARKS OF ANTICHRIST

“ It is only normal to deplore the ills of our century and to grieve over the mad doctrines which claim to be in defence of God’s cause through purely human doctrines, whereby they strive to protect the Church through concerns that are merely profane. ”

“ And at the present time, oh grief ! the divine faith is being made to appeal to the wishes of the profane and Christ is despoiled of His divine strength. They have recourse to His name in their desire to conciliate Him, but in reality they mock Him... ”

NEW CHRIST, NEW PROPHET, SIGN OF THE TIMES OF ANTICHRIST

“ Now, what no one may ignore is what I have to tell you in a few words. God’s almighty will has allotted to time its span: the centuries are counted, as the Holy Books teach us. It was necessary, therefore, that the day of Antichrist should come and that his ministers should transform themselves, as the Apostle writes, into angels of light and should therefore efface from minds and consciences Him who is the Christ. For this error to reach the point of certitude, the truth is only spoken in ambiguous terms: everywhere doubt is sown. Where unanimity is lost and minds are divided, there we have sufficient indication of Antichrist’s presence. Whence, conflict of opinion; and where there was faith in one Christ, they preach two. ”

THE PRIESTS’ FALLACIOUS TEACHING MISLEADS THE ARTLESS FAITHFUL

“ The wickedness of this century has reached such a degree of deceit that, under these priests of Antichrist, Christ’s family is not broken up, for the people believe that, where the words are, there also is the faith. The priests use the words ‘ God ’ and ‘ Christ ’, and the people believe that they are sincere in their expression. The priests say ‘ Son of God ’ and the people truly believe they are hearing of God born of God. Again the priests say ‘ before time ’, and the people believe they are hearing of Him who preceded time and is from all eternity. The truth is that the ears of the people are more pious than the hearts of the priests… ”

BEWARE OF ANTICHRIST ! HE WILL SIT ON GOD’S THRONE

“ I would have preferred, brethren, to say nothing of this odious mystery and to conceal the details of Auxentius’ blasphemies. But since that is not permissible, let each of you understand exactly how far you may go in this. A feeling of shame keeps me from saying more. Besides, I have no wish to sully my page with the impieties of Arianism.

“ Again, heed this advice: Beware of Antichrist ! With the excuse of peace and concord, you make your way to church. You do wrong to love the walls so much and to respect the Church in her buildings. Can you doubt that one day Antichrist must needs be seated in the same places ? There is more security for me on the tops of mountains, in the depths of forests, by the sides of lakes, in the horror of dungeons and at the bottom of an abyss. For it is there that the Spirit of God descended into the hearts of the prophets; it is there that He quickened their voices. Break, I say, break all concord with Auxentius, Satan’s envoy, Christ’s enemy ! Break with this man who brings desolation into the very heart of the Church, who denies the faith and whose profession of faith is but a snare, a deception covering blasphemy.

“ Let him call all the councils he will; let him proclaim me a heretic, as he already has; let him rouse against me the hatred and the anger of the mighty of this world; never will he be other than Satan in my eyes, for he is Arian !

“ And peace ? I only seek peace with those who, with the Council of Nicaea, cast an anathema on all Arians and who preach that ‘ Christ is true God ’.

“ The wickedness of this century has reached such a degree of deceit that under these priests of Antichrist, Christ’s family – Christi populus – is not broken up. ” (From Contre les Ariens et contre Auxence de Milan, 369. – Collectio selecta S.S. Ecclesiae Patrum by Frs. Caillou and Guillon, vol. 27: S. Hilarium, II, Paris 1830)

THE ULTIMATE RECOURSE TO THE EMPEROR, BUT TODAY TO THE SOVEREIGN PONTIFF

As for us, Most Holy Father, we shall not desert our churches nor abandon our parishes; we shall never separate ourselves from the Great Church, so much abused by her lying pastors, but who herself remains ever faithful. We shall not take refuge in dense forests nor shall we hide in caves. On the contrary, we summon You, before your face, to tell us whether you are the Vicar of Christ, the Son of God, only Saviour, King of kings and Lord of lords, or whether you are the prince of antichrists, the Servant of man who makes himself god, an abomination of Satan.

For, there is only communion with those who, together with the holy Popes Pius IX and Pius X, cast an anathema on all atheistic humanism and on all Modernist perversity, and who preach “ Jesus Christ alone, and Him crucified ” for the divine object of our faith, our service and our worship, and, if it please Him, of our martyrdom.

In the meanwhile, may it please You to promulgate those infallible definitions and anathemas which alone can wash the Roman See and the Catholic episcopate clean of all heresy and ignominy, with which they are now sullied. We ask of no emperor, no prince, archbishop or bishop, but of You Yourself, and, failing that, of Christ Himself, the Creator, Sovereign Lord and Judge of the living and the dead, the freedom of the Catholic faith and worship, which is not only necessary for our souls but due to God, to the Blessed Virgin and to the Saints.

“ May those who fear the Lord God and His divine judgement, those who have no wish to be sullied nor even contaminated by such execrable blasphemies have the real possibility of having for priests and bishops only those who jealously and inviolably guard the bonds of Charity and who desire to maintain a peace that is lasting, because free from all error.

“ For an alliance of opposites, a concord of antitheses is impossible and against reason. The true and the false cannot be mixed; light and darkness are not to be confounded; night and day will never reach a final agreement. ” (Ibid.)

AMEN !