[LIFESITENEWS] "When I think that we are in the palace of the Holy Office, which is the exceptional witness of the Tradition and of the defense of the Catholic Faith, I cannot stop myself from thinking that I am at home, and that it is me, whom you call ’the traditionalist,’ who should judge you." So spoke Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1979, when he was summoned to the former Holy Office, in the presence of the prefect, Cardinal Franjo Šeper, and two other prelates.As I stated in my communiqué of June 20, I do not recognize the authority of the tribunal that claims to judge me, nor of its prefect, nor of the one who appointed him. This decision of mine, which is certainly painful, is not the result of haste or a spirit of rebellion; but rather is dictated by the moral necessity which, as bishop and successor of the apostles, obliges me in conscience to bear witness to the truth, that is, to God Himself, to Our Lord Jesus Christ.
I face this trial with the determination that comes from knowing that I have no reason to consider myself separate from communion with the Holy Church and with the papacy, which I have always served with filial devotion and fidelity. I could not conceive of a single moment of my life outside this one Ark of Salvation, which providence has constituted as the Mystical Body of Christ, in submission to its Divine Head and to His vicar on earth.
The enemies of the Catholic Church fear the power of grace which works through the sacraments, and above all the power of the Holy Mass, a terrible katechon which frustrates many of their efforts and wins to God so many souls who would otherwise be damned. And it is precisely this awareness of the power of the supernatural action of the Catholic priesthood in society that lies at the origin of their fierce hostility to tradition.
Satan and his minions know full well what a threat the one true Church poses to their antichristic plan. These subversives — whom the Roman pontiffs have courageously denounced as enemies of God, the Church, and humanity — are identifiable in the inimica vis, Freemasonry. It has infiltrated the hierarchy and succeeded in making it lay down the spiritual weapons at its disposal, opening the doors of the citadel to the enemy in the name of dialogue and universal brotherhood, concepts that are intrinsically Masonic. But the Church, following the example of her Divine Founder, does not dialogue with Satan: She fights him.