The Modernists

“Therefore, one would not depart from the truth in regarding them as the most dangerous enemies of the Church.” Thus speaks Pope St. Pius X in the encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis. And why? He himself answers: “For, as We have said, they put into operation their designs for her undoing not from without but from within; hence the danger is present almost in the very veins and heart of the Church, and all the more mischievous for their being so much the more thoroughly acquainted with her.”

Now, are the Popes of the Conciliar Church modernists? Yes, and they plotted their pernicious designs within the very veins of the Church during the Second Vatican Council, corrupting the notion of Tradition and even the very notion of truth.

Is the current Pope, as well as the cardinals and bishops, modernist? Yes, for they largely accept the Second Vatican Council, in which was seen the alliance between false modern philosophies and the Faith—an alliance that constitutes the very root of the modernist system. The condemnations of Pope Pius XII regarding the New Theology and its proponents were ignored, and the Council and the post-conciliar period became imbued with errors and a modernist mentality. At times, this is a diffuse, almost unconscious modernism, yet one that prevents today’s bishops and cardinals from seeing that Archbishop Lefebvre was—and remains—right in his struggle.

May the Society of Saint Pius X, which has received and transmits true philosophy and true theology, know how to avoid the enemies “who hide within the very bosom of the Church,” and who today believe they have conquered and seek to overcome the Society and all of Tradition. May God not permit it.

But we must say that, unfortunately, over the past twenty-five years the Society has imprudently drawn closer to Rome and, as a consequence, has grown weaker in the struggle against the modernists who occupy the Vatican. It is to be feared that it may fail to discern and reject all the snares that will not fail to be laid for it on the occasion of new consecrations.

Both in 1988 and now, Archbishop Lefebvre remains the model of the struggle against the same enemies who, since the Second Vatican Council, have afflicted Holy Church. It suffices to follow his example and thus not only to shelter oneself from the attacks of the modernists, but also to work for the increase, in number and in merit, of the faithful.

We pray for the Society, to which we owe all that we have that is best, for it was from its founder that we received the priesthood as well as the teachings that enabled us not to shipwreck in the faith. It was also from one of its sons in the episcopate that we received ours.

For all these reasons, we pray for the Society and desire with all our soul the successful outcome of these consecrations, provided they are carried out with the same spirit of prudence and faith as that of Archbishop Lefebvre.

+Thomas Aquinas, O.S.B.