Press Conference of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre

On Release of Episcopal Manifesto – Open Letter to the Pope
Paris – December 9, 1983

Question: We gather from everything you say that your meetings in private with the Vatican have borne no fruit. Do you think that this sort of public approach – an Open letter – will bear any fruit?

Abp. Lef.: I place my hopes in Providence… we are fulfilling our responsibility to the people and to the priests…We ourselves can see no results. We must speak louder. We must speak more openly.

Question: How about Msgr. de Castro-Mayer? Does that mean that he is also getting ready one day to ordain priests?

Abp. Lef.: Well, he has already ordained some in his diocese...he was a Diocesan Bishop. The Bishop who succeeded him, a progressivist, closed the seminary and drove, out the priests. But Msgr. de Castro-Mayer has collected his seminarians. He is continuing to form them, and certainly he will also ordain them. CLEARLY, HE IS BEING FORCED BY EVENTS TO TAKE THE SAME ATTITUDE AS MYSELF. He had 29 secular priests, 25 of whom were carrying on Tradition under his direction. the new Bishop is persecuting these 25 priests using the radio, newspapers, press, law-courts and police against them...even though the whole population is with them.

Question: You speak of a dialogue with Rome and, as far as we are concerned, we hear you saying today exactly what you were saying ten years ago. Can any dialogue really be started between you and Rome?

Abp. Lef.: I think that Rome will pay a little more attention to an Open Letter published throughout the entire world than to a mere conversation...

Question: Are you disturbed by finding yourself in opposition to 2,000 bishops, as though you are the absolute Truth?

Abp. Lef.: The Truth does not depend upon me. ..All I am doing is continuing what I was taught – that is to say, what the Credo and the Catechism of all times teaches. You can see for yourselves that the Catechisms are being changed. Now, are all the traditional Catechisms – the Catechism of the Council of Trent, the Catechism of St. Pius X, the Catechism of Cardinal Gasparri – are all these Catechisms no longer worth anything just because the French bishops have published a new one? It's madness! Catholic Doctrine can not change! Our Credo cannot change. The Moral Law cannot change. It's inconceivable!

Question: Are there just two of you in the whole Church to come to this realization?

Abp. Lef.: No, I don't think so…there are many who realize in their hearts what is going on...go and see them and they will tell you, "Yes, indeed it's unacceptable, it's really sad to see what is going on. It's unfortunate that the children have catechisms like that in their hands, but what, do you expect us to do? It's the episcopal assembly which decides"

Question: How do you see the Church in France at this moment?

Abp. Lef: I think there are a good number of bishops who are no longer Catholic. We are in the state that England was in at the moment it passed over to Protestantism. All the bishops, priests and people went over to Anglicanism and they thought they were doing the right thing. Well, with the Church in France now, it is the same thing. It is in the process of passing over to Modernism, worse than Anglicanism. And everybody is swallowing the poison. You can now ask many faithful, many priests in France, "Do you still believe in Purgatory, do you still believe in the angels, in Hell?" "Oh no, all those things belong to the past". "Do you still believe in Original Sin?" Original Sin, they wrote in this new French catechism, is a fairy tale which was put together by sages at the time of Solomon! Well, if that is what Original Sin is, then there's nothing left of the Catholic religion. Why did Our Lord come, if Original Sin doesn't exist.. .There's no longer any sense to the whole Catholic Church! And so, THERE WILL BE AT LEAST TWO BISHOPS WHO PROTESTED. WE HOPE WE ARE SPEAKING CLEARLY – RESPECTFULLY, BUT FIRMLY.

Question: Monsignor, can this Manifesto be considered like your personal Will and Testament?

Abp. Lef.: Oh no. Of course, I can very well die quite soon, but it’s still not a Testament. Nine years ago, I drew up a manifesto in which I said that I cannot accept Modernist Rome. I ACCEPT THE ROME OF ALL TIME, with its Doctrines and with its Faith. BUT THE MODERNIST “ROME,” which is changing our religion, I REFUSE AND I REJECT. THAT IS THE ROME WHICH WAS INTRODUCED INTO THE COUNCIL AND WHICH IS IN THE PROCESS OF DESTROYING THE CHURCH, so (the Manifesto) is not a Testament, it’s the Truth.

Question: Monsignor, we know of your difficulties with Pope Paul VI, but we find it much more difficult to understand that you have not been able to reach any agreement with such a Pope as John Paul II is.

Abp. Lef.: Pope John Paul II is as inclined to reform as Pope Paul VI was. Pope John Paul II has not condemned Communism. I am convinced that he would be in favor of a Christian Socialism, a Christian-flavored Communism, a Communism that merely needs to be improved on. It is, after all, Pope John Paul II who is changing the bishops to replace them with Communist -collaborator bishops of the Pax movement (Priests of Peace). These bishops persecute the good priests! Whereas before, these priests used to be encouraged by their bishops in resisting Communism. Bishops were imprisoned and many died in Communist jails. Now it is bishops who are turning into instruments of the Communist governments in order to persecute priests who are doing their duty!

Question: So, it's the Devil, not the Holy Spirit, who has been at work in the last few Conclaves?

Abp. Lef.: Well, in any case, the role being played by the Pope today is truly not the role that he ought to be playing – that much is certain. He is not fulfilling his duty in face of Communism... (also) he sent 20 official delegates to the Vancouver Congress of the Ecumenical Council of Churches. These are they who have worked almost the closest with Protestants. I had already written during the Council, an article entitled "Must We Become Protestants in Order to Remain Good Catholics?"

However, John Paul II is a true Pope?

I think so. I have always thought so. But he is a Pope who is not doing his duty. I would say so to him if he was here. I am not afraid to say so to him. It is not my fault. Never before has the Church been seen not condemning Communism: never before has the Church been seen agreeing with communism to nominate collaborator bishops: never before has the Church been seen uniting with protestants to make a Catholic-Protestant (!) Liturgy, and so on.

Then, Monsignor, if the situation is a deadlock, how do you see the future, notably the future of your communities and of your young priests?

We carry on. We have vocations in our seminaries. People are asking for us all over the world. But as far as Rome is concerned ... I admit that the situation looks very dark because Rome is occupied by Modernists.

The two signers of the Manifesto, yourself and Msgr. de Castro-Mayer, are nevertheless rather closer to Eternity than they are to today – so what's going to happen afterwards? How are you going to ensure the continuation of your communities when there are no longer any bishops?

So! You are asking the question for which maybe you all came, thinking that I was going to announce that I was going to make some bishops? (laughing)

Monsignor, why don't you make some bishops?

Because I still think that in appearance it would be an act of rupture with Rome which would be grave. I say, make you in appearance, because i think that, before God, it is possible that this act be an act necessary for the history of the church, for the continuation of the Church, for the continuation of the Catholic Priesthood, and so I am not saying that one day I won't do it. But it would have to be in circumstances still more tragic than today's. I still live in hope that, after all, Rome will one day open its eyes. Otherwise, the Good Lord Himself must intervene, with events of which we have no knowledge.

So, you are absolutely refusing to consecrate a bishop?

I am not absolutely refusing, no. Because, if there is any role which is important for the Bishop, it is that of handing down Tradition, the Gospel, the Faith.

But in Communion with other bishops, surely, Monsignor?

I wish it could be in Communion with them. I have no desire at all to consecrate bishops, but supposing the bishops no longer have the Faith? I assure you that one may well ask how many bishops still have the Faith, the True Catholic Faith? It is enough to see what has become of their seminaries!

Monsignor, isn't this Manifesto also a little jab of the spurs to stimulate a movement beginning to slow down after all?

No, not at all... I think this act is sufficiently important, I repeat, in the history of the Church for me to ask for your cooperation in making known this appeal to the Holy Father, and in reassuring Christians that they are not alone, they are not abandoned. There are two bishops who are speaking for them.