Two prayers....

God's will be done and may He have mercy upon us all.

About Me

My photo
A Catholic who follows Rome & the Magisterium. I'm against gay "marriage", abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia, human cloning. Altar girls, Communion in the hand, Eucharistic Ministers and "Protestant" music in the Church doesn't bother me at all. A proud American retired submarine sailor. Our borders should be secured with a 10 ft. high fence topped by concertina wire with minefields out to 20 yards on both sides and an additional 10 yards filled with warning signs outside of that Let's get energy independent NOW! Back Israel to the max, stop appeasing followers of the Pedophile Prophet. Pro 2nd Amendment, pro death penalty, Repeal all hate crime legislation. Back the police unless you'd rather call a hippie when everything hits the fan. Get government out of dealing with education, childhood obesity and the enviornment. Stop using the military for sociological experiments and if we're in a war don't micromanage their every move. Kill your television, limit time on the computer and pick up a book. God's will be done and may He have mercy upon us all.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

The Pope, the Holocaust and the SSPX

In my most recent post "Pops" asked a question regarding the Pope lifting a ban of excommunication on a Holocaust denying bishop. The next commenter answered his question but I'm going to try giving a more detailed response for the benefit of any other non-Catholics reading this blog.

The dingbat bishop is a member of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), a group currently in schism with the Vatican. They've been in schism since the late '70's when their founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, disputed the Document on Religious Freedom, and the document on the Church and the Modern World. The SSPX has also declared the present Pope isn't the legitimate successor to Peter. Not exactly minor points, at a minimum it's directly defying the Church Magisterium (the teaching authority of the Church as embodied by the bishops and led by the Bishop of Rome, Benedict XVI).

The straw that broke the Vatican camel's back on this was the archbishop's illicit ordination of four priests into bishops. This can't happen without the permission of Rome (which Archbishop Lefebvre felt no need to obtain). That act resulted in the excommunication of Lefebvre and the four "bishops". One of the four is the originator of the current firestorm, that would be the Englishman Williamson.

Rome has been in contact for some years with the SSPX in efforts to bring them back into the Church. Lifting the excommunication, WHICH DEALT SOLELY WITH THE MATTER OF THE ILLICIT ORDINATIONS, was one of many steps to be done towards that aim.

Loose cannon that he is (and several commentors on other blogs who evidently met the man describe him as a "moonbat extraordinaire") Williamson gave an interview some months ago where he downplayed the Holocaust. He claimed only about 300,000 Jews were killed, the gas chambers in the concentration camps didn't exist and Hitler had no "Final Solution". This interview was aired right before the Pope lifted the excommunication against Williamson and the other three (Lefebvre died some time ago).

So there is absolutely no deliberate connection between this idiot's remarks and the actions of the Pope. The deliberate links being forged between the two are mainly the work of Catholic and Papal detractors.

The Vatican has taken action on this. In this article the actual scope and limits attached to the lifting of the excommunication are discussed, in this one it speaks of how the dingbat has apologized for his big mouth, this one addresses required actions by the SSPX to come back into communion with Rome.

It's the scandal of the day to attach to the Pope and the Church, it hasn't helped that some prominent Jews have begun hysterically hyperventilating about this topic. Elie Wiesel (sp?) is an example, the man is a genuine hero and there's no denying that. But in recent years he's wasted no time in criticizing the Church when he could.

So yep, the Pope lifted an edict of excommunication against a Holocaust denier. That ban was lifted for reasons entirely unrelated to the bishop's idiocy. Since then the Vatican has done what damage control it can, no doubt that won't be sufficient for most of it's permanent critics.

In closing I'll admit my own knowledge of much I've mentioned has been recently gained as I came up to speed on a topic that held little interest for me. I was out of the Church when the SSPX formed and since coming back haven't paid much attention to it until now. So if any other Catholics reading this find some errors in this post, by all means let me know.

I'll bet we continue to hear about this in the MSM for a long time.

5 comments:

Joe of St. Thérèse said...

A couple of things do need to be fixed.

1. The arguments of the SSPX were about the Document on Religious Freedom, and the document on the Church and the Modern World. Abp. Lefebvre did sign all the documents of Vatican II, and did accept The post Conciliar popes valid (the SSPV do not consider the current pope valid)

2. The Ordinations were valid, but without Vatican approval which made them illicit (which is often confused with invalid)

Other than that, everything else is alright.

Subvet said...

Thanks Joe, I've cleaned it up accordingly.

Joe of St. Thérèse said...

no problem, that's what I'm here for

Anonymous said...

Completely unrelated, so feel free to delete once you've read this comment...

It seems the skimmers are trying to get harder to hit:
http://i.gizmodo.com/5147882/swedish-visby+class-corvette-is-first-operational-stealth-ship-in-the-world

$50 or a case of beer says I could get a workable firing solution on these chuckleheads well before they realized I was in the op area.

God Bless,
Ryan

Subvet said...

Ryan, I've no doubt you could. I can't count how often some other nation presented an overhyped piece of weaponry only to have it fall flat when tested against our forces.

We're the best, theres no brag in that, just fact.

Blog Archive

THIS is depressing!!

THIS is depressing!!
Our education system must have REAL problems!

Proper Care of The Koran

Proper Care of The Koran
A place for everything and everything in it's place

Our Lady of America, pray for us (we need it!)

St. Gabriel Possenti, (unofficial) patron saint of handgun owners, pray for us.

Humane blogger award

Humane blogger award