2014 Declaration by Fr. Martin Fuchs

With a very heavy heart, I communicated to the Superior General my resignation from the Society St. Pius X on 30 December. In all eternity I will be grateful to Archbishop Lefebvre for the Catholic Faith and for the priesthood! With regret, however, I have had to realise in recent years that they have deviated bit by bit from the path laid out by him:

The “Te Deum” in thanksgiving to the Motu proprio in which the Tridentine Mass was inextricably linked with the mass of Paul VI and in which the acceptance of the Second Vatican Council was demanded. Up until recently one could read on the internet that at the Priory St. Pius X in Munich the 'Holy Mass (in the extraordinary form)' was offered. In the seminary I learnt that we read the mass in the Tridentine rite, there is no ordinary or extraordinary rite, this is a completely untenable construct of Pope Benedict XVI. He who talks of an extraordinary rite, consequently must have in mind and accept an ordinary rite, the new mass.

The gratitude for the lifting of the excommunication of the four bishops. Archbishop Lefebvre said at a press conference in 1988:
Archbishop Lefebvre always regarded the excommunication as null and void. But what is null and void does not need to be lifted. – Besides, with the lifting the injustice perpetrated against Archbishop Lefebvre and Bishop de Castro Mayer continues to remain in force.

The willingness to negotiate with Rome, although Archbishop Lefebvre already laid out clearly and unequivocally under which conditions this should happen in future.
The bringing forward of a practical arrangement without a doctrinal clean-up of the heresies of the Second Vatican Council. In a spiritual talk on 21 December 1984 the Archbishop said:
Again and again I had to realise that no clear language was being spoken any more. So the second intention in the rosary crusade reads: “for the return of Tradition into the church...”. What is meant by “the church”? The Catholic Church as she was founded by Jesus Christ or the post-conciliar church? If it means the Catholic Church then no return is possible because Tradition is an integral part of the Catholic Church; if the post-conciliar church is meant then it is her who left Tradition. Then it is her who has to return to Tradition, not Tradition to the church.

These are the main reasons which have led to my decision. Despite warnings from the three auxiliary bishops, Bishop Williamson, Bishop Tissier de Mallerais and Bishop de Galarreta, despite warnings from the Society of the Good Shepherd, despite the knowledge of the attitude of Pope Benedict XVI, where nothing would move forward without the acceptance of the Second Vatican Council, the talks and negotiations were continued.

One might argue: “Our Superior General did not sign anything.” – But he would have been ready for an agreement, without having solved the doctrinal differences, as his letter from 17 June 2012 proves. They were ready for the worst, but Rome did not want it. – Trust in the Superiors is now somehow shaken, it is destroyed.

At this point, I thank with all my heart my dear faithful for all your prayers and sacrifices, with which you have supported my priestly ministry. Gladly I recommend myself also in future to your prayers,