Archbishop Lefebvre's Last Conference
Jun 29, 2018 12:03:19 GMT
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Archbishop Lefebvre’s Last Conference
from The Angelus, September 1991
The following is the text of the last conference given by Archbishop Lefebvre, addressed to the Swiss Friends & Benefactors, at Ecône on March 7, 1991, just two days before being admitted to hospital with the fatal cancer that would take him from our midst on March 25th.
This conference is remarkable because of His Grace’s appreciation of the gravity of this crisis of Faith and of the Freemasonic influence within the Church, as well as by the positive response which he gives to this terrible state of naturalistic disorder, which response is the Catholic Order, the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He is as clear-sighted in his formulation of the means to overcome as he is in his assessment of the gravity of the situation.
Dear Fathers,
Dear Friends,
I truly desire to thank you all for having faithfully come, according to what is now an old tradition, to this reunion of friends at Ecône. It is always with great pleasure that we welcome you in this house which is so dear to you. I am particularly happy to have present amongst us today Father Kocher. He is half Valasian - but only half - because he is from Soleure, but he lived here in the Valais for a long time and it's in the Valais that he converted to Tradition. He did indeed convert, I can assure you, there's no worry about that! He has proved it by the numerous conversions that he has brought about around him in his great parish of Oberriet which is the most flourishing, I think, of all Switzerland.
We also had the joy of offering Holy Mass. I offered it for the living and for the dead for, alas, each year some of us leave us. It is obviously quite normal for we are not made to remain here below.
However, I request that you excuse me from the meal for I have agreed to go to Paris for the conferences to the Study Groups and I must, therefore, leave tomorrow morning. But my health is not the best; I must admit it. At this point in time I am somewhat hindered by certain infirmities of old age. It is the circulatory pump which no longer works! Mr. Pedroni ought to fix that up: but what can you expect; it is a little old and consequently it works badly and causes me certain difficulties, discomfort and some headaches, etc. I must therefore rest a little if I want to be in good form for this conference in Paris. For they are always insatiable! They will be meeting all Saturday afternoon, then a High Mass at St Nicolas du Chardonnet with a sermon, of course, and then a conference, etc. I try to satisfy as many people as possible, inasmuch as I can, but I do not know for how long this will be able to continue. I leave this to the grace of God. Please excuse me, therefore, if I am not present at the evening meal for I believe it is my duty to rest up a little.
As usual, I would like to summarize a little the situation in which we find ourselves. As the years pass it is astonishing and, at the same time, both tragic and sorrowful to become aware of the situation of the Church and of Catholics, like ourselves, desire to keep the faith in this atmosphere in which we live. It is a true drama which continues always worsening more and more without any events changing this at all.
The Ruin of the Church in the Valais
For example, the little brochure which has just been published in Valais presents a terrible fact and, nevertheless, it only uncovers that which was already present, that is to say, that there are 45% fewer practicing Catholics in the Catholic canton of Valais than thirty years ago. You have been able to see this yourselves. The responses to the various questions show that Catholics have lost the Catholic Faith. 81.3% of Catholics in this Catholic canton reply that religion has no importance, that is to say, that one can be saved in any religion at all. These 81.3% no longer the Faith. They no longer believe in the divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ which, for them, no longer has any importance because one can pass by another means. They no longer believe in the religion founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The other replies are all just as heart-rending for a Catholic. When one thinks that there was, according to the statistics of 1958, an incredible proportion practicing Catholics - 97% of men and 98% of women - practiced in the upper Valais. These are magnificent figures; an entire people practiced its religion. In the lower Valais this was, in 1958, from 85 to 90% according to the different regions, which is still an extraordinary proportion. Now there are no more than 30% practicing Catholics. What a drop in the space of thirty years!
Something has happened. We cannot be satisfied with the reply that Bishop Schwery made to the radio and journalists who immediately went to ask him what he thought of this study. “It’s worse still! “That is the reply a bishop, but it does not resolve the problem! Without doubt, he is right but if one were to go across the border, the same study in Savoy would not give 30 or 33% of practicing Catholics but 5 or 7%, at the greatest. This is not a reason for us to not try to discover the cause of this falling away from the Faith.
A World Government
We are before a problem which becomes more and more serious on account of the world government, to which allusion is made more and more often, as you have certainly read in the newspapers on the occasion of the Gulf War.
By the intermediary of this world government there is an effort legalize and codify vices, bad laws and the bad spirit of our socialist societies. We will soon have before us a world Masonic anti-Christian socialism, as is already the case in our societies. It will be necessary, in order to become a part of this world society of nations to bend to the requirements of the false socialist democracy, which does not believe in God, which puts all men on the same level of false equality and from which constantly come all the abominable fruits that we now see and from which constantly come all the abominable fruits that we do not see so clearly. These profound errors, which came from the Revolution, were officially condemned by the Church, by Pope Pius IX in Quanta cura and more especially by Pope St. Pius X in his encyclical on Modernism.
I feel that these false principles are in the process of coming to their final conclusion in two ways: on the one hand by socialist, communist governments and on the other hand by the liberal society as we know it today.
The Double Path of the Revolution
The first offers us a barracks in which everybody works and finds lodging, clothing and a small salary. And if anybody, as to escape this barracks, shows his unhappiness, he is directed straight to the concentration camp or finally to prison. Communism is one great barracks. The proof is the wall of separation behind which a whole collection of populations was closed without liberty, where people are obliged to furnish a certain amount of work simply for a meal ticket, so as to receive nourishment, clothing for a certain number of persons (when there is any), without any other initiative.
And that is what explains why West Germany has so much difficulty in incorporating East Germany. The East Germans no longer have any initiative. They no longer know how to work freely, so much have they been habituated from their early childhood to live and work in a regimented fashion as robots. Suddenly they are told that they are free and they find themselves incapable of making a living, and many end up unemployed. In effect, there is no unemployment in communist countries. Everyone has work in exchange for a poor and unhappy pittance. Suddenly they do not know how to get out of this situation, just as the West Germans do not know how to assimilate them. It is an incredible psychological and moral problem.
This is the “good” result of the rights of man, of the French Revolution and of its errors. Man rejects God and claims for himself freedom of conscience, of thought, of religion, by means of which he falls into slavery to other men who tyrannize him. The disappearance of the rights of God brings about slavery to the stronger, since there is no higher recourse.
On the other side we have our free societies. Here it is not a question of barracks but of a moral cloaca; we live in slime. Sins have been legalized and have entered into legal codes, which not only authorize them but even sometimes make them obligatory. For example, certain doctors cannot refuse to perform abortions in a clinic without being prosecuted. Likewise, a pharmacist who refuses to sell contraceptives. We have now gone so far that laws, instead of protecting morality make immorality an obligation.
Everything is directed towards the moral rot of men and thus taking from them the taste of God, drowned as they are in materialism, in pleasure and in their foolish freedom. Money is even given, as much as possible, to people so as to create needs. This is the consumer society, that is to say a society which is completely disordered and where millions of dollars worth of advertising has for its purpose to make man buy so as to make men spoiled. As well, there is the ubiquitous pornography, the ease of obtaining divorces, free unions, etc.
The Pope complains, But…
A few days ago the Pope complained, in an Italian journal, that in all the Regio Emilia there are no longer any marriages, or children, but instead drugs... no longer any priests or seminarians, or, in a word, no longer any religion. Then he reproached the civil authorities who ought to have intervened to avoid this.
But who rejected the civil society by telling it that it could no longer be Catholic? It is indeed him who broke with the Italian State and suppressed its Catholic character! Consequently, it is obvious that the State will no longer look after Catholic laws. One had to expect this immediate consequence. Moreover, he only speaks of the rights of man and of freedom and consequently everybody profits from it: no more marriages, no more children, but pleasure, freedom of thought, of religion and of morality. It's fatal; one must know what one wants.
They have lost their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, while from one side to the other of the Iron Curtain there is but ruin and total corruption. It is perhaps worse in North or South America than here. One would cite some horrifying figures for Brazil.
The Responsibility of States...
Here again, this society is the result of the propaganda of the rights of man for liberty and equality. This is now characterized by the absolute equality of religions, and hence by ecumenism and religious liberty, but also by the equality of all forms of morality. For example, Moslems accept four wives but, if it's good for them, why would it be evil for Catholics?
Small flock that we are who remain Catholic, we find ourselves surrounded by this putrid world.
But the worst thing is that everybody is aware of it! Even civil societies are aware of the thefts, rapes and insecurity... a pretty society indeed! And then one goes on to justify in some way the delinquents who, because they are poor, would have the right to use others’ good so as to establish a little more equality.
...and the Responsibility of the Holy See
That which is terribly serious is that we now see that the Holy See and ecclesiastical authorities are always more and more on the side of this corrupted society. They support its principles: the Rights of Man, of religious liberty, of all freedoms, of equality, of anti-Christian democracy, and this is accomplished in concrete facts.
For example, Cardinal Casaroli delivered a discourse at the Commission on the Rights of Man of the United Nations in February 1989. I could have taken today’s Ossevatore Romano, for it repeats exactly the same things, which proves that this discourse is still relevant. He said: “In replying with much pleasure to the invitation which was addressed to me to come to you, and in bringing you the encouragement of the Holy See, I desire to dwell a little, and all will understand why, on a specific aspect of the fundamental freedom of thinking and acting according to one's conscience: freedom of religion. Last year, John Paul II did not hesitate to affirm, in a message for the World Day of Peace, that religious liberty constitutes a cornerstone in the edifice of the Rights of Man. The Catholic Church and its supreme pastor, who has made of the rights of man one of the great themes of his preaching [it is frightening! These are the very errors condemned by all of the popes until the Council] have not failed to remind us that in a world made by man, the organization of society has no sense except inasmuch as its central preoccupation is the human dimension. Every man and all of man, this is the central preoccupation of the Holy See. It is, without doubt, also yours.”
A Freemasonic Mentality
Man, man, man! Where is God in this and Our Lord Jesus Christ and salvation? It is disgusting, because a Freemason could have said exactly the same thing. They align themselves completely on Masonic and socialist ideologies; they have completely passed from one side of the fence to the other. They helped this transformation of society, whether it be brought about by the Communist barracks or by the rottenness of the others. This is a phenomenon which concerns us. How could we have come this far? But it is a fact and we cannot deny it.
But instead of taking note of this failure of society going toward its ruin, for they indeed acknowledge that society is not in good shape, they continue all the same and they repeat the principles. When the society of nations is formed, all the nations will have to accept these principles, and consequently the destruction of society itself. And if a society refused to accept them, whether it be, for example, an African state or a South American state, or if society wished to correct the situation as did Salazar, Franco and de Valera in Ireland - seeking to restore Christian order in society - it would immediately be gone after by the states of the whole world and its nourishment would be cut off, its bank credits would be blocked, its markets would be blocked and in a word, it would suffocate. There would no longer be any means to act.
Sordid Deals
It is already, moreover, practically like that. For example, Argentina cannot stand on its feet because it is a Catholic country and for all Catholic states it is exactly the same thing. There would be many other Kuwaits to liberate. I think, for example, of Angola and Mozambique, which were the most Catholic countries in Africa - 90% Catholic - and which were left to the Cubans to invade, kill the Christians, the religious and the priests. The most horrible things took place with the blessing of the United States. For example, in Angola a settlement by the name of Kabinda possesses enormous oil riches, similar to those of Saudi Arabia. The Cubans negotiated with the Americans to occupy the country in exchange for leaving them the oil wells for their use. It is on account of this sordid exchange that the Americans allowed so many crimes to take place. I know Angola well, for I visited it often, because the Holy Ghost fathers were missionaries there. It was a marvelously Christian country and now all that is demolished and the poor people have to hide themselves in the bush as rats.
God Wants a Hierarchy
It is because we live in such a society that it is very difficult to change the situation, for our ideal is the restoration of the order wished by our Lord Jesus Christ, who wished that we live in a hierarchical order and not in an egalitarian order. Indeed, we are all equal before the good Lord but not in society: a child is not equal of its parents. There are men and women, there are little and big, strong and less strong, there are hard workers and intellectuals, there are some who are more capable than others...
The good Lord magnificently created society so that everybody in his own place, it could function marvelously. The good Lord foresaw everything and it is a grave error to affirm that we are all equal in society for God wished inequality so that we could render one another service mutually and thus give to others that which they do not already have. And thus, God makes us exercise charity. Even the simple movement by the work of one's arms helps towards working with others and the functioning of an industry. It makes an act of charity.
It is already society and that is what is attacked. It is for the reason that there is an effort to destroy all the small and middle size businesses. They are crushed by taxes, bank interest and, suddenly, their credits are cut. Why? Nobody knows. Then it's death. In the north of France this was the cause of total ruin for they succeeded in suppressing all the private industries, quite simply because they were run by Catholic employers, and because there was a good understanding and no strikes, thanks to inter-professional committees between employers and workers. They had made considerable efforts to organize economic life in a Catholic way so as to assure salaries which were in conformity with the lifestyle of the time. The government could not put up with this and succeeded in bankrupting them one by one.
Christian Order by the Commandments
To the contrary, we must struggle against all this and we must understand that the Christian order of things is the Reign of Our Lord by the Commandments of God and therefore by the love of God and of our neighbor, and therefore by prayer because the love of God is shown especially by prayer and, consequently, by meditation and everything which Our Lord gave us: the sacraments and the Sacrifice of the Mass. We must maintain order with respect to God in us.
In heaven, everything is also in a hierarchical order. There is the angelical hierarchy, and we will be in a place which belongs to us as the stars are in heaven. This contributes to the good order of the others and yet everyone is special. It is marvelous to contemplate nature so as to see the hierarchy that God placed amongst things. Consider the marvelous society of the bees and of the ants. All of this must teach us many things. And they would suppress all this!
But our role, and I would say that the Good Lord counts upon us, is that we might bring about this Christian order, each one in his own place, and that in society we might help one another so as to maintain a Christian atmosphere.
It is difficult for us, for parents and for we priests who also live in the world. We must indeed realize that that which we ask for is sometimes a little difficult. We strive to warn you against this universal corruption which is cleverly exploited by all the media who have the money.
That is why we must always be on our guard. If we do not live on our guard, and if we do not create around us an environment of truly Christian families, we risk losing a great deal, and especially our children.
Christian Order by Schools
Happily, we have had the courage to open schools, which is also indispensable, for you yourselves know how much schools have become centers of corruption and even Christian schools in which sexual education is obligatory. Sexual education is the education of sin. These poor children are placed before horrible things that one would not even have dared show adults in the past. Thanks be to God that you have striven hard to keep your schools, and I encourage you to continue this.
I know that it is a difficult question even from the financial point of view. But I think that it is the future of your families and of the Catholic canton of Valais upon which depends the development of your schools. Perhaps there could be a different organization in order to reduce the cost... schools are the same problem for other districts, but they must be the pupil of your eye because it is there that children are well formed to keep the faith that they have received in their family.
Do not become discouraged for it is in our faith in the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ that we will find our support in our struggle. Our Lord is the source of everything. Without Our Lord there is nothing, with Him we have everything. He has said: “Without me you can do nothing.” Nothing, and with Him we can do everything. Hence, we must attach ourselves to our Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in His grace by which He saved the world when His Blood flowed from His Heart upon us by baptism and by the sacraments. We are nourished by the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ and by His divine grace. It is consequently the ferment which must be present in all our actions and in all our society.
And it is because the bishops have not believed in the power of grace of the sacraments and of the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ for forty years that they have sought other means. They pretended that these no longer have any success, and they sought after something else: priest workers, union meetings, numerous movements... but these movements are worth nothing if they are not enlivened by the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what is the ferment, the true source which permits families, schools and society to develop in a Christian manner. Thus, everything takes a new and divine air: it is truly God present among us. It was like this for centuries, everyone believed, but laicization finally bore its fruits, and even the bishops were finally attacked by this illness, no longer believing in their work and their priests, and no longer having any confidence in their priesthood. Consequently, down with the cassock, they said. What purpose does it serve, since we are men just like the others? You can see the ruin of the poor priest who says that he is a man just like the others. He no longer believes at all in his ministry. Consequently, you must not be astonished to learn a little afterwards that he has married or that he lives in concubinage.
Persecutions
We must believe. It is the faith and the grace of our Lord which is the source of civilization and which will restore the Christian order. Clearly, they have it in for us. They will go after us and they will persecute us. They hate us because we show our Lord Jesus Christ in our conduct and in our families. The longer it goes the more will they hate us. Don't have any illusions on this matter. It is for that that we start to be persecuted.
I should have been judged today. I am not yet in prison* because they put back the judgment to the 21st of March. On that day we will know the amount that I will have to pay. According to Master Wagner who defended my case, the adversaries ought to be cast out and we ought not to be condemned. We will see. Father Andre was present at the first hearing and he remarked how much the opposing lawyers made this a religious matter. It must be acknowledged. They have it in for us with a satanic hatred, pursuing me personally and my entire work. Is it astonishing therefore that they block all legacies and France in an effort to stifle us? It is not surprising that we have so many difficulties in building a church here at Ecône. There are certainly many people who do not want us to have a large church and a bell tower to be seen by everyone!
We will overcome
But finally, we will overcome. We will overcome because we have the good Lord with us and they do not. I really wonder how these poor souls will be able to present themselves before the good Lord.
It is so beautiful to think that Christendom here below is the image of the marvelous heavenly society where all is well organized, where charity reigns everywhere, and where there is peace in a perfect order. We find it difficult to imagine what it could be like, but it is indeed in this way that we must strive to model ourselves after the wish of Our Lord in the Pater Noster: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
For your good, and for that of the Valais, I wish that you continue the combat. Oh, I have no doubt, for you are indeed fervent and I see this every time I have the chance to speak to you. It is even sometimes you who are still the strongest in inspiring us, for you are on the battle line whereas we are a little bit behind!
Let us beseech Our Lady, she who always fights against the powers of hell, to help us to continue this combat. She predicted for us all of the difficulties that we would have to overcome. We must, therefore, not be too astonished and we must entrust all of our cares to her and she will help us.
__________________________________________________________________
*The comments which follow concern a civil lawsuit brought against His Grace because he spoke of the dangers of Mohammedism in France. He jests about going to prison!
from The Angelus, September 1991
The following is the text of the last conference given by Archbishop Lefebvre, addressed to the Swiss Friends & Benefactors, at Ecône on March 7, 1991, just two days before being admitted to hospital with the fatal cancer that would take him from our midst on March 25th.
This conference is remarkable because of His Grace’s appreciation of the gravity of this crisis of Faith and of the Freemasonic influence within the Church, as well as by the positive response which he gives to this terrible state of naturalistic disorder, which response is the Catholic Order, the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He is as clear-sighted in his formulation of the means to overcome as he is in his assessment of the gravity of the situation.
Dear Fathers,
Dear Friends,
I truly desire to thank you all for having faithfully come, according to what is now an old tradition, to this reunion of friends at Ecône. It is always with great pleasure that we welcome you in this house which is so dear to you. I am particularly happy to have present amongst us today Father Kocher. He is half Valasian - but only half - because he is from Soleure, but he lived here in the Valais for a long time and it's in the Valais that he converted to Tradition. He did indeed convert, I can assure you, there's no worry about that! He has proved it by the numerous conversions that he has brought about around him in his great parish of Oberriet which is the most flourishing, I think, of all Switzerland.
We also had the joy of offering Holy Mass. I offered it for the living and for the dead for, alas, each year some of us leave us. It is obviously quite normal for we are not made to remain here below.
However, I request that you excuse me from the meal for I have agreed to go to Paris for the conferences to the Study Groups and I must, therefore, leave tomorrow morning. But my health is not the best; I must admit it. At this point in time I am somewhat hindered by certain infirmities of old age. It is the circulatory pump which no longer works! Mr. Pedroni ought to fix that up: but what can you expect; it is a little old and consequently it works badly and causes me certain difficulties, discomfort and some headaches, etc. I must therefore rest a little if I want to be in good form for this conference in Paris. For they are always insatiable! They will be meeting all Saturday afternoon, then a High Mass at St Nicolas du Chardonnet with a sermon, of course, and then a conference, etc. I try to satisfy as many people as possible, inasmuch as I can, but I do not know for how long this will be able to continue. I leave this to the grace of God. Please excuse me, therefore, if I am not present at the evening meal for I believe it is my duty to rest up a little.
As usual, I would like to summarize a little the situation in which we find ourselves. As the years pass it is astonishing and, at the same time, both tragic and sorrowful to become aware of the situation of the Church and of Catholics, like ourselves, desire to keep the faith in this atmosphere in which we live. It is a true drama which continues always worsening more and more without any events changing this at all.
The Ruin of the Church in the Valais
For example, the little brochure which has just been published in Valais presents a terrible fact and, nevertheless, it only uncovers that which was already present, that is to say, that there are 45% fewer practicing Catholics in the Catholic canton of Valais than thirty years ago. You have been able to see this yourselves. The responses to the various questions show that Catholics have lost the Catholic Faith. 81.3% of Catholics in this Catholic canton reply that religion has no importance, that is to say, that one can be saved in any religion at all. These 81.3% no longer the Faith. They no longer believe in the divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ which, for them, no longer has any importance because one can pass by another means. They no longer believe in the religion founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The other replies are all just as heart-rending for a Catholic. When one thinks that there was, according to the statistics of 1958, an incredible proportion practicing Catholics - 97% of men and 98% of women - practiced in the upper Valais. These are magnificent figures; an entire people practiced its religion. In the lower Valais this was, in 1958, from 85 to 90% according to the different regions, which is still an extraordinary proportion. Now there are no more than 30% practicing Catholics. What a drop in the space of thirty years!
Something has happened. We cannot be satisfied with the reply that Bishop Schwery made to the radio and journalists who immediately went to ask him what he thought of this study. “It’s worse still! “That is the reply a bishop, but it does not resolve the problem! Without doubt, he is right but if one were to go across the border, the same study in Savoy would not give 30 or 33% of practicing Catholics but 5 or 7%, at the greatest. This is not a reason for us to not try to discover the cause of this falling away from the Faith.
A World Government
We are before a problem which becomes more and more serious on account of the world government, to which allusion is made more and more often, as you have certainly read in the newspapers on the occasion of the Gulf War.
By the intermediary of this world government there is an effort legalize and codify vices, bad laws and the bad spirit of our socialist societies. We will soon have before us a world Masonic anti-Christian socialism, as is already the case in our societies. It will be necessary, in order to become a part of this world society of nations to bend to the requirements of the false socialist democracy, which does not believe in God, which puts all men on the same level of false equality and from which constantly come all the abominable fruits that we now see and from which constantly come all the abominable fruits that we do not see so clearly. These profound errors, which came from the Revolution, were officially condemned by the Church, by Pope Pius IX in Quanta cura and more especially by Pope St. Pius X in his encyclical on Modernism.
I feel that these false principles are in the process of coming to their final conclusion in two ways: on the one hand by socialist, communist governments and on the other hand by the liberal society as we know it today.
The Double Path of the Revolution
The first offers us a barracks in which everybody works and finds lodging, clothing and a small salary. And if anybody, as to escape this barracks, shows his unhappiness, he is directed straight to the concentration camp or finally to prison. Communism is one great barracks. The proof is the wall of separation behind which a whole collection of populations was closed without liberty, where people are obliged to furnish a certain amount of work simply for a meal ticket, so as to receive nourishment, clothing for a certain number of persons (when there is any), without any other initiative.
And that is what explains why West Germany has so much difficulty in incorporating East Germany. The East Germans no longer have any initiative. They no longer know how to work freely, so much have they been habituated from their early childhood to live and work in a regimented fashion as robots. Suddenly they are told that they are free and they find themselves incapable of making a living, and many end up unemployed. In effect, there is no unemployment in communist countries. Everyone has work in exchange for a poor and unhappy pittance. Suddenly they do not know how to get out of this situation, just as the West Germans do not know how to assimilate them. It is an incredible psychological and moral problem.
This is the “good” result of the rights of man, of the French Revolution and of its errors. Man rejects God and claims for himself freedom of conscience, of thought, of religion, by means of which he falls into slavery to other men who tyrannize him. The disappearance of the rights of God brings about slavery to the stronger, since there is no higher recourse.
On the other side we have our free societies. Here it is not a question of barracks but of a moral cloaca; we live in slime. Sins have been legalized and have entered into legal codes, which not only authorize them but even sometimes make them obligatory. For example, certain doctors cannot refuse to perform abortions in a clinic without being prosecuted. Likewise, a pharmacist who refuses to sell contraceptives. We have now gone so far that laws, instead of protecting morality make immorality an obligation.
Everything is directed towards the moral rot of men and thus taking from them the taste of God, drowned as they are in materialism, in pleasure and in their foolish freedom. Money is even given, as much as possible, to people so as to create needs. This is the consumer society, that is to say a society which is completely disordered and where millions of dollars worth of advertising has for its purpose to make man buy so as to make men spoiled. As well, there is the ubiquitous pornography, the ease of obtaining divorces, free unions, etc.
The Pope complains, But…
A few days ago the Pope complained, in an Italian journal, that in all the Regio Emilia there are no longer any marriages, or children, but instead drugs... no longer any priests or seminarians, or, in a word, no longer any religion. Then he reproached the civil authorities who ought to have intervened to avoid this.
But who rejected the civil society by telling it that it could no longer be Catholic? It is indeed him who broke with the Italian State and suppressed its Catholic character! Consequently, it is obvious that the State will no longer look after Catholic laws. One had to expect this immediate consequence. Moreover, he only speaks of the rights of man and of freedom and consequently everybody profits from it: no more marriages, no more children, but pleasure, freedom of thought, of religion and of morality. It's fatal; one must know what one wants.
They have lost their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, while from one side to the other of the Iron Curtain there is but ruin and total corruption. It is perhaps worse in North or South America than here. One would cite some horrifying figures for Brazil.
The Responsibility of States...
Here again, this society is the result of the propaganda of the rights of man for liberty and equality. This is now characterized by the absolute equality of religions, and hence by ecumenism and religious liberty, but also by the equality of all forms of morality. For example, Moslems accept four wives but, if it's good for them, why would it be evil for Catholics?
Small flock that we are who remain Catholic, we find ourselves surrounded by this putrid world.
But the worst thing is that everybody is aware of it! Even civil societies are aware of the thefts, rapes and insecurity... a pretty society indeed! And then one goes on to justify in some way the delinquents who, because they are poor, would have the right to use others’ good so as to establish a little more equality.
...and the Responsibility of the Holy See
That which is terribly serious is that we now see that the Holy See and ecclesiastical authorities are always more and more on the side of this corrupted society. They support its principles: the Rights of Man, of religious liberty, of all freedoms, of equality, of anti-Christian democracy, and this is accomplished in concrete facts.
For example, Cardinal Casaroli delivered a discourse at the Commission on the Rights of Man of the United Nations in February 1989. I could have taken today’s Ossevatore Romano, for it repeats exactly the same things, which proves that this discourse is still relevant. He said: “In replying with much pleasure to the invitation which was addressed to me to come to you, and in bringing you the encouragement of the Holy See, I desire to dwell a little, and all will understand why, on a specific aspect of the fundamental freedom of thinking and acting according to one's conscience: freedom of religion. Last year, John Paul II did not hesitate to affirm, in a message for the World Day of Peace, that religious liberty constitutes a cornerstone in the edifice of the Rights of Man. The Catholic Church and its supreme pastor, who has made of the rights of man one of the great themes of his preaching [it is frightening! These are the very errors condemned by all of the popes until the Council] have not failed to remind us that in a world made by man, the organization of society has no sense except inasmuch as its central preoccupation is the human dimension. Every man and all of man, this is the central preoccupation of the Holy See. It is, without doubt, also yours.”
A Freemasonic Mentality
Man, man, man! Where is God in this and Our Lord Jesus Christ and salvation? It is disgusting, because a Freemason could have said exactly the same thing. They align themselves completely on Masonic and socialist ideologies; they have completely passed from one side of the fence to the other. They helped this transformation of society, whether it be brought about by the Communist barracks or by the rottenness of the others. This is a phenomenon which concerns us. How could we have come this far? But it is a fact and we cannot deny it.
But instead of taking note of this failure of society going toward its ruin, for they indeed acknowledge that society is not in good shape, they continue all the same and they repeat the principles. When the society of nations is formed, all the nations will have to accept these principles, and consequently the destruction of society itself. And if a society refused to accept them, whether it be, for example, an African state or a South American state, or if society wished to correct the situation as did Salazar, Franco and de Valera in Ireland - seeking to restore Christian order in society - it would immediately be gone after by the states of the whole world and its nourishment would be cut off, its bank credits would be blocked, its markets would be blocked and in a word, it would suffocate. There would no longer be any means to act.
Sordid Deals
It is already, moreover, practically like that. For example, Argentina cannot stand on its feet because it is a Catholic country and for all Catholic states it is exactly the same thing. There would be many other Kuwaits to liberate. I think, for example, of Angola and Mozambique, which were the most Catholic countries in Africa - 90% Catholic - and which were left to the Cubans to invade, kill the Christians, the religious and the priests. The most horrible things took place with the blessing of the United States. For example, in Angola a settlement by the name of Kabinda possesses enormous oil riches, similar to those of Saudi Arabia. The Cubans negotiated with the Americans to occupy the country in exchange for leaving them the oil wells for their use. It is on account of this sordid exchange that the Americans allowed so many crimes to take place. I know Angola well, for I visited it often, because the Holy Ghost fathers were missionaries there. It was a marvelously Christian country and now all that is demolished and the poor people have to hide themselves in the bush as rats.
God Wants a Hierarchy
It is because we live in such a society that it is very difficult to change the situation, for our ideal is the restoration of the order wished by our Lord Jesus Christ, who wished that we live in a hierarchical order and not in an egalitarian order. Indeed, we are all equal before the good Lord but not in society: a child is not equal of its parents. There are men and women, there are little and big, strong and less strong, there are hard workers and intellectuals, there are some who are more capable than others...
The good Lord magnificently created society so that everybody in his own place, it could function marvelously. The good Lord foresaw everything and it is a grave error to affirm that we are all equal in society for God wished inequality so that we could render one another service mutually and thus give to others that which they do not already have. And thus, God makes us exercise charity. Even the simple movement by the work of one's arms helps towards working with others and the functioning of an industry. It makes an act of charity.
It is already society and that is what is attacked. It is for the reason that there is an effort to destroy all the small and middle size businesses. They are crushed by taxes, bank interest and, suddenly, their credits are cut. Why? Nobody knows. Then it's death. In the north of France this was the cause of total ruin for they succeeded in suppressing all the private industries, quite simply because they were run by Catholic employers, and because there was a good understanding and no strikes, thanks to inter-professional committees between employers and workers. They had made considerable efforts to organize economic life in a Catholic way so as to assure salaries which were in conformity with the lifestyle of the time. The government could not put up with this and succeeded in bankrupting them one by one.
Christian Order by the Commandments
To the contrary, we must struggle against all this and we must understand that the Christian order of things is the Reign of Our Lord by the Commandments of God and therefore by the love of God and of our neighbor, and therefore by prayer because the love of God is shown especially by prayer and, consequently, by meditation and everything which Our Lord gave us: the sacraments and the Sacrifice of the Mass. We must maintain order with respect to God in us.
In heaven, everything is also in a hierarchical order. There is the angelical hierarchy, and we will be in a place which belongs to us as the stars are in heaven. This contributes to the good order of the others and yet everyone is special. It is marvelous to contemplate nature so as to see the hierarchy that God placed amongst things. Consider the marvelous society of the bees and of the ants. All of this must teach us many things. And they would suppress all this!
But our role, and I would say that the Good Lord counts upon us, is that we might bring about this Christian order, each one in his own place, and that in society we might help one another so as to maintain a Christian atmosphere.
It is difficult for us, for parents and for we priests who also live in the world. We must indeed realize that that which we ask for is sometimes a little difficult. We strive to warn you against this universal corruption which is cleverly exploited by all the media who have the money.
That is why we must always be on our guard. If we do not live on our guard, and if we do not create around us an environment of truly Christian families, we risk losing a great deal, and especially our children.
Christian Order by Schools
Happily, we have had the courage to open schools, which is also indispensable, for you yourselves know how much schools have become centers of corruption and even Christian schools in which sexual education is obligatory. Sexual education is the education of sin. These poor children are placed before horrible things that one would not even have dared show adults in the past. Thanks be to God that you have striven hard to keep your schools, and I encourage you to continue this.
I know that it is a difficult question even from the financial point of view. But I think that it is the future of your families and of the Catholic canton of Valais upon which depends the development of your schools. Perhaps there could be a different organization in order to reduce the cost... schools are the same problem for other districts, but they must be the pupil of your eye because it is there that children are well formed to keep the faith that they have received in their family.
Do not become discouraged for it is in our faith in the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ that we will find our support in our struggle. Our Lord is the source of everything. Without Our Lord there is nothing, with Him we have everything. He has said: “Without me you can do nothing.” Nothing, and with Him we can do everything. Hence, we must attach ourselves to our Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in His grace by which He saved the world when His Blood flowed from His Heart upon us by baptism and by the sacraments. We are nourished by the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ and by His divine grace. It is consequently the ferment which must be present in all our actions and in all our society.
And it is because the bishops have not believed in the power of grace of the sacraments and of the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ for forty years that they have sought other means. They pretended that these no longer have any success, and they sought after something else: priest workers, union meetings, numerous movements... but these movements are worth nothing if they are not enlivened by the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what is the ferment, the true source which permits families, schools and society to develop in a Christian manner. Thus, everything takes a new and divine air: it is truly God present among us. It was like this for centuries, everyone believed, but laicization finally bore its fruits, and even the bishops were finally attacked by this illness, no longer believing in their work and their priests, and no longer having any confidence in their priesthood. Consequently, down with the cassock, they said. What purpose does it serve, since we are men just like the others? You can see the ruin of the poor priest who says that he is a man just like the others. He no longer believes at all in his ministry. Consequently, you must not be astonished to learn a little afterwards that he has married or that he lives in concubinage.
Persecutions
We must believe. It is the faith and the grace of our Lord which is the source of civilization and which will restore the Christian order. Clearly, they have it in for us. They will go after us and they will persecute us. They hate us because we show our Lord Jesus Christ in our conduct and in our families. The longer it goes the more will they hate us. Don't have any illusions on this matter. It is for that that we start to be persecuted.
I should have been judged today. I am not yet in prison* because they put back the judgment to the 21st of March. On that day we will know the amount that I will have to pay. According to Master Wagner who defended my case, the adversaries ought to be cast out and we ought not to be condemned. We will see. Father Andre was present at the first hearing and he remarked how much the opposing lawyers made this a religious matter. It must be acknowledged. They have it in for us with a satanic hatred, pursuing me personally and my entire work. Is it astonishing therefore that they block all legacies and France in an effort to stifle us? It is not surprising that we have so many difficulties in building a church here at Ecône. There are certainly many people who do not want us to have a large church and a bell tower to be seen by everyone!
We will overcome
But finally, we will overcome. We will overcome because we have the good Lord with us and they do not. I really wonder how these poor souls will be able to present themselves before the good Lord.
It is so beautiful to think that Christendom here below is the image of the marvelous heavenly society where all is well organized, where charity reigns everywhere, and where there is peace in a perfect order. We find it difficult to imagine what it could be like, but it is indeed in this way that we must strive to model ourselves after the wish of Our Lord in the Pater Noster: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
For your good, and for that of the Valais, I wish that you continue the combat. Oh, I have no doubt, for you are indeed fervent and I see this every time I have the chance to speak to you. It is even sometimes you who are still the strongest in inspiring us, for you are on the battle line whereas we are a little bit behind!
Let us beseech Our Lady, she who always fights against the powers of hell, to help us to continue this combat. She predicted for us all of the difficulties that we would have to overcome. We must, therefore, not be too astonished and we must entrust all of our cares to her and she will help us.
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*The comments which follow concern a civil lawsuit brought against His Grace because he spoke of the dangers of Mohammedism in France. He jests about going to prison!