Bishops' meeting with Cardinal Hoyos

October 3, 2000

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

I have been thinking about the August 14 meeting between Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos and three of us bishops of the Society of St. Pius X. How could he be so ruthless with the Fraternity of St. Peter (FSP) and then so charming with ourselves? And I came to a broad conclusion: the minds of these hard Church leaders of the world's soft apostasy are so messed up with contradiction that they can no longer see a contradiction when it stares them in the face. The prince of their faculties, their mind, is gone, and the rest follows.

This is approximately what I said when I described briefly in September's letter the lunch-date in the Cardinal's apartment in Rome, where he so warmly welcomed and embraced three of us SSPX bishops, who are after all, from his point of view, much worse enemies of his Rome than the Fraternity of St. Peter leaders that he had so firmly called to heel a few weeks before. However, the subject merits a longer analysis because here once more is the whole vast problem of these "nice" men wrecking the Catholic Church. Several Seminary Letters have considered this problem, but the niceness of these Church-wreckers can be so misleading to Catholics that it is well worth another letter to go over it again in the light of this "eyeball to eyeball" meeting with one of the leading wreckers. Too many Catholics follow our sentimental world in thinking that wherever there is niceness, there is truth. So at the risk of going over ground gone over many times before (but there are always new readers), let us start with the clear proof that the Cardinal is a wrecker.

In April of this year the 71-year old prelate from Colombia, South America, was appointed by Pope John Paul II to be President of the "Ecclesia Dei" Commission, set up by the Pope in 1988 at the time of the SSPX episcopal consecrations to prevent Traditionally-minded Catholics from following Archbishop Lefebvre and his four ugly ducklings into "schism". The Commission would offer to such Catholics all they could desire from Tradition but under, and with the approval of, Rome. This the Commission mainly but not exclusively pretended to do by the founding of the Fraternity of St. Peter with a dozen or so priests who were leaving the SSPX because of those consecrations.

Now -and here is the key to all that follows -Vatican II Rome contradicts Catholic Tradition, and Catholic Tradition contradicts Vatican II Rome. That is why, from the beginning, the SSPX warned that sooner or later neo-modernist Rome would clamp down on the FSP. However for ten years Rome cunningly allowed them a certain expansion and prosperity. After all, Rome wanted to catch as many mice as possible with one trap! In this appearance of prosperity the FSP exulted at their 10th anniversary celebration held in Rome in the autumn of 1998.

But Rome was only waiting, and in the summer of 1999, Rome struck. By supporting a band inside the FSP of pro-Rome priests rebelling against the "Lefebvrist" tendency of the FSP leadership, Rome let loose through the remainder of last year a series of disputes, divisions, actions, reactions within the FSP, until in February of this year the FSP leadership managed to restore a measure of calm and unity. But then Rome struck again.

At the FSP General Chapter held in Rome this July, a devastating letter was read out coming from the authorities in Rome in which they imposed on the FSP three decisions: firstly, by a ruling upon the FSP Constitutions, they stopped the Chapter from re-electing Fr. Josef Bisig, the FSP Superior General who had more or less held the FSP together on its more or less Traditional course up till then. Secondly, in the name of preventing dissension, Rome in this letter imposed on the FSP its own choice of successor to Fr. Bisig as Superior General, a priest who will certainly be more amenable to Rome's anti-Traditional directives. Thirdly, it imposed new rectors: upon the two FSP seminaries, is South Germany and the USA. The letter did not name these rectors, but it traced their portrait: they will "eradicate a spirit of rebellion against the current Church", and they will have "a caring and love of the Church and its supreme Pastor".

In conclusion the letter warned against giving too much importance to the Tridentine rite of Mass. The FSP must "forget no more that the reformed rite of Paul VI is the common rite of the Church", and the FSP must stop saying that the new rite is not as good as the old. The letter recalls that Rome founded the FSP (merely; "to help Catholics who have an attachment to the old rite, to better find themselves in the Church". Clearly, Tradition is to be integrated into the Newchurch on the Newchurch's terms, in other words Rome decrees that Tradition is to be crippled inside the FSP. And who signed this June 29 letter? Why, the new President of "Ecclesia Dei", Cardinal Dario Castrillón Hoyos.

Now actions speak louder than words, and this letter is action - crippling action! By this letter the Cardinal is a clear enemy of Catholic Tradition. How then could he on June 1 have written a letter to the four SSPX bishops beginning "My dear Brother", and warmly inviting them to visit him at his home or office in Rome at any time? And how could he on August 14 welcome three of them to lunch in his home, embrace them on their departure, and repeat the invitation? There is a problem here!

Let us begin by eliminating certain solutions that jump to mind, like the explanations of KGB agent, drugs, or a dummy Pope jump, or used to jump, to many Catholics' minds in the entirely parallel problem of recent Popes, Paul VI in particular.

Immediately, one might think that Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos was being insincere with us on August 14, that he was putting on a sweet front to lure the SSPX into a trap. But as one judges men, "eyeball to eyeball" as Americans say, I do not think that was the case. I think he really wishes us well. He really wishes we were "inside" the Church instead of "outside". The next explanation is, that if the Cardinal wants us "inside the Church", then he is not intelligent enough to understand the clash between Rome and Tradition. He certainly did seem to be ignorant of the issues at stake on August 14. But see above. His June 29 letter to the FSP General Chapter showed a clear grasp both of how Tradition is working inside the FSP against his Rome, and how his Rome must act in order to cripple that Tradition. It is not the letter of a man ignorant of the clash!

Well then, third explanation, that letter may be the letter of a puppet. Sinister forces inside the Vatican composed that letter, and the "dear old man" (quotation from last month's letter) merely signed it, not worrying too much about what he signed. Meanwhile his "dearness" might serve to draw the disarmed SSPX bishops within the range of the sinister forces' guns... I still give a little credit to this explanation, because I do believe that behind the Cardinal, as I said last month, there are villains at work, either Judeo-masons or prelates working for Judeo-masonry, who are far more sinister than this Cardinal is. These villains, I do believe, are using front-men like the Cardinal for as long as he is useful to their Revolution. He is, in Lenin's phrase, "a useful idiot", who will be cast aside the moment he no longer serves their forward march to the One-World-Religion. The Revolution is famous for eating its own children.

However, "useful idiots" are the more useful for being less idiotic. On reflection, I doubt that the Cardinal merely signed like a puppet his June 29 letter. For instance, as he began his June 1 letter sweet-talking the SSPX bishops by "My dear Brother", so he began his June 29 savaging of the FSP by "My very dear Friends"! And, surely, as he savaged Tradition inside the FSP to stop the FSP sliding out of what he considers to be Church unity, so he sweet-talked the SSPX bishops to begin restoring them to that unity.

It is surely this notion he has of Church unity that explains not only the oneness of the Cardinal's contradictory behaviour, but also the contradictions flowing out of the one man. This is because his Vatican II notion of the Church mixes love of God with love of that modern world which is opposed to God. So his notion of Church unity, like that of Vatican II prelates from the Pope downwards, contains contradiction in itself, and continually spills contradictions.

In a recent "Remnant" article (August 31, page 13) there was a long list of Pope John Paul's permanent contradictions. On September 3 there was the joint beatification of Popes Pius IX and John XXIII, whose pontificates mix like oil and water. Most recently there was Cardinal Ratzinger's "Dominus Jesus" which said that the Catholic Church is the one true Church, but that other churches also subsist in the true Church! Contradictions spill out of Rome like muddy waters out of a muddy fountain. For how can minds force-fed on contradiction think straight? These minds are no longer the royal servants of Truth, but the dethroned followers of their owners' wills, which willfully choose contradiction in the hope of enjoying both God and this world. Such wills are correspondingly degraded, which is why, thirdly, sentiments become so important, and why sentimentality so easily takes over. Instead of the Way, the Truth and the Life, we have "luv, luv, luv". Hence the Cardinal's August 14 luv, luv, luv, for the SSPX bishops!

The problem then with this Pope, with the dear (?) Cardinal and all followers of Vatican II like them, is not a lack of nice sentiments, nor even of good will, except insofar as they will to love the modern world in its modernity. The problem is that their minds are self-disabled. They could not recognize the Antichrist if he hit them in the face!

What to do, dear readers. Firstly, pray with mind and will for the grace of love of the Truth. Secondly, apply the mind to discovering the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth. Thirdly, apply the will to living by that Truth, because if God sees us not profiting by His grace, He will take it away again. On the other hand, if He sees us doing all we can, however poorly, to put the Truth into action, He will give us grace upon grace, unto life everlasting.

Remember, dear readers, the third Catholic Family Conference being held at the Seminary here from Tuesday evening, Dec. 26, to Sunday mid-day, Dec. 31. The first two were well attended. Sign up soon.

With all blessings, sincerely yours in Our Lord,

+ Richard Williamson