The only choices are to love God above all things or to worship oneself (as Satan does). There is no middle ground. The world can never reconcile with the true Catholic Church. If the world seems to reconcile with the Catholic Church, the world is only reconciling with a false, hollowed-out church called the conciliar church. The conciliar church pretends to reconcile the world with the Catholic Church, but this is a lie.
Likewise, the conciliar church can never reconcile with the true SSPX of Archbishop Lefebvre. If the conciliar church seems to reconcile with the SSPX, the conciliar church is only reconciling with a false, hollowed-out SSPX. The new SSPX is chasing after the same lie as the conciliar church.
The SSPX has told this lie many times: we haven’t changed, we won’t change, and Rome is accepting us as we are. The SSPX had ample warning that whenever a traditionalist group joins the conciliar church, it stops attacking conciliar errors. Nonetheless, the SSPX did not heed the warning, but gave up the fight and took up this lie.
First, Archbishop Lefebvre spoke very clearly: It is not the subjects that make the superiors, but the superiors who make the subjects.
When the SSPX submits to the conciliar church, the conciliar church inevitably makes the SSPX conciliar.
Former Pope Benedict XVI likewise described how, when groups join the conciliar church, they become conciliar themselves:
I myself saw, in the years after 1988, how the return of communities which had been separated from Rome changed their interior attitudes; I saw how returning to the bigger and broader Church enabled them to move beyond one-sided positions and broke down rigidity so that positive energies could emerge for the whole.
Moreover, at least six other purportedly traditional groups preceded the SSPX into the conciliar darkness and gave up their fight against conciliar errors: Good Shepherd, Campos, Le Barroux, Institute of Christ the King, St. Peter, and Papa Stronsay. When Campos surrendered, the collapse was so obvious that even Bp. Fellay warned about the grave mistake they were making.
I review a few of Bp. Fellay’s points below, to show how Bp. Fellay is disregarding his own prior warnings. The following four quotes come from Bp. Fellay’s 2004 conference.
Events and experience have proven that once you have signed on, Rome says shut up.
We have right in our faces a striking example of what happens to those who trust the present Rome. I speak of Campos. ... I told [Bp. Rangel],Look at what they are doing to the Society of St. Peter.He replied,Well, what Rome offers us is so big that we cannot help but trust them. ...... His thinking was that since Rome consented to grant them a bishop and their Tridentine life, Campos was being granted everything it wanted, so they wanted to sign an agreement.
This has made things so that, firstly, they can no longer put any pressure on us. After the excommunication, what kind of pressure can they exert? None. ... This gives us a tremendous freedom. We can speak to their faces without fearing any retaliation from them. This is surprising, but it is the fact, I tell you. Because of his compromise, Bishop Rifan has to say,We have to do this... because otherwise it will jeopardize the agreement.
So when Rome comes to us with a big smile, that is their ulterior motive. That is, we grant you a place, but you must stay very quiet there and not move. ... As long as things are at that level, it is just unthinkable that we should be able to reach a basic or fundamental agreement.
Our Lord taught us, If the world hate you, know ye that it hath hated me before you.
(John 15:18). Once one starts worrying about the opinion of the world, one stops saying things that would displease the world. Excommunication from the conciliar church now saddens Bp. Fellay and Bp. Tissier. Since the SSPX now wishes to join the conciliar church, it no longer says things that would displease the conciliar church.
As if our dozens of examples weren’t already ample proof, a National Catholic Register article (May 19, 2016) confirms this fact once again.
The Register quotes a Vatican source acknowledging that the SSPX toned down some of their literature, interviews, and publications.
In the Register article, Bp. Fellay weakly complains that he finds himself totally puzzled
by Pope Francis. Pope Francis is causing many souls to be lost. That’s not a bit puzzling. But now the SSPX no longer attacks the conciliar church, but merely worries and whines about being confused.
According to the Register interview, Bp. Fellay doesn’t even notice that the SSPX has compromised, but believes that only Rome has changed. He calls the coming deal really paradoxical, because we haven’t changed anything
. The more the SSPX dialogues with Rome, he claims, the more lenient Rome becomes
. Bp. Fellay only sees the sheep’s clothing and not the wolves underneath.
Perhaps most alarming of all, the Register quotes Pope Francis as calling Bp. Fellay a man with whom one can dialogue
. Can you imagine Pope Francis speaking this way about Archbishop Lefebvre? Not a chance. When the modernists in Rome tried to lure Archbishop Lefebvre into their clutches, he unmasked the trap with a simple question: Do you still accept the entire Anti-Modernist Oath? Are you in favor of the social reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ? If you do not accept the doctrine of your predecessors, it is useless to talk!
(Fideliter, quoted by Fr. Laisney in Archbishop Lefebvre and the Vatican, p. 224.) Our Lord’s only true friends are people like Archbishop Lefebvre who openly defend and take pride in His Kingship.