Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X, has made his position clear on our present Holy Father Benedict XVI in this homily he preached in Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet in Paris:
And now, we have a perfectly liberal Pope, my very dear brothers. As he goes to this country [the United States] which is founded upon Masonic principles, that is, of a revolution, of a rebellion against God. And, well, he expressed his admiration, his fascination before this country which has decided to grant liberty to all religions. He goes so far as to condemn the confessional State. And he is called traditional! And this is true, this is true: he is perfectly liberal, perfectly contradictory. He has some good sides, the sides which we hail, for which we rejoice, such as what he has done for the Traditional liturgy.What a mystery, my very dear brothers, what a mystery!
And now, we have a perfectly liberal Pope, my very dear brothers. As he goes to this country [the United States] which is founded upon Masonic principles, that is, of a revolution, of a rebellion against God. And, well, he expressed his admiration, his fascination before this country which has decided to grant liberty to all religions. He goes so far as to condemn the confessional State. And he is called traditional! And this is true, this is true: he is perfectly liberal, perfectly contradictory. He has some good sides, the sides which we hail, for which we rejoice, such as what he has done for the Traditional liturgy.What a mystery, my very dear brothers, what a mystery!
What can I say, apart from saying that this seems completely preposterous? To say that the United States of America, a country that has far more religious practice than Europe is intrinsically founded on rebellion against God? On a more serious note, it clearly demonstrates that the real bone of contention between the SSPX and Rome is not so much liturgy and doctrine, but French integralist politics. If that be the case, there is little hope of any real reconciliation.
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I have to say, the way the Holy Father's comments were reported (certainly in the secular press), it did seem as if he was endorsing the "American model" - the same model that has led to the banning of "Merry Christmas" in public and the most liberal abortion laws in the world. The problem with Europe is not that it hasn't adopted the American model but that since the Second World War it has been trying to turn itself into America ("the United States of Europe", and so on - with all the lies and destruction of moral authority that it implies) with relish. People who have actually read the interview though have been less worried about it than I - and apparently Bp Fellay as well.
As for the SSPX, bear in mind that when they actually go there (Bp Williamson, certainly) they change their tune about America completely. Politically of course they adopt the views of their congregations wherever they happen to be: in Ireland they're Fenians, in America they're nutty Buchananite Republicans, in France they're monarchists, in this country they used to patriots but now seem to have become screaming socialists (though they call themselves "distributists"). I don't know about Germany.
The real spat between the SSPX and Rome of course isn't about doctrine or the liturgy. It's really about Canon Law and authority. If Archbishop Lefebvre was excommunicated at all it was because of a legal technicality over who has the authority to ordain bishops. Whatever either side may say, the Mass and the Catechism don't actually enter into it.
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