“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).
With these words, Peter, questioned by the Master about his faith in Him, sums up the heritage that the Church, through apostolic succession, has preserved, deepened, and transmitted for two thousand years: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that is, the only Saviour.
These clear words of Pope Leo XIV on Peter’s faith, spoken the day after his election, still resonate in my soul.
The Holy Father thus summarises the mystery of faith that bishops, successors of the apostles, must never cease to proclaim.
But where can we find Jesus Christ, the one Redeemer? Saint Augustine answers us clearly: “Where the Church is, there is Christ.” That is why our concern for the salvation of souls is expressed in our solicitude to lead them to the one source, which is Christ, who gives himself in his Church.
Only the Church is the ordinary way to salvation, and therefore it is the only place where faith is transmitted in its entirety. It is the only place where the life of grace is fully given to us through the sacraments.
Within the Church, there is a centre, an obligatory point of reference: the Church of Rome, governed by the Successor of Peter, the Pope. “And I say to you,” said Jesus, “that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).
I would also like to express my deep concern and sadness at the announcement by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, founded by Archbishop Lefebvre, that it will proceed with episcopal ordinations without papal mandate.
We are told that this decision to disobey Church law is motivated by the supreme law of the salvation of souls: suprema lex, salus animarum.
But salvation is Christ, and He is only given in the Church. How can we claim to lead souls to salvation by means other than those He Himself has indicated to us? Is it to desire the salvation of souls to tear apart the mystical body of Christ in a way that may be irreversible? How many souls are in danger of being lost because of this new division?
We are told that this act is intended to defend Tradition and the faith. I know how much the deposit of faith is sometimes despised today by those very people whose mission it is to defend it. I am well aware that some forget that only the chain in the unbroken continuity of the life of the Church, the proclamation of the faith, and the celebration of the sacraments, which we call Tradition, gives us the guarantee that what we believe is the original message of Christ transmitted by the apostles. But I also know, and firmly believe, that at the heart of the Catholic faith is our mission to follow Christ, who became obedient unto death. Can we really do without following Christ in his humility unto the Cross? Is it not a betrayal of Tradition to take refuge in human means to maintain our works, however good they may be?
Our supernatural faith in the indefectibility of the Church can lead us to say with Christ, “My soul is sorrowful even unto death” (Matthew 26:38) when we see the cowardice of Christians and even prelates who renounce teaching the deposit of faith and prefer their personal opinions on matters of doctrine and morality. But faith can never lead us to renounce obedience to the Church.
Saint Catherine of Siena, who did not hesitate to rebuke cardinals and even the Pope, exclaimed: “Always obey the pastor of the Church, for he is the guide whom Christ has appointed to lead souls to Him.” The good of souls can never be achieved through deliberate disobedience, for the good of souls is a supernatural reality. Let us not reduce salvation to a worldly game of media pressure!
Who will give us the certainty that we are truly in touch with the source of salvation? Who will guarantee we have not mistaken our opinion for the truth? Who will protect us from subjectivism? Who will guarantee that we are still nourished by the one Tradition that comes to us from Christ? Who will guarantee that we are not preceding Providence and that we should follow it, allowing ourselves to be guided by its instructions?
To these agonising questions, there is only one answer which was given by Christ to the apostles: “Whoever listens to you listens to Me. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (Luke 10:16; John 20:23). How can we take responsibility for straying from this one certainty?
We are told that this is out of fidelity to the previous Magisterium, but who can guarantee this to us except Peter’s successor himself? This is a matter of faith. “Whoever disobeys the Pope, who represents Christ in heaven, will not share in the blood of the Son of God,” said St. Catherine of Siena. This is not a matter of worldly loyalty to a man and his personal ideas. It is not a matter of a cult of the Pope’s personality. It is not a matter of obeying the Pope when he expresses his own ideas or opinions. It is a matter of obeying the pope who says, like Jesus: “My teaching is not Mine, but His Who sent me” (John 7:16).
It is a supernatural view of canonical obedience that guarantees our bond with Christ Himself. It is the only guarantee that our fight for the faith, Catholic morality, and liturgical Tradition, will not stray into ideology. Christ has given us no other sure sign. To leave Peter’s boat and organise ourselves autonomously and in a closed circle is to surrender ourselves to the waves of the storm.
I know full well that often even within the Church itself, there are wolves disguised as lambs. Did not Christ Himself warn us? But the best protection against error remains our canonical attachment to the successor of Peter. “It is Christ Himself, Who wants us to remain in unity, and even when wounded by the scandals of bad shepherds not to abandon the Church,” Saint Augustine tells us.
How can we remain insensitive to Jesus’ anguished prayer: “Father, may then be one as We are one” (John 17:22) How can we continue to tear apart His Body under the pretext of saving souls? Is it not he Jesus Who saves? Is it we and our structures that save souls? Is it not through our unity that the world will believe and be saved? This unity is first and foremost that of the Catholic faith, it is also that of charity, and finally that of obedience.
I would like to remind you that Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina was unjustly condemned by men of the Church during his lifetime. Although God had given him a special grace to help the souls of sinners, he was forbidden to hear confessions for 12 years! What did he do? Did he disobey in the name of saving souls? Did he rebel in the name of fidelity to God? No, he remained silent. He entered into crucifying obedience, certain that his humanity would be more fruitful than his rebellion. He wrote, “the Good Lord has made me know that obedience is the only thing that pleases Him; it is for me, the only means of hoping for salvation and to sing victory.”
We can affirm that the best way to defend the faith, Tradition and authentic liturgy will always be to follow the obedient Christ. Christ will never command us to break the unity of the Church.
No comments:
Post a Comment