Archbishop Vigano ~ “A Resistance that is Rooted in Charity and Truth.”
Alexandra Clark | The Daily Knight
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano (Les Femmes)
On Sept. 1, 2020 Archbishop Viganò happily responded to questions raised by Catholic Family Newspaper, which addressed various matters that are very important for the faithful regarding specifically the issue of Vatican II. He continues to stand firm against the revolutionary heretical errors of Vatican II and its false church, continuing to encourage the Faithful to have a “Resistance that is Rooted in Charity and Truth.”
The first question asked was: “What would ‘separating’ from the Conciliar Church look like in Archbishop Viganò’s opinion?” To which Vigano responded with another question: “What does it mean to separate from the Catholic Church according to the supporters of the Council?” Adding further that “the simple fact of being baptized and of being living members of the Church of Christ does not imply adherence to the conciliar team.”
Wolves have certainly entered the ranks of the shepherds—in that there is no longer any doubt—but what the question addresses is the issue most Catholic must face today when they are to be faithful. To obey the council or not to obey the council become the question. Do we resist? Leave the Church or simply obey? What makes us faithful Catholics? Vigano states:
“It is an illicitly exercised authority, if its purpose is to force the faithful to accept the revolution imposed since the Council….hundreds of heretical movements that over the course of the centuries have believed to be able to reform the Church at their own pleasure, placing their pride ahead of humbly guarding the teaching of Our Lord…let us not give in to the temptation to abandon – albeit with justified indignation – the Catholic Church, on the pretext that it has been invaded by heretics and fornicators: it is they who must be expelled from the sacred enclosure, in a work of purification and penance that must begin with each one of us.”
The Faithful then are not at fault for these wolves but we have a duty to take on prayer and fasting to eradicate the evil that has been inflicted on Holy Mother Church. We must remain within the Holy Mother Church, which is the only true Church of Christ. It is harder for the Faithful as they at times will have to travel far, or move, to find good Priest and the Sacraments offered in accordance with Sacred Tradition and Teaching of the Church.
However, in one sense it is easier for priests, as Archbishop Vigano says that priests have an inalienable right to offer solely the Traditional Latin Mass:
“Clerics have less freedom of movement, since they are incardinated in a diocese or order and are subject to ecclesiastical authority, but they have more autonomy because of the fact that they can legitimately decide to celebrate the Mass and administer the Sacraments in the Tridentine Rite and to preach in conformity with sound doctrine. The Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum reaffirmed that faithful and priests have the inalienable right – which cannot be denied – to avail themselves of the liturgy that more perfectly expresses their Catholic Faith. But this right must be used today not only and not so much to preserve the extraordinary form of the rite, but to testify to adherence to the depositum fidei that finds perfect correspondence only in the Ancient Rite.” (Emphasis mine)
What are we then to do? Take courage! This is the next step that Vigano is encouraging and gives a great example from the Communion of Saints:
“Take an example from the persecutions that many saints have undergone, including Saint Athanasius, who offers us a model of how to behave in the face of widespread heresy and persecuting fury. As my venerable brother Bishop Athanasius Schneider has many times recalled, the Arianism that afflicted the Church at the time of the Holy Doctor of Alexandria in Egypt was so widespread among the bishops that it leaves one almost to believe that Catholic orthodoxy had completely disappeared. But it was thanks to the fidelity and heroic testimony of the few bishops who remained faithful that the Church knew how to get back up again. Without this testimony, Arianism would not have been defeated; without our testimony today, Modernism and the globalist apostasy of this pontificate will not be defeated.” (Emphasis mine)
Priest are called to be true shepherds of the sheep, defending them from all the attacks of the wolves, teaching them the Sacred Truths and feeding their souls. Vigano then goes into how the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has done this since the council, saying how the SSPX “deserves recognition for not having allowed the flame of Tradition to be extinguished at a moment in which celebrating the ancient Mass was considered subversive and a reason for excommunication.” It makes perfect sense when we see that the SSPX motto is” We have believed in Charity.” Archbishop Vigano sees the SSPX with Archbishop Lefebvre’s actions, as “a resistance that is rooted in Charity and Truth.”
Priests and Faithful must make an act of Fortitude! We are all called to be the soldiers of Christ, to take up the cross and follow Christ. We must be faithful in our duty as baptized and confirmed Catholics in taking up that Holy Cross into battle. Archbishop Vigano right says:
“The attack on everything that recalls the Cross of Christ – on Virtue, on the Good and the Beautiful, on purity – must spur us to get up, in a leap of pride, in order to claim our right not only not to be persecuted by our external enemies but also and above all to have strong and courageous pastors, holy and God-fearing, who will do exactly what their predecessors have done for centuries: preach the Gospel of Christ, convert individuals and nations, and expand the Kingdom of the living and true God throughout the world. We are all called to make an act of Fortitude – a forgotten cardinal virtue, which not by chance in Greek recalls virile strength, ἀνδρεία – in knowing how to resist the Modernists: a resistance that is rooted in Charity and Truth, which are attributes of God.”
A great question Vigano asks that we should all reflect: “If you only celebrate the Tridentine Mass and preach sound doctrine without ever mentioning the Council, what can they ever do to you? Throw you out of your churches, perhaps, and then what?” That is, if you are a Faithful Catholic what could go wrong? Will they persecute you, sure. Christ Himself was. Who are we to think that we will not be when He warned us Himself, saying that we would be persecuted? This persecution should not dissuade us in the least, but rather like the Cross of Christ, our Faithfulness to His Truths, His Church shall be our salvation and sanctification!
Fear Not! As Christ said: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell, (Matt. 10:28).” Vigano echoes by adding: “Let’s stop fearing that the fault of the schism lies with those who denounce it, and not, instead, with those who carry it out: the ones who are schismatics and heretics are those who wound and crucify the Mystical Body of Christ, not those who defend it by denouncing the executioners!” (Emphasis mine)
Thus, His Excellency Vigano says:
“Lay faithful today have a sacred task:
To comfort good priests and good bishops, gathering like sheep around their shepherds.
Give them hospitality, help them, console them in their trials.
Create community in which murmuring and division do not predominate, but rather fraternal charity in the bond of Faith.
And since in the order established by God – κόσμος – subjects owe obedience to authority and cannot do otherwise than resist it when it abuses its power, no fault will be attributed to them for the infidelity of their leaders, on whom rests the very serious responsibility for the way in which they exercise the vicarious power which has been given to them. We must not rebel, but oppose; we must not be pleased with the errors of our pastors, but pray for them and admonish them respectfully; we must not question their authority but the way in which they use it. If we are faithful, great will be our reward. As Archbishop Vigano strongly concludes: “I am certain, with a certainty that comes to me from Faith, that the Lord will not fail to reward our fidelity, after having punished us for the faults of the men of the Church, granting us holy priests, holy bishops, holy cardinals, and above all a holy Pope. But these saints will arise from our families, from our communities, from our churches: families, communities, and churches in which the grace of God must be cultivated:
with constant prayer,
with the frequenting of Holy Mass and the Sacraments,
with the offering of sacrifices and penances that the Communion of Saints permits us to offer to the Divine Majesty in order to expiate our sins and those of our brethren, including those who exercise authority.
The laity have a fundamental role in this, guarding the Faith within their families, in such a way that our young people who are educated in love and in the fear of God may one day be responsible fathers and mothers, but also worthy ministers of the Lord, His heralds in the male and female religious orders, and His apostles in civil society.” See Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s full letter here: https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AD5j2wvJZPmrZMQ&cid=92B3520372401297&id=92B3520372401297%21398&parId=92B3520372401297%21105&o=OneUp
