Bp. Bernard Fellay: “I was appointed by Rome to Judge SSPX Priests”

SSPX Superior drops a bombshell…

Bp. Bernard Fellay: “I was appointed by Rome to make Canonical Church Judgements on SSPX Priests”

[UPDATE 04-JUN-2015: Vatican confirms appointment of Bp. Fellay to judge SSPX priests]

The Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X, Bp. Bernard Fellay, gave a sermon at Our Lady of the Angels church in Arcadia, California, on May 10, 2015. The video of the entire 1-hour sermon is given below. At 27:10 into the talk, he starts speaking about the SSPX’s situation with Rome. At the 34:36 mark, the juicy part begins: Fellay speaks about how “Rome” (by that he means the entity he believes to be the Holy See) is treating the SSPX in contradictory fashion. At the 35:11 mark, he drops a veritable bombshell, revealing that the so-called Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the Novus Ordo Holy Office) has appointed him, Bernard Fellay, as the legitimate canonical judge of the priests in the SSPX for serious cases.

Watch for yourself — transcript below:

Here is a transcript of the bishop’s words, which are at times a bit difficult to decipher due to his French accent:

This is quite a revelation indeed, one that may shock a number of SSPX followers and will confirm all those in their decision who left the SSPX for the “resistance” (aka “strict observance” or “Marian Corps” SSPX).

We really do not care, of course, what the SSPX or the “Resistance” SSPX do or don’t do with Rome, since neither they nor the Novus Ordo Church are legitimate Catholic authorities. The reason we report on this, however, is because it is a significant development in the neverending saga of the Society of St. Pius X’s relation with the Novus Ordo Sect. If Bp. Fellay had any Catholic sense, then, if he really believed that Francis is the Pope of the Catholic Church (despite being a “genuine Modernist”, as Fellay called Francis), he would immediately submit to him and end his own de facto parallel church. There is no “negotiating” with the Apostolic See. You submit; you don’t “dialogue” and try to convert them to your side.

If we look at two thousand years of Church history, whenever there was a doctrinal dispute between the Holy See and some individual or some group of clerics, the Holy See was right 100% of the time, and the others 0%. This is not surprising, for, as the First Vatican Council teaches: “…the See of St. Peter always remains unimpaired by any error, according to the divine promise of our Lord the Savior made to the chief of His disciples: ‘I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren’ [Luke 22:32]” (Vatican I, Pastor Aeternus, ch. 4; Denz. 1836).

The same goes for the “Resistance” SSPX. Neither of the two societies holds a Catholic position. In fact, we challenge anyone who disagrees to examine and answer the following twelve inconvenient questions:

• Twelve Questions the Society of St. Pius X won’t want to answer

So far, no one has even attempted to answer these. Eric Gajewski, do you want to take a stab at them?

Over the years, we have spent much time refuting the errors of the SSPX and its “recognize-but-resist” ideology of verbally “recognizing” the Vatican II Church as the Catholic Church and its “Popes” and “bishops” as the legitimate Catholic hierarchy, but then essentially ignoring them and doing their own thing on the side (that’s the “resist” part). We will not repeat the arguments here but instead provide the following links:

• Pope Leo XIII condemns the Recognize-and-Resist Position
• The Folly of the Recognize-and-Resist Position Demonstrated
• Fed Up with Francis: Vennari calls Bergoglio a Theological “Train Wreck”
• Audio: “The Errors of the Society of Saint Pius X” (2006)
• Audio: “The Ordinary Magisterium and Devotion to the Pope” by Fr. Gabriel Lavery
• The Chair is Still Empty: Response to John Salza
• John Salza’s Comedy Hour on Papal Authority
• Stumbling at the Finish Line: The SSPX’s Illogical Stance on the Pope Question
• Culpable Ignorance and the Great Apostasy
• Resistance Madness: Bp. Faure Consecration vs. Catholic Teaching
• You Can’t Have It “Your Way”: Response to Fr. Chazal on Sedevacantism
• Response to The Remnant: Is Francis a Valid Pope? — Why it Does Matter
• Bp. Williamson and Sedevacantism (Part 1)
• Sedevacantism: Bp. Williamson refuted by Bp. Sanborn
• TRADCAST 003: Answering Eric Gajewski on “Recognize-and-Resist”
• Opinionism – Is the Pope Question just a Matter of “Opinion”?
• The “Canonization” of John Paul II: Decision Time for Traditionalists

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License: fair use