Your
Eminence,
The
twilight to which you alluded at our last meeting has come
to a sudden end. And Holy Church now faces the tragic problem
of tomorrow. Will the sorrowful Calvary of the last fifteen
years continue, or will it cease? No doubt the future belongs
to God, like the present and past. But God does not want
to do without us.
That
is why I beseech Your Eminence to use all possible means
to stop the scandal of concessions to the enemies of the
Church made by those who occupy the posts of authority in
the Church, and to do everything in your power to get us
a Pope, a true Pope, successor of Peter, in line with his
predecessors, the firm and watchful guardian of the deposit
of faith.
We
have learnt to our cost, and to the cost of the Church,
what progressive clerics are capable of. Their clamour in
the Council is still ringing in our ears; and then their
subversive speeches, their public and secret organizations,
their scandalous connections with secret societies. They
stop at nothing to succeed in dominating the Church and
occupying her key positions.
There
is no doubt they will act in the same way in this Conclave.
They have occupied the Vatican for fifteen years and they
hold a hand of trumps – you are well placed to know that.
To
foil their devilish projects you have few human means, but
you have the omnipotence of Truth and of the Holy Spirit
which shows itself the more as human means are limited.
There
seem to be very few of you determined to block the road
against the progressives, the modernists and the false ecumenists.
But those Cardinals whom you know better than I do are personages
in the front rank, worthy to wear the tiara, whose influence
in the Conclave could be great when united with yours.
Yet
the contribution of the votes of the cardinals aged 80 and
over could be decisive. And that raises the serious question
of the validity of the election of the Pope.
The
fact is, that law Aggravescents aetate is certainly
null. It is enough to read again the magnificent texts of
Leo XIII in the Encyclical Libertas of 20 June 1888,
texts concerning the definition of law, the conditions of
its validity, to conclude without possible doubt that the
decree is null, being doubly contrary to the definition
of law: " An ordainment of reason to promote the common
good." "If any power were to decree anything not
consonant with the principles of right reason and harmful
to the common good, the decree would not have the force
of law, for it would not be a rule of justice and it would
draw men away from the good for which society was fashioned."
That
decree is clearly opposed to right reason and common sense,
Whatever is left in humanity of human wisdom objects to
such a decision. And it is plainly contrary to the good
of society to derive it unduly of he assistance of its wisest
and most experienced members.
It
appears, therefore, that, this law being null, the eighty-year-old
cardinals have a strict right to present themselves at the
Conclave, and their enforced absence will necessarily raise
the question of the validity of the election.1
It will in any case cast a doubt over the whole business
and increase the confusion which already exists among the
faithful.
I
was anxious, Your Eminence, to share these reflections with
you, so that you could eventually pass them on to those
who may be concerned.
Catholics
faithful to the Church and to Rome are counting much on
you to save the Church from the peril which threatens her.
May
Our Blessed Lady come to your help and give you the heroic
courage of the saints who, in the tragic hours of the Church's
history, delivered her from the hands of her enemies. We
are praying earnestly for that intention.
With
deep respect and fraternal feelings in Christ and Mary,
+Marcel Lefebvre
