Society of St. Pius X.

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Emblem of the Society of St. Pius X. (the logo symbolizes the united hearts of Jesus and Mary under a crown of the cross)

The Priestly Society of St. Pius X. ( Latin Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X. , abbreviation FSSPX , colloquially often Piusbruderschaft or Piusbrüder ) is a priestly association of Catholic traditionalists . It was founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in order to adhere to the rites and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church , which the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) had abandoned from his point of view. The Society rejects the teaching of the Council on the opening to ecumenism , religious freedom , collegiality of the bishops, the contents of the declaration on the attitude of the Church to non-Christian religions, Nostra Aetate , as well as the liturgical reform carried out by order of the Council as not magisterial or also " modernist ”and strives for a renewal of the priesthood as well as the“ spreading and restoration of authentic Catholic teaching ”. Since 2018, the Italians Davide Pagliarani the Superior General of the Society. The bishops Marcel Lefebvre, who was also the first superior general of the brotherhood, his successors Bernard Fellay and Richard Williamson and several priests appeared publicly with anti-Semitic statements.

Since 1975 the Pius Brotherhood no longer has canonical status in the Roman Catholic Church and operates seminaries , priests and chapels without the permission of the respective diocesan bishops . In 1988, under Catholic canon law, illegal episcopal ordinations led to the excommunication of the four consecrated and two consecrating bishops. The excommunication of the four consecrated was - comparable to the procedure for unapproved priestly and episcopal ordinations in China - on January 21, 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI. repealed after they had previously recognized the primacy of the Pope in general and the incumbent Pope in particular in a letter and therefore the reason for the excommunication pronounced in 1988 - the episcopal ordination without the consent of the Pope - no longer existed. This was the first step in a series of mutual advances and concessions.

distribution

According to its own information, the Pius Brotherhood in 2019 included 658 priests worldwide, including three bishops as well as 128 brothers and 74 oblate sisters.

Facilities

In 1970, on the initiative of Archbishop Lefebvre, who was later suspended, Bishop François Charrière temporarily allowed the establishment of a seminary in his diocese in the hamlet of Ecône in the canton of Valais ( Switzerland ). Since then, the Brotherhood of St. Pius has founded five further seminaries without church permission: in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain (France), Goulburn (Australia), Winona (Minnesota) (USA), La Reja (Argentina) and the International Sacred Heart Seminary in Zaitzkofen, a district von Schierling in the Upper Palatinate (Germany). It maintains a total of 772 measuring centers, 167 priories, 100 schools and two so-called Instituts Universitaires in 63 countries on all continents. Your general house is in Menzingen in the Swiss canton of Zug .

Altar in the Pius Brotherhood Church of St. Joseph in Memmingen

In Germany, it operates around 50 measurement locations known as “centers”, whereby the so-called priories are to be distinguished from the chapels supervised by them. Twelve of these churches were rebuilt and eight were acquired. Most of them are located in southern Germany; for East Germany there is only one priory in Berlin and one chapel each in Dresden and Weimar. In addition, she runs a monastery, a nurses novitiate , a retirement home and seven private schools , including the St. Theresien Gymnasium near Bonn with boarding school for girls and two elementary schools in Baden-Württemberg. In 1997 she received government funding of 1.1 million euros for four schools. For a primary school with a total of 18 students and a secondary school with around 50 students in Saarbrücken , the brotherhood receives annual funds of 425,000 euros from Saarland . Stefan Pfluger has been the district superior of the German institutions since August 2019. From 2013 to 2019 the German district was headed by Firmin Udressy.

From April 2005 to June 2006, the public prosecutor's office investigated the teachers and management of the secondary school in Saarbrücken for mistreating students. The higher administrative court of the Saarland allowed the continued operation, because the school management had reacted appropriately to the misconduct of a teacher. In 2010, the affiliated boarding school was revoked by the Ministry of Justice, Health and Social Affairs (Saarland). The reason was that more boarding school places were allocated than were approved. In addition, unauthorized additional residential groups were identified. Because the education ministry no longer saw the reliability of the school authorities as a result of the incidents in the boarding school, it subsequently ordered the school itself to be closed. However, the order for the immediate closure could be successfully challenged. The subsequent administrative process over the question of the closure itself ended in favor of the Pius Brotherhood. In February 2015, the boarding school received permission to reopen.

In the dioceses of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the Pius Brotherhood is usually not allowed to use any Roman Catholic church buildings, not even for funerals, baptisms, marriages or pilgrimages. In Lisieux and Lourdes , she was granted high offices in Roman Catholic churches in 2005 and in the following years .

In 2002 the Society of St. Josaphat was founded in Ukraine with the aim of "converting the schismatic East to the recognition of the Pope and traditional Catholic teaching".

With the Sarto-Verlag the German district of the priestly brotherhood operates its own publishing house with online mail order.

history

Prehistory and foundation

Lefebvre was elected Superior General of the Spiritans in July 1962 and was appointed to the Preparatory Commission of the Second Vatican Council. There he criticized the idea of ​​collegiality, ecumenical openness and religious freedom, but not the liturgy constitution of 1963. After the council, however, he rejected the liturgical reform, heightened his other criticism of the council and gave up the office of superior general in September 1968.

Shortly thereafter, seminarians at the French seminary in Rome asked Lefebvre for a conservative seminar to finish their studies in order to be able to hold on to traditional beliefs and doctrines without being restricted. He initially referred her to the University of Friborg in Switzerland . After being asked to teach these seminarians personally, he turned to the diocesan bishop of the Lausanne-Geneva-Friborg diocese , François Charrière. In the summer of 1969 he approved the establishment of the Confraternitas Pius X. in his diocese in the legal form of a pia unio ( can. 707 ff. CIC (1917)) and approved the statutes for a period of six years ad experimentum . Cardinal John Joseph Wright , Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy , congratulated Lefebvre on the establishment of the Brotherhood.

Loss of church recognition

In 1971 Lefebvre rejected the new Order of Mass that Paul VI. on April 3, 1969, and viewed the liturgical reform of 1969 as the introduction of Martin Luther's understanding of the Lord 's Supper in the Catholic Church. The church changes since the council are the result of a plot by liberal and anti-Christian powers. As a result, Cardinal Secretary of State Jean-Marie Villot convened a commission on behalf of the Pope to investigate the matter. These included Cardinal Gabriel-Marie Garrone , Cardinal Wright and Cardinal Arturo Tabera .

On November 21, 1974, Lefebvre published the following "Declaration of Principles":

“We cling wholeheartedly and wholeheartedly to Catholic Rome, the guardian of the Catholic faith and the traditions necessary for the preservation of this faith [...] On the other hand, we reject it, and have always rejected it, the Rome of neo-modernist and To follow the neo-Protestant tendency that clearly emerged in the Second Vatican Council and after the Council in all the reforms that resulted from it […] No authority, not even the highest in the hierarchy, can force us to believe in such a way as it has been clearly formulated and proclaimed by the Magisterium of the Church for nineteen centuries, to give up or belittle […] Since this reform starts out from liberalism and modernism, it is completely poisoned. It comes from heresy and leads to heresy, even if not all of its acts are directly heretical! Therefore it is impossible for every awake and loyal Catholic to accept this reform and to submit to it in whatever way. "

On February 13 and March 3, 1975, Lefebvre had to answer to the Cardinals Commission in Rome for his attitude. Cardinal Tabera then issued a letter to Bishop Pierre Mamie , Charrière's successor, to dissolve the Pius Brotherhood. As a result, Mamie withdrew her recognition as a Catholic organization on May 6, 1975. Lefebvre will not receive any church support until his declaration of November 21, 1974 is revoked.

The latter rejected these decisions in relation to the Apostolic Signature , as the Cardinals Commission was not authorized to judge his declaration. This was of a personal nature, so that if necessary he could be punished for it himself. It would not do, therefore, to dissolve the Pius Brotherhood and its seminaries. The apostolic signature rejected this appeal Lefebvre on June 10, 1975, because Pope Paul VI. I supported the decision of the Cardinals' Commission in forma specifica . He confirmed this in a personal letter to Lefebvre. For the Vatican, the Pius Brotherhood was no longer a Roman Catholic organization.

Lefebvre declared the alleged annulment of the Pius Brotherhood to be invalid: the Cardinals' Commission had exceeded its competence because the Pope had only confirmed its specific decision after the act had been passed. He continued his work, ignoring the instructions of the diocesan bishop and Rome. In the consistory on May 24, 1976 Pope Paul VI criticized. therefore publicly and appealed to him and his followers to reflect.

Unauthorized ordinations and the establishment of seminars

Despite two bans by Archbishop Giovanni Benelli , Lefebvre consecrated seminarians of the Pius Brotherhood to priests on June 29, 1976. In the sermon about this he stated:

“It causes us a tremendous and immeasurable pain to find that we are in trouble with Rome - because of our faith! [...] We are in a truly dramatic situation. We have to choose. It is a matter of apparent obedience, so to speak, because the Holy Father cannot rightly ask us to give up our faith. [...] We decide not to give up our faith, because we cannot be mistaken about that. "

Lefebvre was suspended from his office on the same day ( a collatione ordinum ), so that from now on he could still carry out valid, but not lawful, priestly ordinations. Cardinal Sebastiano Baggio , Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, asked him a week later to apologize to the Pope for the forbidden ordinations. Lefebvre refused in his reply. Paul VI should, for his part, “restore the correct understanding of the falsified ideas that have become idols of modern man: freedom , equality , brotherhood , democracy .” The Pope should “abandon the unfortunate undertaking of a compromise with the ideas of modern man” that before the Council began with a secret agreement between high ecclesiastical dignitaries and the Masonic lodges .

Thereupon the Pope suspended Lefebvre on July 22, 1976 a divinis and thereby deprived him of no powers, but all powers of his priestly and bishopric office. Nevertheless, he received him again on September 11, 1976 for an audience that was fruitless.

Lefebvre remained head of the Pius Brotherhood, since 1982 together with Franz Schmidberger as vicar general with the right of succession. He became a symbol for conservative and radical opponents of all church reforms since 1960 in the tradition of right-wing extremist Action française . The Pius Brotherhood became their reservoir, especially in France.

Lefebvre's supporters occupied the Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet church in Paris on February 27, 1977 . Under the leadership of the Parisian priest François Ducaud-Bourget, the incumbent priest was expelled from the church. The church is only used by the Pius Brotherhood to this day and is considered their headquarters in France. The authorities have confirmed several times that the occupation was illegal, but these official confirmations have not resulted in any judicial decisions.

The Pius Brotherhood opened further unapproved ecclesiastical seminaries and chapels in various states and continued to carry out unauthorized but valid priestly ordinations. Priestly ordinations are valid because, according to the Catholic understanding, for the granting of an ordination (and thus the transfer of the rights, duties and dignities associated with the ordination) it is sufficient that the ordinator has validly received the episcopal ordination. The latter is the case with all bishops of the Society. You can therefore validly donate the sacrament of ordination (deacon, priestly and bishop ordination). This arises from the Church's teaching on her sacraments. According to the understanding of the Church, the recipients of this ordination actually became priests through ordination. In purely legal terms, however, the powers of bishops with regard to the dispensing of the sacrament of Holy Orders are restricted. For example, it is not permitted to give orders outside one's own territory without the consent of the respective diocesan bishop (c. 1017 CIC). It is also not permitted to ordain candidates who are not subordinates without further ado (c. 1015 § 2 CIC). Since the Pius Brotherhood has no canonical status, it has neither a local nor a personal responsibility for the granting of orders. For the same reason, no permits are granted by the bishops who are actually responsible. For this reason alone, ordinations are legally prohibited without affecting the validity based on the elaboration of the sacraments.

The brotherhood justifies its approach in contrast to sedisvakantism with an existing church crisis, from this an emergency and thus a right to disobey Rome and the local diocesan bishops derived.

Unauthorized episcopal ordinations

In 1987 Lefebvre declared that he would ordain a successor to a bishop with or without the permission of the Vatican. Because this is occupied by anti-Christian forces:

"As this modernist and liberal Rome continues its work of destroying the rule of Our Lord [...] I see myself compelled [...] to pass on the grace of the Catholic episcopate [...] so that the Church and the Catholic priesthood continue to exist."

The Vatican then negotiated with Lefebvre and got him to sign a protocol on May 5, 1988. In the first, doctrinal part, he promised as a representative of the Pius Brotherhood:

  • to always be faithful to the Catholic Church and to the Pope and his primacy as head of all bishops,
  • the teaching contained in Section 25 of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church ( Lumen Gentium ) on the Church's Magisterium, which Pope Paul VI. promulgated had to assume
  • with regard to the liturgy and cult reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council, to take a positive stance when studying them and when submitting them to the Holy See and to avoid any polemics,
  • to recognize the validity of the sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments set out in the Popes Paul VI. and John Paul II promulgated official editions of the Roman Missal and are included in the rituals for the sacraments,
  • To respect the general discipline of the Church and the ecclesiastical laws, especially the ecclesiastical code promulgated by Pope John Paul II .

The second, legal part provided that:

  • the Society of Priests becomes a Society of Apostolic Life,
  • Archbishop Lefebvre or another bishop approved by him is authorized to ordain brotherhood seminaries to priests,
  • it is proposed to the Pope that a candidate selected from the brotherhood and presented by Lefebvre be appointed bishop,
  • a commission is set up to coordinate relations between the Pius Brotherhood, on the one hand, and the various Vatican dicasteries and diocesan bishops, on the other hand, and to resolve any problems and disputes,
  • the canonical suspension of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre is lifted,
  • there is an “amnesty” and a permit for the houses and places of worship that the brotherhood builds and used without the authorization of the responsible bishops.

This document was signed by Lefebvre and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - the future Pope - and sent to Pope John Paul II with a request for approval.

Lefebvre requested in a letter to Cardinal Ratzinger on May 6th for a papal mandate for an episcopal ordination on June 30th. Should this be refused to him, he feels obliged to proceed to episcopal ordination with the promise of a bishop in the protocol. On May 24th, Cardinal Ratzinger promised the archbishop that the Pope would appoint a priest of the Brotherhood to be bishop on August 15th if a suitable candidate could be found. In return, Lefebvre had to ask for reconciliation with the Pope on the basis of the protocol he signed on May 5th and to sign a letter with apologies. Lefebvre insisted on his own episcopal ordination on June 30th.

After Rome did not give an exact date for the episcopal ordination in the talks and it also became clear that the proposed commission would not consist of a majority of members of the brotherhood, Lefebvre informed the Pope in a letter on June 3, 1988 that he would be on June 30th carry out the episcopal ordinations planned by him without papal permission.

Pope John Paul II reminded Lefebvre in a letter on June 9, 1988 of the agreement he had signed on May 5, appealing to him not to proceed with his plan. This is assessed as a schismatic act whose theological and canonical consequences are known to Lefebvre. When the latter did not reply, the Vatican made the correspondence public on June 16, 1988.

Episcopal ordinations 1988

On June 30, 1988, Lefebvre, assisted by the emeritus Brazilian Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer , consecrated the priests of the Pius Brotherhood Bernard Fellay , Bernard Tissier de Mallerais , Richard Williamson and Alfonso de Galarreta against the papal prohibition as bishops. In his sermon, he justified the break in negotiations with Rome:

“What is the truth for these people? It is the truth of the Second Vatican Council, this conciliar church. Consequently, for the Vatican the only truth that exists today, the conciliar truth, is the truth of the 'spirit of the council'. It's the spirit of Assisi . That is 'the truth' today. We don't want this truth, for anything in the world! The firm will of the current Roman authorities is to destroy tradition and to draw everyone into this spirit of the Second Vatican Council, into this spirit of Assisi. That is why we preferred to withdraw. We couldn't agree with this spirit, it was impossible. It was not possible for us to submit to such an authority. We would have been under the authority of Cardinal Ratzinger, the president of this Roman commission that should have directed us. We would have been at his mercy. We would have fallen into the hands of those who want to submit to the spirit of the Council and the spirit of Assisi. That's impossible!"

A later attempt at mediation by the French philosopher Jean Guitton failed.

Episcopal ordination 1991

On July 28, 1991, Bishop Tissier de Mallerais in Brazil illegally ordained the priest Licínio Rangel as bishop. However, Rangel returned from the schism in 2001 and his excommunication was lifted.

excommunication

In response to the unauthorized episcopal ordinations, the Congregation for the Bishops issued a decree on July 1, 1988, which declared Lefebvre, de Castro Mayer and the four newly ordained Pius Bishops excommunicated. The following day Pope John Paul II confirmed this decree in an Apostolic Letter. The execution of illegitimate episcopal ordinations in disobedience to the Pope is a schismatic act. The root of this act is an incomplete and contradicting understanding of tradition. No one who opposes the universal Magisterium of the Church which belongs to the Bishop of Rome and the College of Bishops can remain true to tradition. The Pope urged all Catholics with any contact to the Pius Brotherhood not to give it any more support.

The Pius Brotherhood justifies its actions with a church emergency and denies the effectiveness of the excommunication because of a lack of causa iusta (justification).

Spin-offs and Exclusions

The traditionalist priest Juan María Fernández y Krohn , who carried out a failed assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in Fátima in 1982 , had already been excluded from the Pius Brotherhood in 1979 because of "spiritual instability" and criticism of Archbishop Lefebvre.

Some priests left the Society of St. Pius immediately after their unauthorized episcopal ordinations and founded the Society of St. Peter in 1988 . This recognizes the primacy of the Pope, all documents of the Second Vatican Council and the liturgical reform carried out on its order , so that it in turn was recognized by the Catholic Church. This also applies to other groups of former followers of Lefebvre who, with the support of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei , founded ancient ritualist communities recognized by the Church in the following years . In addition, there were splits that question the legitimacy of the Roman Pope and take a sedevacantist position.

Back in the early 1980s the Society closed some of its members in the United States from including Daniel Dolan , Clarence Kelly and Donald Sanborn , then the Society of St. Pius V. founded. In 1999 the Argentine priest Carlos Urrutigoity was expelled for "subversive behavior" after he was accused of sexual abuse of a young person. In 2009 Father Florian Abrahamowicz was expelled for expressing various conspiracy theories and denying the Holocaust.

On October 24, 2012, Bishop Richard Williamson was disfellowshipped for lack of respect for the leadership of the fraternity. On March 20, 2015, the Brotherhood of St. Pius distanced itself again from Williamson after he had consecrated the priest Jean-Michel Faure in Nova Friburgo, Brazil, as bishop the day before without papal permission.

Canonical status

The Vatican no longer regards the Pius Brotherhood as schismatic , but it still has no " canonical status" . The danger, however, cannot be ruled out that its members will tend towards schism in the long term.

The Pius Brotherhood denies the existence and aspiration of a schism, expressly recognizes the Pope, emphasizes its loyalty to him and continues the prayer contained in the mass canon for him and the respective local bishop including the personal names provided there. The priestly ordinations of the Pius Brotherhood are valid according to Catholic canon law, but the priests are considered suspended due to the lack of a valid incardination . Lefebvre claimed the right to be able to incardinate in his own community after Cardinal Antoniutti , Prefect of the Congregation for Religious , gave two religious priests an indult to convert directly from their order into the brotherhood, from which Lefebvre deduces that the Pius Brotherhood is considered capable of incardation.

In response to a written question to the Holy See in 1995 , Camille Perl, the then secretary of the Ecclesia Dei papal commission, replied that the priests of the Pius Brotherhood were validly ordained, but suspended from their priestly duties, some of them were even excommunicated. Visits to masses of the Pius Brotherhood are therefore to be regarded as morally illicit. In 2002 and 2003 he again described the masses as valid, but illegal, that is, contrary to canon law. It is to be regarded as sinful if believers participate primarily out of the desire to express their separation from communion with the Pope and those who are in communion with him. However, if they take part simply to celebrate the liturgy according to the Mass Ordinance of 1962, this is not a sin. Strictly speaking, a Catholic could fulfill his Sunday duty by attending such a mass . Even a modest donation to the collections seems justified. Believers, however, have no “right” to have the local bishop enable them to attend a mass according to the 1962 missal. Believers who nevertheless attend a mass held by priests of the brotherhood only violate church law if they "see the only true church in the brotherhood of St. Pius and make this visible in the outer realm".

Attempts at rapprochement under John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

The Ecclesia Dei dialogue commission set up by John Paul II under Cardinal Hoyos had irregular discussions with the Society with no tangible results.

In August 2005 Pope Benedict XVI received Bernard Fellay and Franz Schmidberger for a friendly exchange of views. In the context of its first consistory on March 24, 2006, the Vatican increased its efforts to enable the followers of the Pius Brotherhood to have a more complete communion with the Roman Church.

With the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of July 7, 2007, the Pope facilitated the celebration of Mass according to the missal of 1962. At the same time, he authorized the Ecclesia Dei Commission to organize this “extraordinary form of the Roman rite”. Cardinal Hoyos said that the Pope loved the old rite and wanted to enable the believers of the Pius Brotherhood to have full church fellowship. Because they are not schismatics and heretics, only their bishops were excommunicated in 1988.

The French church historian Luc Perrin saw little prospect of reconciliation, since the Pius Brotherhood not only demanded accommodation in the liturgy. He pointed out that every time an agreement with the Holy See was possible, their leadership began a period of "cold war" against him. Negotiations have always failed due to the lack of permanent structures. In the meantime, both national bishops' conferences and the priests of the Pius Brotherhood had enormous opposition to an agreement.

On December 15, 2008, Bernard Fellay wrote to Ecclesia Dei on behalf of all four bishops of the Pius Brotherhood that they were ready to serve the Catholic Church, to accept its teachings, the primacy of Peter and its privileges. This met a condition of the Holy See to lift the excommunication.

Lifting of excommunication

On January 21, 2009, the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Giovanni Battista Cardinal Re, on the basis of an “express [en] by the Holy Father Benedict XVI. delegated power of attorney ”and a renewed request from Bernard Fellay to excommunicate the four irregularly ordained bishops latae sententiae . He justified this step by stating that he would meet the “spiritual discomfort” of the excommunicated bishops with “paternal empathy” and would reconsider their canonical situation. He believed her readiness, as had been assured in writing, to speak seriously with the Holy See about existing differences in order to “arrive soon at a full and satisfactory solution to the underlying problem”. This “gift of peace” at the end of the Christmas season is intended to promote “unity in the mercy of the universal Church” and to overcome “the scandal of division”.

Reactions

Because it coincided with the discovery of Richard Williamson's renewed denial of the Holocaust, the lifting of excommunication appeared as a rehabilitation of views held by leading members of the Pius Brotherhood. This provoked persistent internal and non-church protests.

Judaism

In protest against the papal resumption of a Holocaust denier in the Roman Catholic Church, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate suspended relations with the Holy See indefinitely on January 21, 2009. On January 23, 2009, the Anti Defamation League warned him in writing of Williamson's re-admission to the Roman Catholic Church, which would have negative consequences for their relationship to Judaism. Likewise, the Roman chief rabbi Riccardo Di Segni warned the Pope of negative consequences for the Jewish-Catholic relationship and spoke of a “deep wound” that would “end the schism” and “resume the Lefebvrists in the Church”.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany broke off the dialogue with the Catholic Church for the time being. Israeli Minister of Religious Affairs, Yitzchak Cohen , recommended that his government break off diplomatic relations with the Holy See on January 31 . The Israeli foreign minister rejected this proposal.

Theologians and holders of ecclesiastical offices

Critics mostly attacked not only statements from the Pius Brotherhood, but also the papal decision to lift the excommunication. The Belgian theologian Jean-Pierre Wils therefore resigned from the Roman Catholic Church on February 1, 2009: The Society of Priests is an “extremely reactionary and deeply anti-Semitic group that sympathizes with dictators and right-wing regimes”. The theologian Uta Ranke-Heinemann called the withdrawal of the excommunication a "serious misstep". The moral theologian Prof. Eberhard Schockenhoff said that the Catholic Church would thereby “bring a right-wing swamp into the house, so to speak, it would give him the right of home within the Catholic Church”.

Some German bishops criticized the curia but defended Pope Benedict. Karl Lehmann stated on February 2, 2009 that Benedict XVI. could not have known Williamson's Holocaust denial before the repeal decree. Cardinal Hoyos, however, should have made an accurate picture of Williamson beforehand. Its resumption is a catastrophe for all Holocaust survivors, for whom there must be a clear apology "from high authority". The conflict with the Pius Brotherhood is based on content-related and dogmatic questions; she had never come to terms with dignitatis humanae , the effects of the French Revolution, the ecumenical movement and collegiality of the bishops. She tries to disguise this by concentrating on the Latin liturgy. On February 15, Lehmann demanded a swift decision from the Holy See on the Pius Brotherhood; it was "almost ridiculous" to wait until Williamson checked "whether the Holocaust took place or not". With such "scornful reactions" the decision had actually already been made.

The auxiliary bishop in Hamburg, Hans-Jochen Jaschke , proposed on February 3, 2009 that the process of reintegration be temporarily stopped. Franz-Josef Bode said that the Pope should not tolerate Holocaust denial in the church. A church court must clarify the Williamson case; he must repent. However, it is hardly conceivable that the Pius Brotherhood will move away from its previous statements on church reforms. Then all that remains for the Pope is the renewed and this time final excommunication. The bishops Werner Thissen and Gebhard Fürst made a similar statement .

Reinhard Cardinal Marx demanded a sharp ecclesiastical rejection of anti-Semitism, which should never again divide Jews and Christians. The President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Walter Cardinal Kasper , whom Hoyos had not informed of the repeal decree, complained about "errors in the management of the Curia" and too little "internal communication". The repeal is only an offer of dialogue to the Pius Brotherhood, not a full resumption.

The chairman of the German Bishops' Conference , Robert Zollitsch , complained on February 6, 2009: "The Pope was carelessly allowed to run into the knife". Cardinal Hoyos should have ascertained "what kind of persons" the people concerned were before announcing the repeal decree. According to Gerhard Ludwig Müller , the four unauthorized bishops should renounce the exercise of their ordination powers and could only be appointed as simple priests.

On March 5, 2009, the German Bishops' Conference declared that the Pius Brotherhood was not part of the Catholic Church and could only become this if it fully recognized all the resolutions of the Second Vatican Council. It is also necessary to seriously distance the whole brotherhood from Richard Williamson and from anti-Semitic attitudes. However, this is hardly to be expected at the moment. No brotherhood priest is allowed to celebrate mass or administer sacraments. Past and announced ordinations there violated canon law; the Holy See should therefore soon clarify the consequences of this.

The theologian Hans Küng welcomed the unequivocal affirmation of ecumenism in the declaration, but criticized that the bishops had once again disguised a wrong decision by the Pope as a communication problem and failed to demand that the Pius Brotherhood be excommunicated again. David Berger described the Pius Brotherhood on November 30, 2012 as a sectarian group.

Extra-Church Voices

For the Bonn political scientist Gerd Langguth , the Pius Brotherhood is a “case for the protection of the constitution ” because it strives for a “Catholic state of God”. Volker Beck (Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen), Klaus Uwe Benneter and Sebastian Edathy (SPD) also demanded their observation .

Journalists often commented on the Pope's attitude at the time: “Benedict knew what he was doing and with whom he was dealing. Nobody in the Vatican has known the Pius Brotherhood longer and probably better than him, ”wrote Daniel Deckers ( FAZ ).

Friedrich Wilhelm Graf wrote in the NZZ : Anyone who thinks that the Pope did not know what he was doing with the lifting of the excommunication of the schismatic bishops could be taught better by reading the writings of Joseph Ratzinger. Isolde Charim ( Taz ) said: The Pius Brotherhood had a role model for the Pope, and with its resumption he was relying on a militant core church of convinced people.

According to the historian of philosophy Kurt Flasch ( SZ ), the ideas of church unity in the Pius Brotherhood and the Pope largely coincide. The lifting of the excommunication in spite of anti-conciliar, anti-Semitic and anti-modern statements known in the Vatican was therefore wanted, the possible consequences were deliberately disregarded.

The Austrian politician Ewald Stadler (at that time a member of the BZÖ ), a longstanding supporter of the Pius Brotherhood, claimed in 2009 that it did not want unity with Rome at all; Williamson made his Holocaust statements consciously in order to destroy the unification process. Stadler demanded an ultimatum from the Vatican to the Pius Brotherhood to return to church unity. At the same time, the individual dioceses were supposed to facilitate reintegration for their lay members.

In its response to a parliamentary question from the Greens parliamentary group in October 2010, the federal government saw no sufficient grounds for suspicion of anti-constitutional activity by the Pius Brotherhood, so that it is not being monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

Society of St. Pius X.

On January 27, 2009, Bernard Fellay banned Williamson from commenting on political and historical issues until further notice. He didn't notice Williamson's anti-Semitism. This is not the position of the brotherhood.

On January 29, 2009, Régis de Cacqueray de Valménier, district leader of the Pius Brotherhood for France, said the church crisis was due to the Second Vatican Council itself, not just its interpretation. It is therefore time to put it up for discussion with the Pope, bishops and priests. The concept of collegiality is questionable: the church is a monarchy, headed by the Pope as king.

On February 1, 2009, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais responded in Italy to the Pope's call to recognize the 2nd Vatican Council as follows:

“We're not changing our positions; we have the intention to convert Rome, that is, to lead Rome to our positions. "

In response to a written request on February 10, Fellay stated that he had asked Williamson to “correct this nonsense” immediately after the January 21 television broadcast and, on January 31, 2009, he had dismissed as head of the La Reja seminary. He affirmed that he had not previously known about Williamson's statements on the Holocaust. Anti-Semitic Christians questioned their own salvation because Christ was a Jew. Christianity is superior to other religions, so you want a state that prefers it. One can only get to inner-Christian ecumenism if "the other denominations convert to the truth of the Catholic Church."

In a public letter to Hoyos on January 30th, Williamson regretted that his interview had been "careless" and asked the Pope to apologize for the consequences, but did not withdraw his Holocaust denial. On February 9, he declared that he had to first examine the historical evidence for the Holocaust and that he would study Jean-Claude Pressac's book ( Auschwitz. Technique and operation of the gas chambers ). That takes time.

On February 18, 2009, Matthias Gaudron announced on ZDF that the Pius Brotherhood had given Richard Williamson an ultimatum until the end of February to revoke his claims. He caused damage to his community. Traditional Catholics have no reason to downplay Hitler and the Nazi regime.

After his state-forced departure from Argentina on February 26, 2009, Williamson asked in an open letter to the Vatican “all who have been genuinely indignant at my words for forgiveness before God.” On Swedish television, he only had the 20-year-old opinion expressed by a non-historian. In view of the consequences, he now feels sorry for “the Church in particular, but also the survivors and relatives of the victims of injustice under the Third Reich”. He did not take back the statements himself.

On March 6, 2009, Franz Schmidberger sharply criticized the German Catholic bishops: They refused to enter into a dialogue with the Pius Brotherhood and implicitly rejected papal authority with their attitude towards the withdrawal of the excommunication decree. Their accusation of anti-Semitism or anti-Judaism was defamation of the Pius Brotherhood and a violation of the commandment “You should not give false testimony!” Immediately after Williamson's statements became known, the Pius Brotherhood “clearly and unequivocally distanced itself from any kind of trivialization of Nazi crimes”. The recognition of the Second Vatican Council demanded by the Pope and bishops did not materialize.

On June 27, 2009 the brotherhood consecrated three priests in the seminary in Zaitzkofen near Regensburg, despite interventions by the German bishops and a declaration by the Vatican that the consecrations were “consistently to be regarded as illegitimate”. The process was repeated in 2010 when the Brotherhood rededicated three priests on June 26, 2010 without church permission.

Holy See

On January 28, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI. to commemorate the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp, expressed his "full and indisputable solidarity" with the Jews and asked:

"The Shoah is a warning against forgetting, against denial or reduction for everyone."

He called on the Pius Brotherhood to take the further necessary steps towards full church fellowship, to recognize the papal magisterium and the Second Vatican Council.

After the German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the Pope on February 3 to clarify Williamson's Holocaust denial, the Vatican State Secretariat demanded the following day that Williamson must fully, unequivocally and publicly revoke his statements on the Holocaust. Otherwise he could not take up offices in the Catholic Church. It did not set him a deadline for this. The “full recognition of the Second Vatican Council and the Magisterium of Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II and Benedict XVI” was the “indispensable condition” for the “future recognition of the Brotherhood of St. Pius X. “The lifting of the excommunication has not yet changed its canonical situation.

According to press reports on February 4, 2009, Vatican officials classified the Williamson interview broadcast on January 21, 2009 internally as a “targeted conspiracy” and “deliberately set trap” with which certain media tried to harm the Pope. The Swedish journalists who conducted the interview contradicted this.

According to an internal dossier, however, the Pope is said to have been lured into a prepared trap by his own employees. Other Vatican officials spoke of "ignorant sloppiness and poor communication in the Curia". The Vatican State Secretariat tried in vain to prevent the publication of the repeal decree on January 24th. Cardinal Hoyos contradicted this: he had not noticed anything of Williamson's anti-Semitic views until the Pope's decree. His colleague Camillo Perl said that the political views of the Bishops of Pius had not been examined, as most cardinals had already approved the lifting of their excommunication at the end of 2007 in order to overcome the schism that had already occurred.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said on February 6, 2009 that the Williamson affair had revealed "communication deficits in the curia". Each department communicates independently without always working with the Vatican's press department. The repeal decree had been poorly prepared; had the clarification of the Vatican Secretariat of February 4th been made at the same time, the affair could have been avoided. Benedict XVI. I did not know anything about Williamson's statements before the excommunication was lifted.

In a letter of March 11, 2009 to his fellow bishops, the Pope regretted that his “gesture of mercy” had been overshadowed by Williamson's Holocaust denial. The "limit and scope" of the lifting of the excommunication were "not presented clearly enough when the incident was published". The Holy See must pay more attention to news from the Internet in the future. Then he explained his motives for the annulment decree: He was thinking “for example of the 491 priests. We cannot know the mesh of their motivations. But I think that they would not have chosen the priesthood if it had not been for the love of Christ alongside some lopsided or sick people ”. Despite some "discordant notes" from the brotherhood, he asked:

“But shouldn't the major church also be able to be generous in the knowledge of the stamina that it has; knowing the promise that was given to her? "

The lifting of the excommunication affects only the "disciplinary level" and the four bishops as persons. From this, "the doctrinal area must be distinguished [...] in which office and institution are in question". In relation to this the following applies:

"As long as the doctrinal questions are not resolved, the brotherhood has no canonical status in the church and as long as its ministers, even if they are free from church punishment, do not exercise any offices legally in the church."

The Ecclesia Dei Commission should be merged with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to clarify these important doctrinal questions . In addition, their collegial organs, "especially the regular cardinal assembly on Wednesdays and the one to two-year plenary assembly" and "the involvement of the prefects of various Roman congregations and the worldwide episcopate in the decisions to be made" would guarantee the examination of all doctrinal differences with the Pius Brotherhood. He also pointed out the reservations of the Pius Brotherhood, but also of some of their opponents, about the ongoing papal and conciliar teaching authority:

“You cannot freeze the teaching authority of the Church in 1962 - the fraternity must be very clear about that. But some of those who stand out as great defenders of the Council must also be reminded that Vatican II contains the entire history of the Church's teaching. Whoever wants to be obedient to him must accept the faith of the centuries and must not cut off the roots from which the tree lives. "

Approaches during the pontificate of Pope Francis

On December 5, 2014, Cardinal Walter Brandmüller visited the seminary of the Pius Brotherhood in Zaitzkofen. On February 11, 2015, Athanasius Schneider ORC , a member of the Engelwerk and auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Karaganda , met with the then Superior General of the Pius Brotherhood, Bernard Fellay, to discuss the authority of the Vaticanum in the Winona Seminary (USA) . January 2015 attended the seminary of the Brotherhood in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain .

On September 1, 2015, Pope Francis wrote: “I trust that solutions can be found in the near future to regain full unity with the priests and superiors of the Brotherhood”, stipulating that believers attending priests in the Holy Year Pius Brotherhood received the sacrament of penance , would do so validly and permitted. In a communiqué from the General House, the Society expressed its gratitude to the Pope for his fatherly gesture. With the apostolic letter Misericordia et misera at the end of the holy year of mercy, among other things, the time limit for this permission for the faithful was lifted, "so let no one ever miss the sacramental sign of reconciliation through the forgiveness of the church".

At the beginning of April 2017, Pope Francis gave the faithful, for pastoral reasons, the permission to marry also in church services at the Society of St. Pius, whereby the assistance should be carried out by a diocesan priest , but could also be transferred by the local bishop to a priest of the brotherhood . That does not change the status of the brotherhood.

Positions of the Society as well as individual members

Rejection of the ideologically neutral state

In a sermon on All Saints' Day in 1990 in Ecône, Switzerland, Lefebvre said:

Secularity is public atheism and that is a grave sin. The atheism is based on the Declaration of Human Rights . The states that have since professed this official atheism are in a state of permanent mortal sin . "

On April 2, 2006, the then Superior General of the Brotherhood, Bernard Fellay, declared in a sermon:

“[Pope Benedict] explains to us that the modern state has changed since the 19th century, when it was condemned by the Church. Today the modern state is better, more conciliatory, less radical and consequently the church had to adopt a new attitude at the council regarding the relationship to the state. And by adopting one of the fundamental principles of the modern state as its own, namely neutrality, impartiality to all religions, the church was able to rediscover its (real) heritage. […] In other words, the Pope declares that 1700 years of church history have passed outside of the teaching of Our Lord; the church lost its legacy over 1700 years and has now rediscovered it by renouncing the Catholic state. If that's not supposed to be a break, then what is it? "

The German district superior Franz Schmidberger also rejects the religious neutrality of the state and advocates a “Christian social order” in which the death penalty applies, “no civil divorce ” is provided, and “indissolubility of marriage ” exists as “one of its basic pillars” , "The premarital and extramarital relationships" the "fight" is announced and the "distribution of contraceptives" is prohibited, as well as interest speculation, big banks, abortion, " blasphemy , homosexuality and pornography ". He demands that the “violence in the state and society” “does not come from the people”, “not from the grassroots, but from God [...] consequently, the people designates in elections only those who are supposed to rule them, conferring them on them but not the authority; Nor can governments dismiss it at will. ”Instead of a party system, he recommends that“ those Christian men step in their place, who are characterized by moral maturity and life experience, a sense of justice and concern for the common good ”.

Contacts with right-wing extremists, attitude to right-wing dictatorships

As early as the 1970s, Lefebvre is said to have made statements in sermons that the military junta of Argentina and the dictatorship in Chile under Augusto Pinochet were exemplary governments. He also found words of praise for the dictators Francisco Franco , António de Oliveira Salazar and Philippe Pétain , whose Vichy regime collaborated with the National Socialists. He was financially supported by reactionary aristocrats who want the monarchy back, and by authoritarian, anti-republic circles of the upper class. The Pius Brotherhood took part in several pilgrimages to Pétain's grave. The French district superior of the brotherhood, Abbé Regis de Cacqueray , compared 2007 the "fight of Pétain for France" with the "fight of Lefebvre for the Catholic Church".

The Paris church of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet , which has been occupied by supporters of the Pius Brotherhood since 1977, has since developed into a center of the extreme right. Leaders such as Jean-Marie Le Pen , the founder of the Front National , visited them often, and memorial masses were held for others after their deaths. Philippe Laguérie , who was a member of the Pius Brotherhood from 1979 until his expulsion in 2004, declared in 1991 that the Front National was the party that was the least distant from natural law . In 1996 he celebrated a requiem for the convicted war criminal Paul Touvier , who had been the victim of a plot, and declared himself Touviers lawyer before God. Before the last court there was "no media, no media campaigns, no lobbies, no interest groups, neither communists nor freemasons, no co-plaintiffs and no LICRA ".

As the German district superior, Markus Heggenberger was also a speaker for the now dissolved Cannstatter Kreis of the Stuttgart FDP , which the constitution protection classified as right-wing extremist. On June 2, 2008, the Austrian right-wing extremist Richard Melisch was supposed to give a lecture on the "dangers of globalization" in the church of the St. Athanasius priory in Stuttgart - the seat of the German district superior since 1984. The invitation mentioned a "war of aggression" by the globalizers and an "Alliance of Pentagon & Wall Street ", which had published their "world conquest plans" in writing. Shortly before the start, the lecture was canceled.

In April 2010 the right-wing extremist Walter Marinovic was supposed to give at least two lectures about the "foreign infiltration and Islamization of Europe" at the Pius Brotherhood in Stuttgart . The event was canceled after a corresponding article by the television magazine Report Mainz . According to research by the magazine, Marinovic had already performed with the brotherhood in the past.

On October 15, 2013, the Brotherhood opened its branch in Albano Laziale, Italy, for a funeral service for the National Socialist war criminal Erich Priebke . The funeral mass was canceled after clashes between around 500 protesting residents and neo-Nazis who had arrived . The authorities then ordered Priebke to be buried in a secret location.

There are also contacts to the far-right Neo-Confederates in the US southern states . Boyd Cathey , a member of the brotherhood, was first at the seminary in Ridgefield (Connecticut) and then in the civil service in South Carolina , where he has published since 1984 in the racist Southern Partisan , of which he was temporarily editor. He also served on the editorial board of the journal of the California- based anti-Semitic Holocaust- denying Institute for Historical Review (IHR). Together with others, he successfully tried to take over the traditional southern club Sons of Confederate Veterans and tried to build a bridge to the Christian wing of the American neoconservatives around Pat Buchanan .

Anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism

Leading representatives of the Society of Priests have often come forward with anti-Judaist and anti-Semitic statements. On August 31, 1985, Lefebvre wrote to Pope John Paul II that the enemies of the Church were z. B. Jews , Communists and Freemasons . In doing so, he took up the motif of an anti-Christian alliance of Jews and Freemasons, which has been known since 1790 and which is a root of the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory of world Jewry .

The Belgian website Joods Actueel quoted a passage on the American website of the Pius Brotherhood, according to which "international Judaism" wants to destroy the Christian-Catholic order: "The money, the media and international politics are largely in the hands of the Jews."

Richard Williamson , who has meanwhile been excluded from the brotherhood, represented the anti-Semitic theory of world Jewry in speeches and sermons. The anti-Semitic inflammatory pamphlet Protocols of the Elders of Zion has been described by him several times as an authentic source of information. Williamson also repeatedly took anti-Israeli positions.

Franz Schmidberger wrote to all 27 German Roman Catholic bishops in October 2008:

“With Christ's death on the cross, the curtain of the temple is torn, the old covenant abolished, the church, which includes all peoples, cultures, races and social differences, is born from the pierced side of the Savior. But the Jews of our day are not only not our older brothers in the faith, as the Pope claimed during his visit to the synagogue in Rome in 1986; Rather, they are complicit in the murder of God as long as they do not distance themselves from the guilt of their forefathers by professing the divinity of Christ and baptism. In contrast to this, Vatican II asserts that the events of the Passion of Christ cannot be accused neither of all Jews living then indiscriminately nor of today's Jews (§ 4). "

After the magazine Der Spiegel published these statements, Schmidberger corrected himself on January 20, 2009:

“The statement that today's Jews are guilty of their fathers must be restricted to those Jews who approve of the killing of Jesus Christ. It is incorrect in the cited generalization. "

But he insisted that Jesus Christ was the only way to salvation for the Jews of today, and that Judaism was therefore outdated. Just because Jesus and all the apostles were Jews, “no upright Christian could be an anti-Semite”.

The district superior of the Pius Brotherhood in Austria, Helmut Trutt, described the renunciation of mission to the Jews on February 7, 2009 as heresy: Jews should be given salvation through Jesus Christ alone, just like Gentiles.

On February 10, 2009, the "Spiegel" reported on anti-Judaist statements in the Pius Brotherhood, including in their bulletin for the German-speaking area .

The philologist and author of theological essays, Heinz-Lothar Barth, who is close to the Pius Brotherhood, represents the traditional substitution theology , according to which the new covenant in Jesus Christ has canceled the old covenant of God with Israel, as the background for the Tridentine Mass. In March 2007 he therefore welcomed their re-admission by Pope Benedict XVI., Initially with an unchanged Good Friday intercession for the Jews according to the missal from 1962, and rejected internal Catholic criticism of it.

The Declaration Nostra Aetate of the Second Vatican Council, on the other hand, rejected the murder of god and substitution theology and declared the active fight against anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism to be a Christian duty.

During a speech on December 28, 2012 at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy in New Hamburg (Ontario) , then Superior General Bernard Fellay described "the Jews, the Freemasons, the modernists" as "the enemies of the Church". Regarding the Jews, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi rejected Fellay's claim.

On November 12, 2013, supporters of the Brotherhood of St. Pius interrupted a Catholic-Jewish memorial service on the occasion of the Nazi November pogroms of 1938 , which was held in the Cathedral of Buenos Aires . The District Superior of the Pius Brotherhood in South America, Christian Bouchacourt , welcomed the disruption of the event and said that Catholic churches do not serve the cult of other religions. Several Christian organizations in Argentina then criticized the Pius Brotherhood. The Archdiocese of Buenos Aires announced that the event was not a mass, but an act of remembrance of the beginning of a tragedy. The Pius Brotherhood knew this very well and acted with other intentions.

Holocaust denials

In 1987, the priest Philippe Laguérie defended the chairman of the Front National , Jean-Marie Le Pen , saying that he was a victim of “Jewish financial capital” that had been tyrannizing France for 45 years. The theses of the Holocaust deniers Henri Roques and Robert Faurisson are "absolutely scientific". Le Pen had previously questioned the Holocaust .

In April 1989 Richard Williamson denied the Holocaust in his sermon during mass in Sherbrooke, Canada , referring to the Auschwitz extermination camp . In 2008 he made a similar statement, referring to the Leuchter Report .

On January 27, 2009, Schmidberger reacted to Williamson's Holocaust denial as follows, according to international press reports :

“The downplaying of the murder of Jews by the Nazi regime and its atrocities are unacceptable to us. The persecution and murder of countless Jews in the Third Reich touches us extremely painfully, as it deeply violates the Christian commandment to love one's neighbor, which knows no ethnic differences. "

The priest and regional leader of the Pius Brotherhood in northeast Italy, Father Florian Abrahamowicz, who became known in 2007 through a Tridentine Mass for the then Lega Nord chairman Umberto Bossi , questioned the purpose of the gas chambers for destruction and the total number of Holocaust victims in January 2009 :

“I know that the gas chambers were used for disinfection. I don't know if people died in it. "

Abrahamowicz further asserted that "if Williamson had denied the Armenian genocide , nothing would have happened". In February 2009 the Pius Brotherhood excluded him because of these statements.

Bishop Williamson himself, however, initially remained a member of the Society of St. Pius, in 2012 he was also excluded from the Society, albeit for different reasons. The General Secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany , Stephan J. Kramer , accused the entire Pius Brotherhood of openly propagating anti-Semitism in connection with Williamson's statements. 2014 Williamson has been approved by the Higher Regional Court of Nuremberg because of sedition legally sentenced to a fine of 1,800 euros, 2,019 of confirmed European Court of Human Rights judgment.

Islamophobia

In a lecture given to the actio spes unica movement in March 1989, Schmidberger described Islam as “that religion that our fathers repeatedly threw back with the greatest commitment and sacrifice of their lives, because it set itself the goal of protecting the earth through fire and sword to submit to the crescent. "; “What Islam failed to achieve with armed force in the 16th and 17th centuries, it does today in the post-conciliar era in a peaceful way. He occupies Europe. France is inundated by Arabs, Germany by Turks, England and Scandinavia by Pakistani. "

On February 5, 2009, he stated in an interview that the Islamic prophet Mohammed had demonstrably "had sexual relations" with an eight or nine year old girl. One could therefore call him a " child molester " today. On the same day, he regretted this statement, but at the same time accused the media of deliberately recording statements from the Pius Brotherhood, and therefore stopped media contacts.

Rejection of Nouvelle Théologie and the philosophy of the Enlightenment

In April 2006, Tissier de Mallerais stated in an interview that the book Introduction to Christianity published by Joseph Ratzinger in 1968 was “full of heresies ”. The positions represented in the book are "worse than Luther , much worse". He also stated:

“You cannot read Vatican II as a Catholic work. It is based on the philosophy of Immanuel Kant . [...] I will say that one day the church should eradicate this council. She won't talk about him anymore. She has to forget. The Church will do wisely to forget this council. "

Anti-enlightenment educational goals

According to their German-language newsletter of July 2005, the schools of the brotherhood should “not only impart knowledge, but also value the education and character development of the pupils”. The “Catholic teacher” must explain the “main false doctrines of our time” without “praising” or even “accepting” them. Schoolchildren would have to deal with the teachings of Martin Luther , René Descartes , David Hume , Immanuel Kant , Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Jean-Paul Sartre in the way that medical students deal with diseases: with the aim of being able to fight these diseases .

For its denominational schools, the Pius Brotherhood invokes the educational encyclical Divini illius magistri of Pope Pius XI. It is important to pass on the values ​​of the “traditional Catholic Church” to children. The aim is to “mature happy, independent young people who have learned to shape their lives on the basis of Christian conviction and self-control.” Special emphasis is placed on “respect for God and one's neighbor, discipline, courtesy, order and the Mediation of occidental culture laid ”.

Rejection of homosexuality

Vigil of the Pius Brotherhood at Marienplatz in Stuttgart on August 1st, 2009

For Christopher Street Day , the Pius Brotherhood organized a counter-demonstration on July 28, 2007 in Stuttgart . Their supporters gathered with protest posters with inscriptions such as "Save children from perverts" and " AIDS - Scourge of fornication" and prayed for "reparation for perversion and violation of the 6th commandment of the Decalogue: 'You should not fornicate." " Rosary. Peter Lang, Father of the St. Athanasius Priory in Stuttgart-Feuerbach , explained:

"The parade and its participants show behavior that is not appropriate for humans, moral pollution."

Nobody defends “Christian values ​​such as family, loyalty, chastity. To do this, our children have to see how perverse adults can be.

The Pius Brotherhood also held a vigil against the CSD on August 1, 2009 in Stuttgart .

On the fortieth anniversary of the promulgation of the second Criminal Law Reform Act (2nd StRG) of July 4, 1969, also taking place in 2009 , which wrongly linked them with the reform of Section 175 StGB (in reality, this became the 1st StRG on June 25, 1969 and came into force on September 1, 1969; the 2nd StrRG did not come into force until July 1, 1975), she quoted Section 175 in the version tightened by the National Socialists in 1935 under the heading "Anniversary: ​​Homosexuality is a criminal offense" which was in force until 1969. In addition, she spoke of "homosexual moral poisoners", "sexual perversion" and " sodomite moves", that in the last 40 years there has been an unimaginable decline in values ​​and that Adenauer would turn around in his grave. With this - especially through the use of the present tense in the heading - she gave the impression that she was longing for renewed criminal prosecution of (male) homosexuals.

Rejection of equal rights for women

In a pastoral letter from September 2001 that was originally published on the website of the Society in Canada and has since been deleted there , Richard Williamson spoke out against higher education and self-determination for women:

“Almost no girl should go to any university. […] But where do secondary girls' schools find female teachers if no girls are studying anymore? You don't need a university to learn most of what girls need to be taught, such as housekeeping, building and maintaining a home, caring for and raising children, spiritual and social preparation for marriage. "

In a school in Kansas affiliated with the Pius Brothers, a female referee was banned because women were not supposed to exercise authority over men. Schmidberger spoke out against equality:

"Today we need men who want to be men, women who are women and want to be women, that is, helper to the husband and mother of the children."

Liturgical aesthetics

Within its liturgy and church art ( parament , sculpture , sculpture , painting , architecture , Vasa sacra ), the Society of St. Pius X. orientates itself increasingly towards forms and the sense of style of historicism in the 19th century. In stark contrast to the iconoclastic wave of purification in the Catholic Church of the 1950s and 1960s, in which 19th century art was largely condemned to be contemptuous, the Society of Priests particularly valued Neo-Gothic and Neo-Romanesque , as these art styles are considered pious and to be perceived as unadulterated by the modern zeitgeist. Christian art forms of the 20th and 21st centuries, especially the post-conciliar period, are practically non-existent. Likewise, emphasis is placed on traditional church songs in the musical design of the liturgy .

Sexual Offenses and Judgments

In May 2017, Christophe R., a priest of the Pius Brotherhood, was sentenced in France to a prison term of 16 years for raping three teachers in a school run by the Pius Brothers near Paris in 2010 . The case was punished within the brotherhood, but not reported to the judiciary, said Christian Thouvenot, general secretary of the brotherhood in Switzerland. One was not aware of the severity of the cases.

In 2017, Frédéric A., a brotherhood priest from the Valais , was sentenced to three years in prison in Belgium for the sexual abuse of children . The case had not been reported to the judiciary by the Brotherhood, as lawyers who advised the Pius Brotherhood at the time saw no obligation to do so.

literature

Web links

Commons : Society of St. Pius X.  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Own representation
history
criticism

Individual evidence

  1. Gerald Kluge (representative for sects and ideological issues in the diocese of Dresden-Meißen): Priestly Society of St. Pius X. (Lefebvre followers) ( Memento from February 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Brothers of Pius with a new spearhead , domradio, July 12, 2018.
  3. a b “Des moulins à vent” ( Memento from December 18, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ); Le Monde, September 18, 1987.
  4. a b Peter Wensierski, Spiegel Online, January 19, 2009: Problem for the Pope
  5. a b Lombardi: “Jews are impossible enemies of the church” , Österreichischer Rundfunk , January 7, 2012.
  6. a b Un líder lefebvrista defendió la irrupción del grupo fundamentalista en la Catedral , La Nación , November 13, 2013.
  7. a b cf. Peter Bürger: Washing white for the Pius brothers? , Telepolis February 5, 2009, accessed October 11, 2011.
  8. a b Merkel called the Pope for discussion. Der Spiegel from February 8, 2009
  9. ^ A b Archbishop Lefebvre: A Letter to His Holiness Pope John Paul II
  10. Benedict XVI. (2010): Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times - a conversation with Peter Seewald , Città del Vaticano, Freiburg 2010, pp. 38–39.
  11. https://fsspx.news/fr/la-fraternite-saint-pie-x-compte-658-pretres-48870 La Fraternité Saint-Pie X compte 658 prêtres figures of the brotherhood in a report on the ordinations 2019
  12. ^ Website of the Society with the list of institutions
  13. ^ Measurement centers of the Pius Brotherhood in Germany
  14. Archbishop Zollitsch, the Pius Brotherhood and an ongoing dispute . kath.net, March 27, 2009.
  15. Christina Rietz: The crusaders . Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, July 26, 2013.
  16. ^ The head of the German Pius Brothers advocates the death penalty and calls AIDS a "punishment from God" . Report Mainz, February 9, 2009.
  17. Lecture given to the older generation academy in Achern in the parish hall “St. Joseph "in Achern on April 15, 2013 ( Memento from December 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  18. successor to Father Firmin Udressy. German Pius Brothers get new superiors. Catholic.de of August 12, 2019
  19. Saarland Administrative Court (ed.): Herz-Jesu-Schule in Saarbrücken can continue to operate. ( Memento from February 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) File number 1 K 35/06, press release from May 3, 2007. - Carola Padtberg-Kruse: Flogging teachers to the Heart of Jesus . Der Spiegel, February 16, 2006.
  20. Michael Jungmann: Supervisory authority closes Saarbrücker Herz-Jesu boarding school. ( Memento from September 10, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Saarbrücker Zeitung , April 25, 2010.
  21. ^ Saarbrücken Don Bosco schools remain open. The Saarlouis administrative court upheld the Pius Brotherhood's action against the Saar Ministry of Education . ( Memento from April 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Report from the Saarbrücker Zeitung from September 6, 2011.
  22. Permission to restart operation ( Memento from February 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  23. Sarto-Verlag: "We about us"
  24. a b Jean-Marie Mayeur, Norbert Brox among others (ed.): Die Geschichte des Christianentums , Volume 13: Crises and Renewal (1958–2000) , Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 2002, pp. 115–116.
  25. Canonical History of the Lefebvre Schism, Point 1.2 ( Memento from October 15, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  26. ^ FSSPX: HE Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's Declaration of Principles , November 21, 1974
  27. a b Jean-Marie Mayeur, Norbert Brox among others (ed.): Die Geschichte des Christianentums Volume 13: Crises and Renewal (1958–2000) , Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 2002, p. 116.
  28. Rev. Thomas CG Glover, Doctor of Canon Law (Angelus online, January 19, 2011: The Valid Legal Existence of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X )
  29. ^ Pope Paul VI, March 24, 1976: CONCISTORO SEGRETO DEL SANTO PADRE PAOLO VI PER LA NOMINA DI VENTI CARDINALI
  30. ^ Sermon by Archbishop Lefebvre on June 29, 1976 in Ecône ( Memento of April 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  31. ^ Letter from Archbishop Lefebvre to Pope Paul VI. from July 17, 1976 ( Memento from February 5, 2019 in the web archive archive.today )
  32. The topic of traditionalists is particularly sensitive in France ( memento of February 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ); Article of the Catholic News Agency in the Schwäbische Zeitung, issue of February 6, 2009.
  33. Sacred Seminary Herz Jesu, Zaitzkofen: News of priestly ordinations 2006–2007 ( Memento of October 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  34. ^ Letter from Archbishop Lefebvre to his future bishops of August 28, 1987 ( Memento of August 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  35. FSSPX documents: Minutes of agreement dated May 5, 1988 ( Memento of February 5, 2019 in the web archive archive.today )
  36. ^ Sermon by Archbishop Lefebvre on June 30, 1988 in Ecône ( Memento of June 27, 2019 in the Internet Archive )
  37. Alexander Pytlik: The Pope did not let any provocation stop him . kath.net , January 26, 2009.
  38. Brazil: Followers of Lefebvre return to the Catholic Church , kath.net, January 18, 2002.
  39. Bernardinus Cardinal Gantin, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops: Decree of Excommunication on Marcel Lefebvre , July 1, 1988 ; see. Canon 1382 of Canon Law.
  40. John Paul II: Apostolic Exhortation "Ecclesia Dei" Motu Proprio
  41. ^ R. Kaschewsky: On the question of episcopal ordinations without papal mandate , in: Una Voce Korrespondenz 2/1988, pp. 86–91.
  42. Miguel Mora: El último misterio de Fátima , El País , October 16, 2008. Accessed January 3, 2015.
  43. ^ Brothers of Pius Exclude Bishop Williamson , Welt Online , Oct. 24, 2012.
  44. ^ Pius Brothers condemn ordination by Holocaust denier Williamson . kath.net , March 20, 2015.
  45. Michael J. Matt: Vatican Cardinal Ordains Four for Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. Remnant Editor Questions Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos ; The Remnant, June 11, 2008.
  46. s. Quoted below from the Pope's letter of March 12, 2009.
  47. ^ Ecclesia Dei Commission: Status of Society of St Pius X Masses , September 29, 1995.
  48. FSSPX: Statement on excommunication ( Memento of February 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  49. Michael Davies: Apologia per Marcel Lefebvre , p. 398: Chapter 32, No. 9: Archbishop Lefebvre before the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, January 11, 1979
  50. ^ Commission Ecclesia Dei: STATUS OF SOCIETY OF ST PIUS X MASSES (September 1995)
  51. Unavoce.org: Letter by Msgr. Camille Perl Regarding Society of St. Pius X Masses ( Memento of February 2, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
  52. Official Gazette of the Archdiocese of Salzburg, Archbishop Ordinariate 10 May, 2006, Prot.Nr. 579/06.
  53. Regina Einig (Die Tagespost, February 9, 2007, reprinted by kathnet): The old mass stands for the diversity of the good - The President of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, hopes for reconciliation with the Society of Pius X.
  54. ^ Rorate Caeli, The New Catholic, July 31, 2008: A historian observes the Catholic moment; one year of Summorum Pontificum and the SSPX ; translated: "Summorum Pontificum is calculated for long-term effects": A conversation with Luc Perrin, Professor of Church History at the University of Strasbourg (August 1, 2008)
  55. Kath.net, January 24, 2009: Vatican: excommunication of the 'Pius Bishops' canceled
  56. ^ Wording of the decree of the Congregation of Bishops of January 21, 2009
  57. Lucia Scherzberg: The Pope and the "Williamson Case". Chronology and analysis of the conflict
  58. spiegel.de: So bitter, so sad , February 2, 2009.
  59. Kath.info, January 23, 2009: Regensburg public prosecutor's office is investigating Bishop Williamson (FSSPX)
  60. Tagesschau (ARD), January 31, 2009: Israel threatens the Vatican with the end of relations ( Memento from February 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  61. Netzeitung, February 1, 2009: "The procedure is a catastrophe" ( Memento from December 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  62. ^ Die Zeit, February 6, 2009: Anti-Semitism under the cross
  63. a b The Pius Brothers and the Extreme Right. www.swr.de, April 15, 2010.
  64. Karl Lehmann (Die WELT, February 2, 2009, reprinted by Kathnet): 'The Pope could not have known Williamson's statements'
  65. ^ Die Welt, February 15, 2009: Holocaust denial: Lehmann wants a quick decision on Williamson
  66. ^ Die Welt, February 3, 2009: Controversy over Holocaust deniers: Bishops protest against the Pope's decision
  67. Diocese of Regensburg, February 6, 2009: Declaration by Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller to lift the excommunication of four bishops of the Pius Brotherhood and to campaign against the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. ( Memento from December 31, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  68. ^ Declaration by the German bishops on the current path of the Catholic Church, Hamburg, March 5, 2009 ( Memento from May 31, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  69. Hans Küng (Spiegel, March 5, 2009): Statement on the declaration of German bishops
  70. Joachim Scholl (Mod.): A reactionary turn that is well received. Deutschlandradio on November 30, 2012.
  71. David Berger: The holy glow. , Ullstein Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-55008855-1 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  72. Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 7, 2009: Dispute over brotherhood: "Pius brothers want a Catholic state of God" - Holocaust denier Williamson refuses to revoke. Political scientists want the Pius Brotherhood to be monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( Memento from February 11, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  73. Dietmar Neuerer (Handelsblatt, February 10, 2009): The Office for the Protection of the Constitution should observe the Pius brothers ( Memento from August 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  74. Daniel Deckers: Pope Benedict XVI. and the Pius Brotherhood: The inexperienced bridge builder ; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, February 6, 2009.
  75. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Graf (Neue Zürcher Zeitung, February 14, 2009): My actions are out of this world; Pope Benedict XVI has remained loyal to Joseph Ratzinger
  76. Isolde Charim: Back to the glowing core of faith ; taz, February 14, 2009.
  77. ^ Kurt Flasch (Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 18, 2009): No industrial accident. Church unity and the Pope ( Memento from November 27, 2015 in the web archive archive.today )
  78. Kath.net: Stadler: “The Vatican should set an ultimatum for the Pius Brotherhood” ; News from February 9, 2009.
  79. ^ Matthias Meisner : Tolerance towards Pius Brothers ; Der Tagesspiegel, October 19, 2010.
  80. Bernard Fellay: Statement from the Superior General (Menzingen, January 27, 2009) ( Memento of May 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  81. Regina Einig: What is tradition? Conflicts are inevitable after the lifting of the excommunication of four bishops ; Article in: Die Tagespost, January 29, 2009; Reprint at kath.net.
  82. ^ Alain Elkann: Bishop Tissier de Mallerais speaks ( Memento of July 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ); Interview on cfnews.org (Catholic Family News) from: La Stampa, February 1, 2009.
  83. Barbara Hans, Peter Wensierski, Steffen Winter: Dispute over Holocaust deniers: Colonel Piusbruder calls on Williamson to turn back ; Der Spiegel, February 10, 2009.
  84. Peter Wensierski, Steffen Winter: Church: "I will not go to Auschwitz". 14 questions to Pius Bishop Richard Williamson ; Der Spiegel, February 9, 2009.
  85. Will Williamson be expelled? kath.net news from February 18, 2009.
  86. ^ After expulsion from Argentina: Williamson on the way to London ( Memento of March 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ); Netzeitung, February 24, 2009.
  87. Piusbruder: Holocaust denier Williamson asks for forgiveness ; Der Spiegel, February 26, 2009.
  88. Official statement of the district superior of FSSPX-Germany, Father Franz Schmidberger, March 6, 2009 ( Memento of December 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  89. Criticism: Pius Brothers accuse German bishops of lies ; Der Spiegel, March 6, 2009.
  90. ↑ Ordination to the priesthood: The Society of St. Pius ignores decision of the Vatican ; Der Spiegel, June 20, 2009.
  91. ^ Brothers of Pius consecrate priests - despite the prohibition ; Süddeutsche Zeitung, June 27, 2009.
  92. Three Pius priests consecrated in Zaitzkofen, Bavaria ; kna report on kath.net, June 26, 2010.
  93. Vatican Radio, January 28, 2009: Pope on the Shoah: "Jews were innocent victims" ( Memento from September 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  94. Kathnet, January 28, 2009: Pope: The Society of St. Piuses must recognize the authority of the Pope
  95. Die Zeit, February 6, 2009: Vatican angry about Pope debate
  96. Vatican State Secretariat, February 4, 2009: Note on the lifting of the excommunication of the four bishops of the Pius Brotherhood ( Memento of January 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  97. Vatican Radio, February 4, 2009: Vatican: "Pope did not know Williamson's statements"; Williamson Must Revoke ( February 7, 2009 memento on the Internet Archive )
  98. ^ Die Zeit, February 4, 2009: Scandal surrounding the Pius Brothers: Vatican senses conspiracy against Benedict
  99. Paul Badde (Die Welt): Nobody in the Vatican had googled after the bishops (reprinted by Kathnet, February 5, 2009)
  100. ^ Die Presse.com, February 6, 2009: Brothers of Pius on Confrontation: Jews as Christ murderers - communication deficits in the Vatican
  101. ^ All quotations from FAZ, March 11th, 2009: Pope: "I was hit"
  102. ^ Website of the Pius Brotherhood: USA: Bishop Schneider attends the seminar in Winona , February 17, 2015 ( Memento of February 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  103. ^ Letter from Pope Francis with the indulgence granted on the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy dated September 1, 2015.
  104. Communiqué of the General House of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X on the letter of Pope Francis on the occasion of the approaching Holy Year (September 1, 2015) [1]
  105. Pope approves weddings by Pius Brothers. Spiegel Online, April 5, 2017, accessed April 11, 2017.
  106. Pope Francis allows weddings with the Pius Brotherhood ( Memento from April 8, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  107. ^ Sermon by Marcel Lefebvre on November 1, 1990 in Ecône ( Memento of August 2, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  108. ^ Sermon by Bishop Bernard Fellay on April 2, 2006 in Ecône, in: Supplement to the circular from "Patrona Bavaria", Munich, May 2006, quoted from: Einsicht aktuell , accessed on October 10, 2011.
  109. ^ Letter to Friends and Benefactors, No. 45, October 7, 1993 ; Civitas, magazine for the Christian community 2007 (pp. 43–47): Principles of a Christian social order
  110. Jan Dirk Herbermann: Pius Brotherhood: The nest of the dirt ; The Tagesspiegel from February 4, 2009.
  111. Manuel Abramowicz: A l'extrême droite de Dieu; Introduction au dossier sur la Fraternité lefebvriste ; Article in: RésistanceS - web-journal de l'Observatoire belge de l'extrême droite, of 25 January 2009.
  112. ^ Address au Maréchal Pétain par Mgr Lefebvre (13 avril 1987 à l'Ile d'Yeu), Invitation et affiche du pélerinage du 22 septembre 2007, accompagné d'une sur le site de La Porte latine ( Memento of 13 June 2007 in Internet Archive )
  113. Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, in: Erwan Lecoeur (ed.): Dictionnaire de l'extrême droite, Paris 2007, p. 259.
  114. Internet Center Anti-Racism Europe (August 24, 2005): Philippe Laguérie qui établissait dès 1991 que le Front National était "le parti le moins éloigné du droit naturel"
  115. Barry James: Paul Touvier, Jailed French War Criminal, Dies at 81 ; New York Times June 18, 1996.
  116. ^ Renaud Dely and Jean Hatzfeld : Requiem pétainiste pour Touvier: fair intégriste à Paris et inhumation à Fresnes pour l'ancien milicien ; La Liberation , July 26, 1996.
  117. ^ Anton Maegerle: Unchristliche Brüder ; Look to the right, March 2009.
  118. ^ Pius Brotherhood Germany cancels lectures by right-wing extremist Marinovic. www.swr.de, April 28, 2010.
  119. Pius Brothers enable funeral service for Nazi criminals ; Spiegel Online , October 15, 2013.
  120. ^ Franz Haas: Peace be to the mass murderer. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , October 22, 2013, accessed on October 22, 2013.
  121. ^ Southern Poverty Law Center website, accessed September 7, 2014.
  122. ^ Joods Actueel, February 23, 2009: Pius X society: 'Jews, the enemy of man' ; Netzeitung, February 24, 2009: "Shock disclosure" about the Brotherhood of Pius ( Memento from December 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  123. Anti-Defamation League: Examples of anti-Semitism among the Pius brothers ( Memento from February 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  124. Richard Williamson: Bishop Williamson's Letters , May 1, 2000 ( Memento August 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  125. Holocaust denier Williamson denies Israel the right to exist. www.zeit.de, January 20, 2010.
  126. ^ Franz Schmidberger: Statement on Spiegelartikel No. 4/2009, pp. 32–33 ( Memento from November 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  127. Krone.at, February 7, 2009: Affront against Rome: Renewed provocations by the Pius Brotherhood ( Memento from September 5, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  128. ^ Spiegel Online, February 10, 2009: German Pius Brothers also incite against Jews
  129. Heinz-Lothar Barth: Is the traditional Latin mass anti-Semitic? Brennpunkt Theologie Vol. 7, 2nd edition, Sarto-Verlag 2007, ISBN 3-932691-54-7 .
  130. ^ Nostra Aetate 4
  131. ^ Jewish Telegraphic Agency : " Jews Branded 'Enemies of Church' by Catholic Sect, " The Jewish Daily Forward , Jan. 7, 2013.
  132. ^ Franz Schmidberger: On the statements of Bishop Williamson ( Memento of November 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ); FSSPX.de, January 30, 2009, text of January 27, 2009.
  133. No small thing from any missal ; The Standard, January 30, 2009.
  134. Stefan Ulrich: The Vatican is looking for a guilty party ; ( Memento from February 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Süddeutsche Zeitung, January 30, 2009.
  135. ^ Religion: Pius Brotherhood excludes Holocaust deniers ; Spiegel Online, February 6, 2009.
  136. Central Council of Jews disappointed with Pope's speech , Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung , May 12, 2009
  137. Holocaust Denier: Court confirms fine against Richard Williamson. Spiegel Online , April 11, 2014
  138. Holocaust denier Williamson fails in Strasbourg. Vatican News of January 31, 2019
  139. ^ Franz Schmidberger: The time bombs of the Second Vatican Council (PDF; 244 kB) , Stuttgart 1997. ISBN 3-901851-04-6 .
  140. Pius brother denigrates Mohammed
  141. Stephen LM Heiner: An Interview with Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais ; in: The Remnant, April 30, 2006.
  142. ^ Jean-Dominique OP: The Christian School ; in: Bulletin of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X. Germany, July 2005, p. 24
  143. ^ Schönenberg - St. Theresien-Gymnasium ( Memento from August 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ); Society of St. Pius X. Germany; Retrieved November 15, 2013.
  144. ^ Press release of the Brotherhood of St. Pius ( Memento from May 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ).
  145. Like Carnival in July - 100,000 spectators at the parade in Stuttgart ( Memento from February 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive ); Stuttgarter Zeitung, July 28, 2007.
  146. ^ The Pius brothers demonstrated against Christopher Street Day
  147. Anniversary: ​​Homosexuality is a criminal offense ( memento from September 8, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) piusbruderschaft.de, July 4, 2009.
  148. ^ CSD counter-demonstration: Pius brotherhood calls for a ban on gay men ; queer.de, July 28, 2009.
  149. ^ Girls at University ; Bishop Williamson's Letters, September 1, 2001.
  150. Female Referee Removed From Officiating Boys' Basketball Game by Religious School ( Memento August 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ); AP message on Foxnews.com, February 13, 2008, accessed October 11, 2011.
  151. Peter Wensierski: Catholic hardliners: How the Pius Brothers incite against Jews, Muslims and gays ; Der Spiegel, February 3, 2009.
  152. Abuse: Piusbruder has to be imprisoned for 16 years. Catholic.de of May 11, 2017
  153. Cyrill Pinto: Sex scandals shake the brotherhood. View from January 21, 2018