Econe
August 27, 1986

Your Eminence,

Confronted with events taking place in the Church that have John Paul II as their author and faced with those he intends carrying out at Taize and Assisi in October, I cannot refrain from addressing you and begging you in the name of numerous priests and faithful to save the honor of the Church never before humiliated to such an extent in the course of her history.

The speeches and actions of John Paul II in Togo, Morocco, and the Indies cause a righteous indignation to rise up in our heart. What do the Saints, the holy men and women of the Old and New Testaments make of this? What would the Holy Inquisition do if it were still in existence?

He who now sits upon the Throne of Peter mocks publicly the first article of the Creed and the first Commandment of the Decalogue.

The scandal given to Catholic souls cannot be measured. The Church is shaken to its very foundations. If faith in the Church, the only ark of salvation, disappears, then the Church herself disappears.

Is John Paul II to continue ruining the Church, in particular at Assisi, with the planned procession of religions in the streets of the town of St. Francis and the sharing out of religions in the chapels of the basilica with a view to practicing their worship in favor of peace as conceived by the United Nations?

It is what Cardinal Etchegaray, in charge of this abominable congress, has announced.

Is it conceivable that no authoritative voice has been raised in the Church to condemn these public sins? Where are the Machabees?

Eminence, for the honor of the one true God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, make a public protest, come to the help of the still faithful bishops, priests and Catholics.

Eminence, if I took the step of contacting you it is because I do not doubt your sentiments in this matter.

I am also addressing this appeal to those Cardinals named below so that eventually you may be able to work together.

May the Holy Ghost come to your aid, and please accept, Eminence, my devoted and fraternal greetings in Christ and Mary.

Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Emeritus Bishop-Archbishop of Tulle

CC:

His Eminence, Cardinal Joseph Siri, Archbishop of Genoa

His Eminence, Cardinal Paul Zoungrana, Archbishop of Ouagadougou

His Eminence, Cardinal Silvio Oddi, Former Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, Rome

His Eminence, Cardinal Hyacinthe Thiandoum, Archbishop of Dakar

His Eminence, Cardinal Alfons Stickler, Librarian of the Vatican Library, Rome

His Eminence, Cardinal Edward Gagnon, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Rome

His Eminence, Cardinal Pietro Palazzini, Prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints

His Eminence, Cardinal Marcelo Gonzalez-Martin, Archbishop of Toledo