Correctio Filialis to Pope Francis: An Antidote Injected by an Infected Syringe

by

Christian LaSalle

9/30/17

(French Original Here)

 

The letter, open to new signatories, now has the names of 62 clerics – including Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X – and lay scholars from 20 countries.

Its title is in Latin: “Correctio filialis de haeresibus propagatis” (literally: “A filial correction concerning the propagation of heresies”). It affirms that the Pope, through his Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia, as well as by other words, actions and omissions in connection with it, has in fact supported seven heretical propositions with regard to marriage, moral life and the reception of sacraments, and that he was at the origin of the dissemination of these heretical opinions within the Catholic Church.

These seven heresies were expressed by the signatories in Latin, the official language of the Church.

 

What we can rejoice in:

The Correctio Filialis is a thunderbolt in the Catholic world: for the first time since the crisis triggered by the Second Vatican Council, the Pope’s orthodoxy is being questioned, not by the Society of Saint Pius X, but by a base much expanded. Previously the Dubia of the 4 cardinals had also pointed the affirmations of Pope Francis contrary with the Catholic dogma.

The interest of this text, besides its signatories, is the tone which it employs: at last one speaks of heresy, the text even counts seven while saying that it does not intend to be exhaustive! Finally, the rapprochement is made with Protestantism, a Protestantism which has so thoroughly penetrated the whole of the conciliar doctrine. A text respectful certainly, but without double talk: one can speak of a true fraternal correction.

 

What can be regretted:

The 17-page text, if it has many references to the Catholic Magisterium, contains eight references to the Second Vatican Council (1) including three in Lumen Gentium, one of the most harmful texts of this council.

Now the Council is at the origin of the present crisis of the Church, which Correctio Filialis refuses to point out. This text is thus entirely in the hermeneutics of the reform of Benedict XVI, who in the end wanted to find a hermeneutic that would make the conciliar revolution the development of the Catholic Magisterium.

Wishing to counter the heresies contained in Amoris laetitia of Pope Francis, a text that relies heavily on the Second Vatican Council by this Correctio Filialis which also relies in part on references to the Second Vatican Council, is wanting to inject the poison at the same time as the antidote, or inject the antidote with an infected syringe.

 

The signature of Bishop Fellay:

The presence of this signature is surprising. On the one hand, because it has been a long time since Bishop Fellay refused to directly challenge the pope, preoccupied in his silence to obtain the personal prelature, but also because this signature took place at a second time, once that Cardinal Muller and then Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, the new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, had signified to him that prelature would exist only with full recognition of the Second Vatican Council. The Roman gate closed, and the elective chapter of 2018 approached.

A more embarrassing element, this signature is affixed to the bottom of a generally good text, but a part of the references, as we have seen, is the Second Vatican Council. This is tantamount to endorsing this approach to the hermeneutics of reform which gives a magisterial value to the council, whereas it is this council that is the poisoned source of Amoris laetitia. This signature shows a little more clearly how the specific voice of the Society of Saint Pius X fell silent, in line with the criticisms emanating from the so-called conservative movements of the Church, at the risk of assuming regrettable arguments.

 

Conclusion:

The Council is not just an event that must be overcome, it is not a false step that must be put into perspective, it is not an ambiguous text that must be reinterpreted. The Second Vatican Council was a complete revolution which spared nothing. And Amoris Laetitia is the natural child.

“Delenda est Carthago” [“Carthage must be destroyed”]: Rome had understood that she would not survive under the same skies as Carthage. Tradition can not survive under the same auspices as the Conciliar Church. Delendum is Concilium!

Christian Lassale

(1) Also surprising, these references are not published in the French version, as if it had been necessary to avoid that these references are too visible …