Hinduism
What does the Council say about these other religions? I will give you some texts. "Thus, in Hinduism, men contemplate the divine mystery and express it through an unspent fruitfulness of myths and through searching philosophical enquiry. They seek release from the anguish of our condition through ascetical practices or deep meditation or a loving, trusting flight toward God." (No. 2) My dear friends, that is a definite lie because Hinduism does not recognise a unique God but many idols. You know that they worship different animals, creatures, all sorts of things, especially holy cows, which must never be slaughtered because to do this would be sacrileg. They have great consideration for mice and rats. They consider the rats to be the vehicles of their gods. They believe in reincarnation. People owe a debt during their lifetime and if this is not discharged, they have to clear it in further incarnations in animals. So, you do not touch the rat because it might be your grandmother! There is another very serious consequence of this belief. In Hinduism, you find no mercy and pity. Why not? Because those who are in misery are clearing their ‘Karmar’, their debt and if they do not clear it in this human existence, they have to clear it afterwards. Therefore if you help them you only delay their redemption; and so, in no way do you find Christian charity among the Hindus. The most embarrassing thing you see when you visit India, is not that there are people living in poverty and misery, living and dying on the road, but it is to see how the Hindus pass by these poor creatures and are not moved at all at the sight. They find this quite normal, quite reasonable, according to their religion.
Buddhism
The second religion which the Council treats is Buddhism. "Buddhism in its multiple forms acknowledges the radical insufficiency of this shifting world. It teaches a path by which men, in a devout and confident spirit, can either reach a state of absolute freedom or attain supreme enlightenment by their own efforts or by higher assistance." (No. 2) First of all, it must be said that this is absolutely contrary to our Catholic religion. In our Catholic religion, we confess the absolute necessity of a Redeemer and His grace and we
confess that we cannot, by ourselves, obtain this grace or redeem ourselves. It is said there that Buddhists think attaining their ‘supreme enlightenment by their own efforts’. Their whole redemption is by their own efforts. This is absolutely contrary to the Christian faith. Secondly, the ultimate aim of Buddhism is to enter into the ‘Nirvana’ i.e. into nothingness, to be dissolved, to be released from everything. It is like an annihilation of the person. That is the ultimate aim of their efforts. The Catholic religion is absolutely the opposite. What is our ultimate aim? To love God and be transformed by His grace and His charity so that we ourselves, our souls, become love and charity. So, our end is finally to enter in the uncreated charity, which is God. Our ultimate aim is the fulness, the highest virtue, the highest value you can imagine, that is to say love, charity; whereas Buddhism is absolutely the opposite. It is also clear that in Buddhism, as in other Asiatic religions, the axiom of contradiction is not recognised. What does this mean? This means that a thing can exist or not exist at the same time. For instance, either there is a glass or there is no glass on this table, but it is not possible that, at the same time, there be a glass and no glass. Have a look at Japan. You find more followers of religions in this country than the total number of the population. How is this possible? Well, several people belong to different religions at the same time and they find this quite logical. They belong to this religion and that religion because if one is false, the other might be true. My dear friends, these Asiatic religions are penetrating at an enormous rate into our countries, into Europe and the United States, with their ideas and practices, with all their system, their Hindu gurus, with yoga, transcendental meditation and with their idea of reincarnation. All this is being spread in our day, having an enormous influence on private and public life. They are acting, especially, through this movement called ‘New Age’ which has its symbol in the rainbow and is now penetrating everything, everywhere. It is very dangerous because it is a creature of esoterism originating from theosophy in the last century and from anthroposophy in our day.
Islam
What does the Council say about Islam? "Upon the Moslems, too, the Church looks with esteem. They adore one God, living and enduring, merciful and all-powerful, Maker of heaven and earth and Speaker to men. They strive to submit wholeheartedly even to His inscrutable decrees, just as did Abraham, with whom the Islamic faith is pleased to associate itself. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honour Mary, His virgin mother; at times they call on her, too, with devotion. In addition they await the day of judgement when God will give each man his due after raising him up. Consequently, they prize the moral life, and give worship to God especially through prayer, almsgiving, and fasting". (No. 3) What do you think when you read this text? You probably think that there are just some slight differences between us and the Moslems. They do not recognise the divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that is true, but that is not a very important thing! They venerate Him as a prophet, they give devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, they even believe in the last judgement, they give alms, they have a moral life. What they are not saying is that a Moslem can have several wives and that happiness in heaven, for them, is indicated by having many wives. The more wives you have, the happier will be in heaven. It is also not said in this text they are fighting against us and consider us as blasphemers and idolators because we adore Our Lord. They reject absolutely the Holy Trinity. All this is not mentioned, at all. A consequence of such text is that the German bishops have ordered all the parish priests to let the Moslems use their parish halls and kindergartens for their worship. It follows from this that every year Rome itself, the Holy See, gives an address of greeting to the Moslems at the beginning of their fasting months, the Ramadan, calling the blessing of Allah upon them. Another consequence of this is that a few years ago, the Lord Mayor of Rome gave about two hundred thousand square feet of land as a gift to the Moslems for the construction of an Islamic centre there, with its enormous mosque, the biggest mosque outside the Islamic world. It will be finished shortly and for the laying of the corner stone, the Holy See itself sent delegates to assist at such an important ceremony! My dear friends, what Islam did not achieve and succeed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it achieves today by peaceful means, by immigration, in invading all our countries. For example, I just read an article saying that in England a new mosque is opened every two months. Every two months! That is incredible. Imagine if we were to open a new Mass centre every two months! This immigration of Pakistanis to England and Scandinavia, of the Turks to Germany, of the Arabs to France is completely destroying our national identity and furthermore the whole Christianity. Why did our ancestors fight against the Turks on October 7th, 1571, at the Battle of Lepanto? Why did they fight on September 12th, 1683, at the gates of Vienna? Because they realised the full danger at stake, especially the danger to their faith, and so, they fought against those who do not recognise the divinity of Our Lord, nor the Church, nor the Holy Trinity and so who do not have the same God.
Jews
What does the Council say about the Jews? This decree deals with the matter in its No. 4. It is a very delicate subject but let us look at it a little in the light of theology. It is clear that God had chosen one people to prepare for the coming of the Messiah and the time having come, this Messiah, prepared for by the prophets, was rejected by His own people who even crucified Him. It is clear that we, the Christians, are heirs to what the prophets have announced and to what Our Lord Jesus Christ has brought. We have the faith of Abraham. He is really our father. We have the same faith: Abraham believed in the future Redeemer, we believe in the same Redeemer who has come. The same Redeemer, the same faith. It is also clear that the Jews of our day cannot be called our elder brothers in the faith. How could the Pope say such a thing when he visited the synagogue, in Rome, three years ago? There is one other question. Can we say that the Jews are guilty of Deicide? We must say yes because it is they who asked for Our Lord’s death and called for His blood upon their heads and the heads of their children. I want to make it very clear: I do not speak about the Jews as a race, I speak about the Jews as a religion. So, what about the Jews of our day? Well, as long as they do not withdraw from this crime, from this action of their ancestors, they are also guilty of it. They must disassociate themselves from it and recognise Our Lord; they must be baptised and become His disciples.
Spirit of Indifferentism
My dear friends, such a sympathy towards the other religions must necessarily lead to events like Assisi, when the Pope gathered together all the religions in order to pray for peace in this world. It will destroy the supernatural order. There is no longer any concern for faith and sanctifying grace but all this is replaced by matters such as fighting against racism, singing for peace in this world, taking care of the environment, developing techniques, social progress in different countries, in the third world, etc. This spirit of indifferentism is penetrating everywhere to the utmost parts, to the smallest village in the world. I was just recently in Sri Lanka, island south of India, and the faithful there told me, on my arrival, that the very Sunday before, their parish priest had preached that in the future, there will be one world religion, that what up to this day we have rejected as idols we must in future adore and worship and that those who had shed their blood for the faith were a little bit insane.
4 - Declaration on Religious Liberty: ‘Dignitatis Humanae’
Let us now have a look at the question of religious liberty, the Declaration ‘Dignitatis Humanae’. What does Catholic doctrine say about this subject? It says that there is only one God, maker of all things, one Jesus Christ, one Church and that this Church and this Jesus Christ must be recognised by every creature, each and every individual and also by the social bodies: families, schools, states, etc. They must recognise Our Lord, by bringing Him into their constitutions, their laws, their lives. This means that all countries, especially those with a majority of Catholic citizens, should officially recognise Our Lord and His Church as the only religion and put limits to the public manifestations of other religions. You might say that it is unacceptable and terribly unjust for the state to restrain other religions. I will give you some examples of analogy in the moral sphere. If someone wants to commit suicide, has the state the right to prevent him from doing so? Yes it has. Has the state the duty to prevent him? Yes. If someone wants to have an abortion, has the state the right to prevent her from doing this? Yes. Has it the duty to do this? Yes. Now, these other religions are spreading their errors, harming souls. They are even dissolving, in a certain manner, the social order of the state. So, why should the state not have, under certain circumstances, the right and even the duty to put restrictions on these other religions? This was the case, for example, in the Spanish constitution before the Second Vatican Council. In a first paragraph it was said: "In Spain, the Catholic religion is the religion of the state". Second paragraph: "Nobody in his private life will be in any way embarrassed because of his belief". Third paragraph: "In public This is precisely what the Islamic world is doing in our day. They are establishing Islamic states and it is very difficult to live there as Christians. So what they do towards the furtherance of error, why don’t we do for the truth? Our Lord does not reign any longer in our parliaments, in our constitutions, in our courts, in the affairs of our governments. He is put on the same level with the other religions in the constitutions, in the life of the social bodies. This is exactly what the Second Vatican Council has asked and demanded, that no religion should be hindered from spreading its errors, that every religion is to be treated with equality before the law. Listen to what the Council says on this subject: "This Vatican Synod declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom." (No. 2) So, religious freedom would be a natural right! This has always been rejected by the Church. "This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that in matters religious no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs." (No. 2) Up to this point, we can and must agree. In fact, the Church has always said that nobody can be forced to embrace the faith. Faith, by the way, is an interior act. But what follows is completely new. "Nor is anyone to be restrained from acting in accordance with his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly". (No. 2) That’s the question: can anybody be hindered from openly spreading his false religion, his false ideology or can he not? He can and he must be in certain circumstances. This unlimited freedom, this liberty, gives way to an unlimited freedom of conscience, of opinion, of the press and even in moral matters. This gives the reasons behind, for example, the whole story of abortion, which has reached incredible figures now. The people who introduced it argued like this: no one is forced to have an abortion, the law simply removes some restrictions and thus freedom is given. But that is precisely the crime: no law can give anyone the right or freedom to have an abortion. That’s exactly what Pilate did when he made the people choose between Barabas and Our Lord Jesus Christ. You have the freedom: whom do you want: Barabas or Christ? Abortion or no abortion? A false religion or a true religion? It does not matter!
5 - Decree on the Church in the Modern World: ‘Gaudium et Spes’
We now come to the fifth decree of the Council which I want to discuss with you, that is ‘Gaudium et Spes’, the Church in the modern world. This decree gives a very optimistic vision of our world and is in complete accordance with the opening sermon, the opening homily of Pope John XXIII. (See ‘Opening speech of the Council’ above.) You will realize this immediately. "Today’s spiritual agitation and the changing conditions of life are part of a broader and deeper revolution. As a result of the latter, intellectual formation is ever increasingly based on the mathematical and natural sciences and on those dealing with man himself, while in the practical order the technology which stems from these sciences takes on mounting importance. This scientific spirit exerts a new kind of impact on the cultural sphere and on modes of thought. Technology is now transforming the face of earth, and is already trying to master outer space. To a certain extent, the human intellect is also broadening its dominion over time: over the past by means of historical knowledge; over the future by the art of projecting and by planning. Advances in biology, psychology, and the social sciences not only bring men hope of improved self-knowledge. In conjunction with technical methods, they are also helping men to exert direct influence on the life of social groups. At the same time, the human race is giving ever-increasing thought to forecasting and regulating its own population growth. History itself speeds along on so rapid a course that an individual person can scarcely keep abreast of it. The destiny of the human community has become all of a piece, where once the various groups of men had a kind of private history of their own. Thus, the human race has passed from a rather static concept of reality to a more dynamic, evolutionary one. In consequence there has arisen a new series of problems, a series as important as can be, calling for new efforts of analysis and synthesis." (No. 5) So, if you are accepting this, you are free to believe that by letting things go a little bit further, every problem will be solved. There will be perfect paradise on this earth. They are now even able to regulate the whole population growth by means of contraception. This seems at least indicated. It is then said that we must collaborate with all men and understand their feelings, their thoughts and their wishes, that we must live in very close union with the men of our time. Who are they? They are the Communists, the Freemasons, the heretics, the materialists. "May the faithful, therefore, live in very close union with the men of their time. Let them strive to understand perfectly their way of thinking and feeling, as expressed in their culture. Let them blend modern science and its theories and the understanding of the most recent discoveries with Christian morality and doctrine. Thus their religious practice and morality can keep pace with their scientific knowledge and with an ever-advancing technology. Thus, they will be able to test and interpret all things in a truly Christian spirit." (No. 62) So if you do not live with all these things, you can not have a truly Christian spirit. Thus our ancestors who did not know technology, had no true Christian spirit. These are the consequences. "While rejecting atheism, root and branch, the Church sincerely professes that all men, believers and unbelievers alike, ought to work for the rightful betterment of this world in which all alike live. Such an ideal cannot be realised, however, apart from sincere and prudent dialogue." (No. 21) St. Paul, contrary to this, admonishes the Christians of all times not to bear the yoke with unbelievers: "For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever?" (2 Cor. 6:14-15). It is also very astonishing that the Council inverts the aims of marriage. The first aim of marriage, according to the traditional teaching of the Church is and has always been the procreation of children. The second aim of marriage is mutual love. The Council is inverting these aims: In paragraph 49 of ‘Gaudium et Spes’ they are first of all speaking of conjugal love and in paragraph 50 of the fruitfulness of marriage. One must not be astonished that in 1968, when Pope Paul VI published his encyclical ‘Humanae Vitae’, there was an enormous storm of protest against this papal teaching because the Council gave a completely false idea and illusion. Cardinal Ratzinger himself has called this decree of the Council, ‘Gaudium et Spes’, ‘an anti-Syllabus’. Now what is the ‘Syllabus’? It is a collection of false sentences, of false statements, of errors, condemned under the pontificate of Pope Pius IX. The last of these sentences, the eightieth, states the following: "The Roman pontiff can and must reconcile himself with human progress,
with liberalin Gond with modern and human culture". So, the Roman pontiff must establish a union between the spirit of Our Lord and the spirit of this world! That is exactly what happened during the Second Vatican Council and especially in this decree. It is a marriage, a sort of reconciliation between the world with its corruption, its non-belief and the Catholic religion.
False Solution
My dear friends, in these circumstances I have to warn you against illusions and false solutions to this problem. The problem will not be resolved in appointing here and there a conservative bishop who is still wearing the collar or who is still a little Marian or has personal devotion to the Pope. Nor will the solution to this problem be to establish a Society, such as that of St. Peter’s (formed by priests who have left the Society of St. Pius X after the consecration of bishops) and giving to this Society here and there, the right to celebrate the Old Mass. Neither will the solution be to be content with an Indult Mass here and there, which, in its first condition, puts the New Mass on the same level with the true Catholic Mass.
True Solution
The true solution, my dear friends, will be to re-establish Our Lord Jesus Christ as the Principle of all things, to re-enthrone Him, to give Him back His crown and His sceptre as snatched from Him, and to declare that He is the only Way of salvation, the only King, the only Redeemer, the only Saviour, the only High Priest and Victim, the only Judge of the living and the dead; that He must reign and that He alone is the solution to all the world’s problems. Yes, we are singing: "Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat" and we want Our Lord to reign. St. Paul says to the Corinthians: "Opportet illum regnare - it is necessary that He reigns" and St. Peter says in the Acts: "Non est in alio aliquo salus - there is no salvation in any other". If you ask the Blessed Virgin Mary what she thinks about Jesus she will say, "He is the only Saviour. My divine Son is the only God and His Church is the only divine religion, instituted by God Himself. You must recognise and believe this in order to be saved."
"Keep the Faith - Pray"
My dear brethren, be very strong in this confession, in maintaining your faith. I can assure you that everywhere in the world there are groups like your group here, who have the exact same desire, the same aim. I have just been travelling around eight Asian countries. I was in South Korea where there is a group of people in the capital, Seoul, who only heard about Archbishop Lefebvre two years ago. What did they do? "Ever since", they told me, "we have been praying one hour every day, for the Archbishop and the Society." What are the fruits of such a prayer? Seven young ladies, between the age of twenty and thirty want to enter the convent of the Society of St. Pius X and become nuns. Wonderful vocations. They were the ones who prepared the altar for the celebration of the Mass. They had also prepared another young lady for baptism, who had been a Buddhist. I was about to celebrate holy Mass in the evening when they asked me if I would leave the Blessed Sacrament, over night, until the early morning. I said: "I will leave it, if there is somebody to watch". They said: "Father, we will have adoration all night". And so I left the Blessed Sacrament and they adored Our Beloved Lord all night. A wonderful testimony. You find the same attitude in Japan. We already have two Japanese seminarians in our seminaries and during my trip, I was able to baptise three adults in that country. But there are also everywhere the same obstacles and the same trials. So, for example in Singapore, the local Archbishop threatened to excommunicate the whole group if they continued to support the priests of the Society. In Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, a parish priest told me: "My bishop is threatening me, if I do not accept to give Communion in the hand and employ lay ministers of the Eucharist etc., that I will lose my parish." He had the biggest parish in the whole diocese. He was former director of the seminary for boys and thirty-five of his former students are now priests. So, he is a very well-educated priest, an excellent priest. In the same country, a nun came to me saying: "I cannot live in my convent any longer; it is not possible. I am absolutely isolated because I cannot accept all these new things." That’s what is going on everywhere. My dear friends, you must pray. You must pray for a clearer understanding of your beliefs and to be firm in your convictions and see how the roots of the destruction are not just some abuses after the Council but are already in the Council itself. One day the true solution will be to examine the Council teachings, to reject what is against Tradition, to maintain what comforms to the teaching of the Church, to make clear what is ambiguous and only in such a way will the Church find again its identity. So, let us be very firm in this regard, together under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
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