Note : This sermon from Father Pierre Roy was first published on the Canada Fidèle website, on 8 May 2017.

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen

On the first Sunday of Passiontide, the Church offers us a very significant passage from the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Jews ask Jesus if he is possessed by a demon.

“The Jews therefore answered, and said to him: Do not we say well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Jesus answered: I have not a devil: but I honour my Father, and you have dishonoured me. (John 8:48-49) They took up stones therefore to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.” (John 8:59)

Today, in the midst of the Passion of the Catholic Church, some are tempted to ask the Church the same question: “Hast thou not a devil?” And like her divine spouse, the Holy Church may reply: “Ego daemonium non habeo, sed honorifico Patrem meum.” “I have not a devil: but I honour my Father, and you have dishonoured me.”

Yes, these lines relate to the Letter from the District of Canada of the Society of St. Pius X in April of 2017. They are not intended to discredit the author of that letter, since he himself admits that his comparison is somewhat strong, but to go a little deeper into the questions he raises and to offer a few reflections to some among the faithful who were stunned by this letter.

The Official Church and the Catholic Church

Just as the Holy Ghost animated the Son of God throughout the whole course of his earthly life, and the latter could not be host to an unclean spirit, but endured only attacks from without, the true Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ cannot be possessed by the devil. If we see an entity that appears to be possessed by Satan, we must ask ourselves whether we are dealing with the true Catholic Church or with a different church. With Archbishop Lefebvre, we must say:

“The Church that affirms such errors is both schismatic and heretical. This Conciliar Church is, therefore, not Catholic. To whatever extent Pope, Bishops, priests, or faithful adhere to this new Church, they separate themselves from the Catholic Church. The Church of today is the true Church only insofar as she continues and forms part of the Church of yesterday and of always. The norm of the Catholic faith is Tradition. The request of His Exc. Bishop Benelli is thus clarified: submission to the conciliar Church, to the Church of Vatican II, to the schismatic Church.” (Reflections on the Suspension ‘a Divinis’, July 29. 1976.

“But recently, they have been telling us that Tradition has to ‘enter the visible Church.’ I think that that is a very, very serious mistake. Where is the visible Church? The visible Church is recognised by the marks given her to be ever visible: One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic. I ask you: Where are the true marks of the Church? Are they more evident in the official Church (this is not the visible Church, it is the official church) or in us, in what we represent, what we are? Clearly we are the ones who preserve the Unity of the Faith, which has disappeared from the official Church. One bishop believes in this, another does not, their beliefs are varied, their catechisms contain abominable heresies. Where is the unity of the Faith in Rome?” (Priests’ Retreat, September 9, 1988)

Two Distinct Religions

We are in the presence of two distinct religions. How can we know this? It suffices to look at the founders of these two realities, to compare the doctrine of the official Church and the doctrine of the Catholic Church, to put their moral principles side-by-side, and finally to recognize the aims which animate these two societies.

Different Founders

These two societies have separate founders. The true Church flowed out from the pierced side of Our Lord on Good Friday. It is born of a pure and divine source that can never be defiled, despite the attempts of its enemies, by any poison of error or falsehood. The Church of Vatican II, on the contrary, was born in the secret facilities of Freemasonry. It is tainted all over with errors, deceptions, and blasphemies.

Different Doctrines

The Catholic Church has a holy and immutable doctrine. It teaches us to worship Jesus Christ as the only Lord and Master of all things. Tu solus Sanctus, Tu solus Dominus, Tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe. Its doctrine is the unity of the true religion, Credo unam Ecclesiam, which shows itself through the evangelisation of all peoples.

The official Church of today, on the contrary, teaches us that all religions are, in the end, equal. Its doctrine is religious indifferentism, as is shown in the interreligious meetings so dear to its pontiffs.

Different Morals

The Catholic Church has always faithfully defended the Commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ in their integrity. It teaches that human conscience is not the absolute rule of human action, but that this conscience itself must have as its rule the Decalogue and the precepts of the Church.

The official Church of today, on the other hand, claims that each person has his own notion of good and evil, and that the role of her priests is to help each man conform to his subjective notion of good and evil. Therefore, she willingly invites every man to ask whether he is at peace with himself in his actions. If so, she opens them the way to the most holy of things, the sacraments.

Different Ends

The Catholic Church has as its end the salvation of souls. She seeks to bring as many men as possible into the ark of salvation. She knows that the waters of this world will someday overwhelm those who drink from their poisoned source, and so she does not put first priority on ecology and ‘saving the planet.’

The official Church of today has a human goal: a more just, more equal, more fraternal world. Pollution and war are its worst enemies, the sins it fights with greatest ardour. She suffers nightmares when she ponders the loneliness of the elderly and youth unemployment, yet is unafraid to see Buddha enthroned on the tabernacle of Assisi.

We are therefore in the presence of two distinct religions. Two sacrifices, two priesthoods, two different concepts of salvation, and different means of getting into Heaven.

 A Church Possessed?

Is the Catholic Church possessed by a demon named the Conciliar Church? We may assume that the Virgin Mary chose her words well in speaking instead of an eclipse. During an eclipse, the moon does not enter the sun, but places itself before it and hides it. The sun loses none of its clarity, its light, its brilliance, its incandescent purity, but – so long as nature allows it – the moon conceals them from the sight of men, so that an uninformed man might believe that the sun has lost its properties.

To claim that the official Church is the Catholic Church and the Conciliar Church at the same time would be nonsense and opposed to reality. Indeed, when do we hear the official authorities of the Church speak as Catholics? When do we hear them defend the dogma, « Outside the Church there is no salvation? » When are they part of the Church that condemns the erroneous principles of Vatican II? If one still perceives some sunlight at certain moments of the eclipse, this does not diminish the fact that the current authorities of the official Church take the guiding principles of their daily teaching from conciliar errors, rather than from Catholic principles. Like the heretic, who can profess certain truths of the Catholic Faith, but has lost the Catholic Faith in its entirety because he lacks a supernatural Faith, these authorities do not have the Catholic Faith, but a conciliar faith. “The Catholic faith is of such a strength and nature that nothing can be added to it, nothing to be subtracted from it: either it is entirely possessed, or it is not possessed at all.” (Benedict XV, Ad beatissimi)

When we consider the current authorities, who sit on the chairs of holy bishops past, we may legitimately ask ourselves whether we are dealing with the successors of former pontiffs. Are these people the representatives of the Catholic Church? Or, on the contrary, are they representatives of the Conciliar Church? Are they representatives of both the Catholic Church and the Conciliar Church? Of a Catholic Church that is possessed by the conciliar demon?

If the Catholic Church could be possessed by a foreign body, it could have been so possessed at any point in its history … How then would the faithful know that they had to do with the Church « who has no demon, » or if they were dealing with a church possessed of a demon? It seems, therefore, that the term eclipsed is truly more suitable than occupied.

Rather than a demon possessing the Catholic Church, might the Conciliar Church not be, after all, equivalent to the stone that was rolled in front of the tomb of Christ, and gave to all those present the impression that He Who had said “I am the life” (John xiv. 16) had actually ended his existence in death, like everybody else? This stone was later crushed by the angels to reveal an empty tomb.

Conclusion

Leaving to the Lord the task of further clarifying this mystery, as for us, we desire to be part of this Church which can say: “Ego daemonium non habeo”, “I have not a devil: but I honour my Father, and you have dishonoured me.”

We willingly accept to be part of a Church which is hidden behind the cold and dead stone of the tomb, because we believe that this stone will be rolled aside, and those eager to give the honours due to the deceased will find themselves before luminous beings, who will say to them:

“Fear you not; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, and see the place where the Lord was laid. And going quickly, tell ye his disciples that he is risen: and behold he will go before you into Galilee; there you shall see him. Lo, I have foretold it to you.” (Matthew 28:5-7)

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.