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Quo Primum
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SSPX, Rome, Prelature. Back in 1987 Quoting Abp Lefebvre BISHOP WILLIAMSON QUOTES ARCHBISHOP LEFEBVRE ON PRAYING FOR A PERSONAL PRELATURE FROM ROME: (Just change the name Gagnon to Pozzo, and it could …More
SSPX, Rome, Prelature.

Back in 1987
Quoting Abp Lefebvre

BISHOP WILLIAMSON QUOTES ARCHBISHOP LEFEBVRE ON PRAYING FOR A PERSONAL PRELATURE FROM ROME:

(Just change the name Gagnon to Pozzo, and it could be written now)

Ridgefield Seminary Letters to Friends and Benefactors

Dec 1987

www.leofec.com/bishop-williamson/108.html

But will the Pope be able to settle the question of the Mass and the Society as several things indicate he would like to do? … how fierce the opposition will be in the Roman Curia and amongst the world's bishops, to any papal approval of the Tridentine Mass or of the Society associated with it.

Here is what Archbishop Lefebvre wrote to me in a letter dated November 20: "I think that as his visit continues, Cardinal Gagnon is more and more convinced that we are right to be doing what we are doing. However, if his visit is useful, it is not the answer.

"We shall have to find a form of institution to protect us from the Roman Curia and the diocesan chanceries. In Rome we shall need a secretariat or commission, composed of members agreeing with what we think and do, to help the Society set itself up with three bishops chosen from within the Society, to form like an "Armed Services' Vicariat", with all the powers necessary to continue our work, independently of alI other bishops. A way must be found for all Traditional movements and initiatives to normalize their juridical situation so that they can continue to ask for the help of our own bishops.

"The whole thing is to know whether Rome, that is to say the Pope, will have the courage, despite the howling set up by the bishops and the Roman Curia, to grant us such a degree of independence. There are several Cardinals who will support Cardinal Gagnon. But it will not be easy. Already the episcopates are getting together to prevent a solution.

"In any case, if they do not give me the authorization to consecrate bishops, 1 shall do it without authorization. This is the most practical and pressing point. Let us continue to pray, especially to Our Lady of Fatima."

The solution here envisaged by Archbishop Lefebvre, a personal prelature, like an Army Vicariat for instance, is from the point of view of Canon Law a very flexible formula and may be the best suited to the needs of the situation. Whereas a local bishop has jurisdiction over Catholics in a given locality, or geographical diocese, a personal prelate has jurisdiction by his person over Catholics in some way connected to him. Thus an Army Vicar has in person direct jurisdiction over army chaplains or priests and through them over Catholic servicemen and their families attached to that army.

Thus Monsignor Lefebvre or his successor would have full powers of a diocesan bishop firstly over the Society priests and their faithful, but also over priests and faithful outside the Society who would resort to him because of their attachment to the Traditional rite of Mass. He would be in effect an alternative Ordinary or bishop for all such Traditional priests and faithful, without their necessarily having to quit the diocese to which canonically they normally belong. Such a solution has the great advantage of largely corresponding to an already existing and honest state of affairs. Will it come about? That depends upon God's grace and men's free will. It is, as always, and more than ever, a question of prayer.

A great way to pray is to do the Exercises of St. Ignatius for five days. …

Most sincerely yours in His service,

Fr. Richard Williamson