Alen Koman: Jesus and Mary. We are streaming live from Slovenia where His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider is with us. He came to Slovenia at our invitation because we translated his excellent book. The translation started because I wanted my wife to read the whole book, since most Slovenians are not that strong in English. Now they have the book in Slovenian, and I think we did our best with the translation. Before we start with the talk, we will pray as we usually pray on Scutum fide. It is the prayer Sub tuum praesidium in Slovenian. If you are okay, Your Excellency.
(Praying in Slovenian)
For our international community, so they can hear how we pray in Slovenian. Your Excellency, it is truly an honor to host you here in Slovenia. So maybe we can go straight to the topic. In 2019, your book came out. It was before all the events that followed. It was in September. Then events happened in December, and in January and February of 2020, the coronavirus followed. The first measures at that time were lockdowns and the closing of churches. One of the first measures of the Church in Slovenia, and I do not know if it was the same worldwide, was that the Church used the situation to attack what is most holy. They said that receiving Holy Communion on the hand was a must, and that they would not give Holy Communion on the tongue anymore.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: We witnessed, especially two years ago in the first year of the restrictions, during the first Easter of 2020, that almost globally all the churches were closed on the holy Easter day. I think it was not only a coincidence but seemed to be a kind of globally planned attack to take away from Christians what is most precious, the celebration of the Holy Mass of the resurrection of our Lord. Thanks be to God, not all bishops followed the prohibitions of the governments strictly. It was a norm of governments almost all over the world, and it was commanded by the World Health Organization, and the local governments obeyed strictly. In some places, the local government did not apply the rules in such a strict way, and so in some places the Easter feast was celebrated.
But the other topic you mentioned, that under the pretext of sanitary safety, almost all bishops in the world, even in Africa, where I was recently in Tanzania, forced Catholics to receive Holy Communion exclusively on the hand and prohibited Communion on the tongue. We already know that the practice of Communion on the hand is one of the deepest wounds in the Mystical Body of Christ today. This practice contributed greatly to the astonishing decrease of faith in the real presence in at least two generations who receive Holy Communion, on the other hand.
What is very dangerous is that this practice contributed to mass desacralization and sacrilege of the holy host. It is evident, and no one can deny, that very often by this practice the small fragments of the holy host can become attached to the fingers and to the palm or fall between the space of the priest and the communicant. These small fragments can fall to the ground, and then people trample on our Lord. Our Lord has been trampled underfoot in His holy Church for at least fifty years, since this practice was introduced or allowed by Paul the Sixth, unfortunately. It is a very serious topic, and we have to address it.
Unfortunately, the so-called health safety measures taken by bishops increased the desacralization of the Blessed Sacrament through falling fragments or through the stealing of hosts and so on. God can never bless a gesture that is proven to weaken faith in the Eucharist and to cause desacralization. From such a gesture, nothing good can come, not even for health.
The closing of the churches, sometimes even by bishops who were not asked by the government, was another demonstration of the deep crisis of faith within the Church. In some places, the government did not even ask the bishops to close the churches, yet they closed them. Some bishops did more than the government required. Together with the imposition of Communion on the hand, this showed the crisis of faith among the bishops.
Since we are now in Slovenia, close to Croatia, I remember an affirmation of the late Croatian Cardinal Šeper, the predecessor of Cardinal Ratzinger as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In the seventies, he said the current crisis of the Church is first of all a crisis of the bishops, a crisis of the quality of bishops, and therefore of the quality of faith. For this reason, we must return to penance, and the bishops should ask the Lord in humility for forgiveness for these gestures and demonstrations of weakness of faith and preference for the body rather than the soul.
Alen Koman: You mentioned that some bishops went even further than what their local governments expected from them. How was your experience? You come from Kazakhstan. You have a very specific and, for European standards, unusual rule as a bishop’s conference that the faithful cannot receive Holy Communion on the palm at all. How did that go during the Corona time?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Thanks be to God, in 2007 our bishops’ conference was able to make a general decree approved by the Holy See by Pope Benedict that in the entire territory of Kazakhstan Holy Communion must be received kneeling and on the tongue. Kneeling applies to those who are not ill, of course. Communion, on the other hand, is explicitly forbidden in Kazakhstan, even for foreigners coming to the country. This was approved by Pope Benedict the Sixteenth, and we are very grateful.
During the covid crisis, unfortunately, one of the bishops yielded and told the people they could receive on the hand because of danger, but not all bishops in Kazakhstan did this. In our diocese, our archbishop insisted during the entire COVID time that we would continue to receive kneeling and on the tongue. In the cathedral in Astana, which is now called Nur Sultan, we had no obligation to wear masks. We did not force masks at any time. We continued Communion kneeling and on the tongue. In my parish, we had very few COVID cases. People could get the virus at work or while traveling, but in general, the Lord spared us, and I believe this was because we tried to give Him the first place, and then He took care of our bodies.
Of course, we observed basic health measures, like purification of hands, cleaning the benches and the church, and letting in fresh air. These are normal measures, but we did not act in a way that was pathological or driven by panic.
Alen Koman: We can say that something else may have been behind the prohibition of receiving Holy Communion on the tongue. When we discuss the form of receiving Holy Communion, we can see huge differences between the understanding of why and how to receive Holy Communion among those who support one or the other form of liturgy.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: In this question, the most important issue we must clarify is what the holy host is. We must even ask who the holy host is. It is the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, truly present with His body and blood, with His soul, and with the fullness of His divinity. This is a dogma of faith. When there is such immense holiness in this small host, we cannot behave as if we were taking a piece of cake and putting it into our mouths. When you truly believe it is the Lord, you will kneel down spontaneously and do everything to avoid any danger of losing fragments and to safeguard sacredness. You will also prepare your soul to receive Him, not in a state of sin but with purity and reverence.
Alen Koman: The main thing, the elephant in the room, regarding the difference in receiving Holy Communion is the traditional Latin Mass. Today, there are faithful who attend the Novus Ordo Mass and receive Holy Communion faithfully and with respect toward our Lord. But in the traditional form of the Latin Mass, there is almost no sacrilege because it is practically impossible for the laypeople to do so.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: It is not absolutely impossible because in former times, before the council, when there was only Communion kneeling and on the tongue, there were cases of hosts being stolen. Some people took the host out of their mouth, put it in their hand, and ran away. These cases existed, but were very few. When we weigh the matter, we must choose the lesser danger for our Lord. It is obvious that receiving Holy Communion directly on the tongue makes it more difficult to take the host out again because people can see it, and the host is already almost dissolved by saliva. Therefore, in the form of Communion on the tongue, cases of stealing or desecration are very rare.
Of course, the host can fall down even with a good priest, not because of his will but maybe because of a trembling hand. In that case, he reverently takes the holy host, purifies the place, kisses the ground, and prays. This was always done. It remains undeniable that Communion in the hand exposes our Lord to much greater desacralization, stealing of hosts, and weakening of faith.
Alen Koman: The form of receiving Holy Communion is not the only or main difference between the Novus Ordo and the traditional form of the Latin Mass. Why then, in your opinion, is the traditional Latin Mass so popular today, especially among young people and young families? Scutum fide is watched by many young people in their early twenties and even high school students. Is it the Latin language, or what does the traditional form mean to you personally?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: First, I will answer the first part of your question. It is simply a fact that beauty and holiness attract like a magnet. They attract any soul that sincerely desires to come closer to God. For example, I know personally a lady who had been a Muslim, though not practicing, then became a very zealous Protestant in a Pentecostal community with very noisy worship. When she traveled to another country during Holy Week, she attended a traditional Mass for the first time, a sung Mass, missa cantata, with Gregorian chant, polyphony, and the silence of the canon.
When she heard the beautiful singing and saw the ceremonies at the altar, she began to weep. She told me she had never in her life felt so close to God as in that Mass, even though she did not understand a single word of Latin. This gave her the impulse to become Catholic. She asked for catechism and became Catholic, and she told me she now attends the traditional Mass whenever possible.
We have so many similar cases, especially among young people. God is beauty. The more something is objectively beautiful, harmonious, and sacred, the more it attracts those who sincerely seek God. The traditional Mass is on a road of triumph throughout the world. I was recently in East Africa, where I met traditional communities of local African people. In a poor region, the local priests celebrate the traditional Mass in Latin for poor farmers. They sing Gregorian chant, Missa de Angelis. I celebrated a Mass recently where the whole community, children from the school and the farmers, sang the Missa de Angelis with full strength, even the creed, the third creed, by heart. I was moved.
They love it. They are happy to worship God in such a solemn manner. They feel more dignified and valued because they can sing such a beautiful chant even in Latin. My impression was that these African schoolchildren and farmers knew Latin better than some priests and bishops in our Church.
Alen Koman: So, objectively, we can say there is an upward trend in searching for the traditional Latin Mass, and objectively, it is more beautiful and more reverent. Then why, if I sense this correctly, is it being persecuted? Why are communities that wish to live faithfully with the traditional liturgy being persecuted, for instance, through Traditionis custodes and other documents from the Holy See?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: I think there are several factors. The first is ideology. There is an ideology among some churchmen, even high-ranking in the Vatican and among bishops, who want to impose on the entire Church a liturgy that is objectively weak in expressing the sacrificial truth of the Mass. Even when the Novus Ordo is celebrated correctly, without abuses, it is centered more on man. For example, in the Latin Novus Ordo at the opening words, “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” the priest must look at the people, but we should look to God first to greet Him.
These small indications show that the Novus Ordo in its structure is more human-centered, more like an assembly, with too much stress on the readings and on the words of man. There is an inflation of words. The rite gives much freedom to the priest to improvise. Therefore, this form lacks, objectively, the same beauty and security found in the traditional rite and also in all the Eastern rites. The Eastern rites stress sacrality, theocentrism, the eternal dimension, and the ineffable mystery. They use gestures of adoration, veneration, kissing, making the sign of the cross, silence, turning in one direction toward the cross and the tabernacle, and using a sacred language. Local languages can be used for readings and preaching, but the traditional structure remains.
What is fuller and more sacred attracts souls who sincerely seek the Lord, not themselves, not the priest, not the community. When we are immersed in the presence of the Lord, we will also have a better community among ourselves.
Alen Koman: As you said, these small gestures, like looking toward the people at the sign of the cross, give a false impression that man is more important than God. Then why does Traditionis custodes state in the first article that the Novus Ordo is the unique expression of the lex orandi?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: I forgot to mention the second reason why churchmen persecute the traditional Mass. The second reason is, in my opinion, a bad conscience, a remorse of conscience. When such churchmen see the beauty and full expression of sacrifice and silence in the traditional rite, it becomes a reminder of what they once knew in their youth. Many of them are older now. They try to repress this reminder by attempting to destroy the traditional Mass so that it will never be seen again. This is, I believe, part of the motive.
Now to your question. It is simply not true that the Novus Ordo is the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Church. For example, the rite for the former Anglicans, the Ordinariate rite, is approved by the Holy See and is part of the Roman rite. It contains beautiful elements, including the ancient offertory prayers and the option of the last Gospel. Therefore, the Novus Ordo is not the only expression.
This is a contradiction within Traditionis custodes. The document claims there is only one expression of the Roman rite, yet it still allows the traditional Mass in limited ways. Then what is this permitted traditional Mass? It must be a form of the Roman rite, yet the document treats it as something suspended in the air. This is another contradiction.
Never in the history of the Church was such rigidity expressed. Even Pope Pius the Fifth, when he reissued the Roman Missal in 1570, did not claim it was the unique expression. He allowed other rites at least two hundred years old, and was more tolerant and open than Pope Francis. Pius the Fifth did not create a new liturgy; he simply reissued the Missal of the Roman Curia, already very old. He stated that every Catholic priest always has the right to celebrate this Mass and that no one can forbid him. He never claimed that other forms were invalid.
Alen Koman: Now that we have stated that this form of liturgy is not floating in the air but is present and practical and objectively more beautiful, you travel around the world and meet many traditional communities. What do you notice when meeting these communities? Is it an abundance of grey hair and many older people, or something else?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: On the contrary. In October, I was in the United States and celebrated a pontifical high Mass in a large parish church with the permission of the local bishop. There were about one thousand people. The majority were families with children, large families with many children. I was deeply moved when distributing Holy Communion. I myself distributed for at least twenty or thirty minutes together with another priest. Entire families came, father, mother, and children. You could see from their faces and resemblance that they were one family. Some families had four, five, six, or even seven children. It was very moving. Sometimes the mothers carried babies on their breasts while receiving Holy Communion. I blessed these innocent little children.
During the Mass, which was a beautifully sung Mass, the choir sang in the loft near the organ. There were many little children and infants, and sometimes I heard their crying or small shouts during the Mass, not much, but present.
Alen Koman: Even though it was a sung Mass.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Yes, afterward, we met in the parish hall for a reception. I spoke to the choir master and to the parish priest and thanked them. I said, “Today we had two choirs, the choir near the organ and the choir of the babies.” This is the traditional Mass, the choir of the babies. Everywhere I go, I find a large group of altar boys, almost like a small group of soldiers, adolescent boys and young men, very serious yet joyful. You can see it in their faces. I have never met sad or rigid people at these traditional Masses. Those in the Church today who say that people who love the traditional Mass are rigid should come with me and see. These little babies are not rigid. The young men serving Mass are cheerful, normal, and sympathetic. There is no rigidity.
After the Mass, there is usually a reception. People are joyful, laughing, truly happy. This is how the Church should be. During the Mass, we are concentrated on the Lord, filled with deep faith, love, and interior joy, not superficial joy like dancing and clapping as in Pentecostal worship. That is too cheap. A deep spiritual joy can be seen in the eyes and in the face when the Lord is in the soul during Mass or after Holy Communion. After the Mass, yes, we can be joyful, we can clap, we can sing.
Alen Koman: Scutum fide, at least from my point of view, tries to be an apostolate for young people. I try to encourage young people not specifically to leave behind modernist habits but to embrace Catholic tradition. We can sense that modernism leads to a dying faith, while tradition is completely different. What would you say to the young people listening? What do you think are the challenges for young people today? The current age is not pleasant for them. It offers too much and nothing of real value.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: My message to you, dear young people, is that you have a unique chance to be witnesses of Christ in the midst of a perverted, morally corrupted, materialistic, blasphemous society, similar to the first Christians living in a pagan world. Saint Paul wrote to the first Christians that they were shining like stars in the midst of a corrupted society.
I say to you, be proud to live in this time and to be witnesses of Christ. Young men, especially, be soldiers of Christ and be joyful. Be yourselves. Do not become copies of others walking in the streets. Be individuals. Be courageous and say, “I will not do this. I will not watch this. I will not dress in this manner.” When people ask why, answer, “Because I am a Christian.” This is the most convincing answer. Be proud to be Christian and do not conform to the spirit of this world. Do not swim with the current.
Be like a spiritual salmon, a fish that swims against the current and jumps over obstacles. I understand this is not easy and that you are weak; therefore, go to the source. Go to Christ, and He will make you strong. Go to Holy Communion. Go frequently to Holy Confession. Purify your soul. Abandon impurity, especially pornography. Avoid it like poison. Then you will be happy, young man, young lady. Your eyes will shine differently. Your face will be different when you seek purity and avoid what the world offers. Unite yourselves with others of your age. Do common works, formation, participate in rallies, rosary, and pro-life activities. This is my message to you: be true Catholics.
Alen Koman: We discussed earlier in private the problem of vocation. Many young people are not even reminded that a vocation is needed. You must pray and discern your vocation, and one vocation is family life, being a mother, father, husband, or wife. Regarding families, once young people marry, the main problem today is openness to life. What does this mean? Many in both traditional and modern communities speak about being open to life. What exactly does this mean?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: We must be concrete when we speak about openness to life. Do not plan your children. They are not chickens that we plan in numbers. The authority to give life belongs to God. It is holy. To give life is something even divine because you give life to a potential citizen of heaven for all eternity. You cannot say, “I will decide who will be born and who will not.” Let God decide. Do not plan. Let God decide, and do not worry.
Live your life as husband and wife according to the law of God. When a new child comes, pray together, “Good Lord, increase our mutual love.” Because every new child brings challenges, sacrifices, and difficulties, say, “O Lord, we give this child to you. One day, this child will praise you for eternity. Increase our love for each other and for this child.”
My message to young couples is, when you marry, say, “We are not only for each other, we are for the children.” Be open in your lifestyle. God will bless you so much once in heaven.
Alen Koman: I apologize to interrupt. There are two dangers among Catholics. One is abortion, which is even present among Catholics, and the other is natural family planning. These are very important topics.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Of course, abortion is a horrible crime that no Catholic and no Christian should ever commit. It is impossible for a Christian. But there is also the issue of contraception. There can also be contraception through so-called natural methods. There is a contraceptive style of life that avoids children out of egoism, or for reasons such as psychological arguments. Some say the wife cannot have more children because she will be depressed. This is not a valid argument. It is not you who must decide about life; it is God. Live your married life in the hands of God, do not calculate, and then use methods.
The Church allows the use of the natural cycle, not planning is not a good word, but only for very serious reasons. Even Paul VI in Humanae Vitae wrote that even the natural cycle can be used in a sinful and egoistic way. Some Protestants accuse Catholics today, saying that Catholics do not use artificial contraceptives but have their own contraceptive method, natural planning. They call it the Catholic contraceptive pill. These are not my words, but the words of some Protestant observers. It is an oxymoron, and in some way, they are right.
It will be more certain for you when one day you come to heaven, husband and wife, and see all your children. They will come to you and say, “Father, Mother, I thank you for all eternity that you gave me life, that you contributed to my eternal praise of God.” But when, even with natural planning, you avoid a child who could have been born and praise God for eternity, you deprive someone whom God might have given life, but you said no. You said, “We can use natural planning, and he will not be born.”
Those who use natural planning say they are open to new life and that if conception happens, they will accept it. I think this is not completely sincere, not completely trusting. There is a way to avoid life while still having pleasure, intentionally, without giving in to life. They choose the days, plan everything exactly, so that they can have pleasure without the connection to life. When you trust in God, you will always have the aspect of life present. This is more sure for the moment when you will give account before God for the possible children you could have had. In eternity, all truth will be seen, even the smallest details. Nothing can be hidden, not only in this aspect of conjugal life, but also in other aspects of Christian and moral life.
Alen Koman: When we speak about abortion and related topics, we must also speak about vaccinations. It is very urgent, at least from my point of view, to warn our brothers and sisters, and also those who are not Catholic but watching, about the problems with vaccinations, especially those against COVID.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: There is a very serious aspect concerning the so-called anti-COVID vaccinations. The ones available and approved in Europe and America are abortion tainted, either in production or in testing. They have a connection to the horrible crime of vivisection of an innocent child in the womb during an abortion. The child, without anesthesia, has kidneys or other organs removed. The child is still alive because it must be alive. This is scientifically proven. The cell lines must be as fresh as possible, and the more fresh, the more efficient.
We are living in a tremendous, apocalyptic abortion industry, and there is a second industry, the fetal industry. They collaborate with abortion clinics and biomedical research factories. They supply them with organs of aborted babies. Every day, abortion increases, and organs are taken, sometimes by cesarean, through contracts between abortion clinics and fetal research laboratories. The COVID-19 vaccines we have are all connected in some way to this fetal industry and are direct products of it. These two industries are connected. We cannot say abortion is far away and remote from us, while this saves many lives. The killing of an innocent baby and the cruel, cannibalistic vivisection of a child can never be called remote.
We have the fetal industry, and this is close to us because we are taking its products. The fetal industry is connected with the abortion industry. By taking these products into our bodies, we are saying to the fetal industry, “Continue. We are your consumers. We take your products.” This is gravely immoral. The intrinsic evil is the production of the cell lines, but the conscious use of these products is also gravely immoral.
You cannot kill a baby, take its organs, and say that with these organs you will save a million people. It is impossible. It is immoral. You cannot do evil in order to achieve good. Sacred Scripture says through Saint Paul, you can never do evil to achieve a good aim.
Another aspect is the grave sin of omission by the Catholic community, especially the Holy See and the Vatican, which failed to protest vigorously against the fetal industry. This is a grievous omission. This behavior will go down in history. The greatest representatives of the Catholic Church, the majority of bishops, and even some traditional priests lacked protest and de facto collaborated with one of the most horrible scenarios of humankind, the fetal industry.
Alen Koman: At this point, Your Excellency, I ask you for ten more minutes, because we have one very important topic. We discussed families and lay people, but not the clergy. The first topic is modernism, because it is in such huge contrast to everything we are discussing. You mentioned priests, both traditional and mostly modernist. They are doing everything wrong regarding liturgy, globalism, and so on. What do you see as the main problem of modernism, and why?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: The main problem of modernism is relativism. It is a poison. Relativism says there is no stable and constant truth. Truth changes with time. What was true one hundred years ago, for example, that homosexual acts are an evil against nature, is now said by modernists to be no longer true. They say that times, circumstances, research, and the understanding of modern people have changed, and so homosexuality is now permissible. This is why they promote LGBT issues in the German Synod.
Modernism is the death of truth. It denies conviction. It contradicts divine revelation. Jesus Christ said, “I am the Truth.” Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God is truth. God is unchangeable, and His truth is unchangeable. Modernism attempts to play God, to establish what is true and what is not. This is the deepest danger: doctrinal relativism, moral relativism, and liturgical relativism. Man places himself in the place of God. It is extreme anthropocentrism.
Pius X rightly said that modernism is the collection of all heresies. In recent decades, relativism has penetrated all levels of the Church, especially seminaries, priestly formation, theological faculties, and even some documents of the Holy See. For example, the document of Abu Dhabi, signed by the Pope, states that the pluralism of religions is willed by God. This is relativistic.
We must return to the faith of the apostles, the Fathers of the Church, the saints, who clearly taught what Christ taught. This truth is beautiful and sets us free. As Saint Augustine said, gaudium veritatis, the joy of truth. The first task of the Pope is to strengthen his brothers in the faith, not in relativism. The Pope is called to be a rock, solid and firm. Let us pray and offer sacrifices that God may touch the Pope, give him awareness, and return him to strengthen the Church unambiguously and courageously in the revealed truth. Let us pray that God will grant His Church strong and holy popes, bishops, and priests.
Alen Koman: As you mentioned, the clergy plays a huge role in promoting modernism and also in fighting against it. What would you say as an inspiration to empower clergymen to be more faithful and to fight courageously? My advice for them, as we discussed, would be to get rid of female presence in the presbyterium, to turn towards the tabernacle, and to give Holy Communion only kneeling and on the tongue.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Yes, this is good, but we have to go deeper. For a priest to be a truly good priest, he must have an intense spiritual life. Without an intense spiritual life of prayer, even if he does these good things, he will be empty inside. The first requirement is a deep prayer life every day. Priests should spend very little time on television and the internet, or at least reduce it, and spend more time in prayer, visiting people, and so on.
A deep prayer life is essential, along with a necessary minimum of sacrifices to live the life of Christ. And then, of course, to make the Holy Mass the center of your day, the high point, the sun shining in your daily life. Every day, love the Mass more than the day before. Celebrate it tomorrow with more love and more attention, and be more united with Jesus. All the details of the Mass that you mentioned, such as orientation, help the priest to be more united. He should give Holy Communion only on the tongue, be a defender of the Holy Eucharist, and be a priest who loves and protects the Eucharist, especially during Holy Communion.
Do not be afraid. Be a confessor of the faith, even if persecuted by superiors. Protect our Lord in the Eucharist. Do not give in the hand. Do all you can so that the Lord is received with as much exterior and interior veneration as possible.
Also, study the doctrine well. Read St Thomas Aquinas, read solid theologians from the older times, because they are very exact. Study well the doctrine of the Church, and know what you are preaching. Be ready to give your life for every Catholic truth and for the Lord in the Eucharist. And ask the Lord to give you a great love for souls and for families. Finally, be a true son of Our Lady, the Holy Virgin Mary, a Marian priest.
Alen Koman: Now, the final question I must ask. The title of your book is Custos Fidei. We love to sing the hymn Custos Fidei. What does Custos Fidei mean to you, and why did you give this title?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: I gave this title because we are living in a time with many negative signs in the world and in the Church. These negative signs can give good people a sense of despair or depression because they see so much darkness and confusion in the Church. Therefore, I chose the title Christus Vincit, Guardian of the Faith. Christ is triumphant; He is winning even today. He is winning over the confusion and the crisis in the Church. He will win the current crisis through the little ones in the Church, especially families, Catholic families, and simple souls. This gives us hope.
Alen Koman: Your Excellency, thank you very much for your time. In the end, I kindly ask for your blessing for our viewers and for everyone present here live. Please, we will finish with your blessing.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Dominus vobiscum. Et cum spiritu tuo. Et benedictio Dei omnipotentis, Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, descendat super vos et maneat semper. Amen. Laudetur Jesus Christus.
Alen Koman: In aeternum. Amen.