Bishop Schneider: He is abusing his powers to undermine the Catholic faith. This is against his task, against the nature of the papacy. I have so much compassion for him, really, as my brother, who must one day answer before the judgment of God. It is really serious, and therefore, I have compassion for his soul and pray and admonish him that he may repent, that he may have a new life. I call this Neo-Marxist, Neo communist gender ideology, a dictatorship in Western countries. We must protest against this. We must unmask this as dictatorial, as totalitarian, and unite all the people of goodwill and common sense, to make an alliance, even political, against the new dictatorship, Neo-Marxist, gender ideology, dictatorship in the Western countries, to save human beings, to save the family.
Fr. Daniel Maria Klimek: Yeah, it’s been such an immense propaganda effort in the West, and it’s interesting. You mentioned how Neo-Marxist it is, Neo communist. I’ve even heard Catholic scholars call it Neo Gnostic, because of the dualism that Gnosticism presents between body and soul, and body and spirit, and how transgenderism is a newer manifestation of such a heresy.
Bishop Schneider: Yes, this is, of course, Neo Gnosticism. It’s a very good observation and diagnosis you gave. Two thousand years ago, one of the pillars was also the so-called androgyny. It means a being where there is no difference between the sexes, but you have to overcome the difference of the sexes, they said, and create a new being, which is at the same time male and female, androgenic. This is pure gender ideology that we have today. This is Neo Gnosticism.
Fr. Daniel Maria Klimek: I also wanted to ask you about the Society of Saint Pius the 10th. I know that you were a visitator to them on behalf of a pontifical commission. You have had dialogue with them. What is the current status of the SSPX in the Church, and are faithful Catholics allowed to attend SSPX Masses, especially those who desire the more traditional liturgy, the extraordinary form?
I’m here today with a very special guest, a man who has been a spiritual hero for millions of Catholics, somebody who in times of confusion has been such a voice of Orthodoxy, tradition, and reason: Bishop Schneider. His Excellency also has a new book out, Credo, which is a new catechism, a beautiful work that brings so much clarity to numerous issues. It is such a beautiful educational tool for the laity and for us priests as well. Your Excellency, thank you so much for joining us.
Bishop Schneider: You’re welcome.
Fr. Daniel Maria Klimek: Your Excellency, let me begin with what has been the most controversial topic in the Christian world, fiduciary supplicants. Initially, the response from the Catholic world, a huge response from the African bishops, numerous conferences of African bishops, from the Polish bishops, from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic bishops, from the Hungarian bishops, and from numerous American priests and American bishops, has been very negative. There has been strong opposition, and I noticed just recently that opposition has also extended to the East, specifically the Coptic Church, suspending ecumenical dialogue with the Catholic Church after decades of dialogue, and even in Russia, the Moscow Patriarchate denouncing it, calling it an innovation and a deviation from traditional Christian moral teaching. How do you respond to all this?
Bishop Schneider: This is an evident sign that this document is unacceptable in itself to everyone who still uses reason, who still has common sense. It is simply against common sense. It is evidently a blessing for sin. It is a very cunning form, clothed in a very cunning, sophisticated form, but people, bishops, and other Church leaders who still use reason will say, No, you cannot fool us, you cannot take us for idiots. This is a blessing for sin. You can say what you want. You can make mental acrobatics. It is stated as a blessing for homosexual or other couples. This is a couple, and for human beings, our language uses the word couple for a sexual relationship. There is no other word. Saying that they will only bless the couple but not the relationship is deception and an insult to reason. We have to state this, and we will not accept such a huge insult to reason, such a huge lie and cunning. It is unworthy for bishops, for the Catholic Church, to produce such a document, which evidently promotes sin and sin against nature, sodomy, and other adultery, and we have to state this. Therefore, almost the entire African Episcopacy stood up and said, No, we will not accept this. And as you mentioned, other episcopates recently, also Russian bishops and others, and our brothers, the Orthodox, also the Coptics now, and even the Russian Orthodox, they all understand from the title of the text itself that it is unacceptable. It is against divine revelation. It is against Holy Scripture. It is against reason.
Fr. Daniel Maria Klimek: Yeah, and I’m interested, Your Excellency, in how we perceive this in terms of magisterial documents. I believe, please correct me if I’m wrong, that the understanding of the magisterium is that it is in the protection and service of the deposit of faith. And if a bishop speaks outside of the truth of divine revelation, outside of the deposit of faith, he is no longer part of that magisterial exercise. So is this document something that is not binding, or should we still treat it as an erring magisterial document, or is that a contradiction in terms?
Bishop Schneider: It is evident. This is an erring document. We cannot play games and say it is not erring. I repeat, we cannot. This is an insult to reason. It is in itself against divine revelation. We cannot accept this in any way, even when it is a papally approved document. It is against divine revelation, it is promoting sin, and therefore it is an abuse of the magisterium. Here, the Pope and his dicastery are abusing the powers which Christ gave them to protect divine revelation, to preserve it scrupulously, and to avoid any ambiguity, not only errors, but ambiguities, and not giving contradictory or ambiguous signals. Therefore, juridically, this document is a document of the magisterium, but it is against the task of the magisterium. It is an abuse. I repeat, an abuse. But by this abuse, the Pope and the dicastery do not lose their authority. In this specific case, we must not obey. We cannot obey. We must reject these documents, protest against them respectfully, not polemically, and ask the Pope to retract them.
We had cases very rarely in the history of the Church. Let us take Pope Honorius I in the seventh century. He wrote two documents, an ordinary magisterium, and two letters to the Patriarch of Constantinople, Sergius. In these letters, the Pope expressed himself ambiguously regarding the dogma of the humanity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, undermining this dogma. After his death, Pope Honorius was condemned by three Ecumenical Councils. He was condemned, and his so-called magisterium, juridically, legally, was basically contradicting the magisterium. He was even named a heretic by the Ecumenical Councils. His successors said he was not a heretic, but they condemned him because in his magisterium, he abused his authority and used it to promote heresy, to support heresy. This is a case we must know. It happened rarely in the history of the Church, and now again with this pontificate, because it is so evident we cannot accept this in any way. We have to protest respectfully, I repeat, and ask the Pope insistently to retract this.
Fr. Daniel Maria Klimek: Thank you, Your Excellency. I think a lot of Catholics throughout the world really appreciate your strong stance in support of the truth, the deposit of faith, and divine revelation. At the same time, as you know well, it is respectful opposition. Many Catholics may be so disappointed with Pope Francis and some of his decisions, and even see a pattern in these decisions, that they may develop an antagonistic perspective toward the Pope, almost to the point of disrespecting the office of the Vicar of Christ. But I noticed you mentioned that there isn’t a person you pray for more than Pope Francis. You said he is, in many ways, a spiritual prisoner in chains, and that you do not look at him with antagonism, but with pity for his soul.
Bishop Schneider: Yes, exactly. I have much pity for him. I love him. This must be supernatural love, because he is in such a sad situation. He is abusing his powers to undermine the Catholic faith. This is against his task, against the nature of the papacy. I have so much compassion for him, as my brother, who must one day answer before the judgment of God. It is really serious, and therefore I have compassion for his soul and pray and admonish him that he may repent, that he may again strengthen the entire Church in faith, clearly, unambiguously, as Christ commanded him in Peter. This is love for the neighbor. When I pray for him and admonish him lovingly and respectfully, this is true love.
Other behaviors, making sophisms, mental acrobatics, or behaving like the tale of the king’s new clothes, where the king is naked but everyone says he has beautiful vestments, and only a child says the truth, we must be that child and say, with all respect, Holy Father, this is not true. What you are doing is damaging your own soul first, putting your soul in danger, and then putting the entire world in danger, misleading and misguiding them. What a responsibility, incredible. Therefore, there is no antagonism, no bad feelings. We must avoid that. This is too human. But we can offer sacrifices, acts of reparation for the Pope, and I believe and hope that at least he can leave this world repentant.
Fr. Daniel Maria Klimek: Yeah, I feel that in recent months, many of us Catholics have been very shocked and disappointed with the treatment of some traditional bishops and cardinals. Cardinal Burke is having his pension and health care taken away. Cardinal or Bishop Strickland is being removed, of course, from his position in Tyler, Texas. Is it safe to say that these are ideological moves against these men?
Bishop Schneider: Of course, this is evident. You cannot deny this. At the same time, other clerics, bishops, and cardinals are promoted who openly promote and back heresy. They are promoted.
Fr. Daniel Maria Klimek: Unfortunately, that is a sad reality. I noticed that in recent years, a couple of Catholic authors, Ralph Martin in his book A Church in Crisis and Julia Maloney, have written about this group called the St Gallen mafia. Allegedly, it is a group of influential bishops and cardinals who meet annually in St Gallen, Switzerland, and have a very strong leftist modernist agenda that they try to advance in the Church. Some even argue that they played an influential role in the election of Pope Francis. Do you have an opinion, Your Excellency, on their influence?
Bishop Schneider: I do not know exactly what they are doing now, but what we can read, you mentioned these books, there had been these meetings and these preparations to influence the election of a pope. This is simply logic, because the enemy is not sleeping. Once St Peter Canisius, the great Jesuit saint, the second apostle of Germany against Protestantism in the 16th century, also Doctor of the Church, St Peter Canisius, he made this affirmation: Peter is sleeping while Judas is awakened. So the good ones, we are sleeping, and the enemies are very vigilant and very busy promoting their agenda.
Jesus said to us in the Gospel that the children of this world are more prudent than the children of light, and therefore He said we also have to be prudent like the serpent but innocent like the dove. We also have to apply. But our strategy is not human like politicians, as this so-called St Gallen group did, or is still doing, I do not know exactly. Probably they are doing this in another way. They are really not doing the work of God but of the world, like politicians.
We must first have our strategy of the Holy Spirit for the next election of the Pope, and these are prayers, acts of reparation, and acts of sacrifice to implore divine intervention. God can intervene. He did this in history, and He will do this. We do not know when or how, but He will do it. It also depends on our prayers, on our perseverant prayers and sacrifices. We must organize a holy mafia, holy crusades of prayers and sacrifices, to implore this.
Of course, those in charge, the cardinals, those who really love the Church, should also meet or speak in some discreet way. But I think this is secondary. Of course, it is useful, and they have to do this, I think, but it has secondary importance.
Fr. Daniel Maria Klimek: Yeah, I notice, Your Excellency, as you’re speaking right now, and it’s a theme in many of your books, there is this reality of the supernatural that in much of the Church and the world today has been abandoned or ignored. But there is a strong emphasis in your leadership as you accentuate the need for spiritual warfare, spiritual battle, prayer, reparation, and calling down the Holy Spirit. I just wanted to ask you, how have you seen this loss of the supernatural in the Church and the world?
Bishop Schneider: It started with, how do you say, an exaggerated accentuation of the nature of natural realities, of the temporal realities within the Church. In the life of the Church, with the Second Vatican Council, basically the Church made a turn, an exaggerated turn, to temporal realities, to natural realities, and in doing so diminished her first task, her first mission, the supernatural mission, which the Lord gave the Church: to preach the truth to all people. This implies a missionary zeal to all religions, to all people, and to teach them the law of God, what the Lord commanded, and to baptize and to pray. These are substantial supernatural missions because this is the mission of the Church, to guide all humanity, all people, possibly to Heaven, to eternal life. Those who freely accept this, many unfortunately do not accept this appeal of God, this gift of faith, and go away into sin. Many souls can be lost.
Therefore, Our Lady warns us in her apparitions, as we know, in Lourdes and in Fatima, especially. She gave us this warning as a good mother and showed the children the reality of hell, even showing that souls were there. This is a reality. Our Lady said, therefore, to pray and to make sacrifices for the salvation of souls, so that sinners will be saved and not condemned. This is a reality in our day and very serious. The Church must, with clarity, warn people not to go into the abyss, as a good mother, as a good doctor and physician, who must warn people from diseases, from all these contagions, spiritual diseases and contagions. And of course, warn them with motherly concern. This is the mission of the Church.
But unfortunately, over the last 50 to 60 years, the life of the Church has been very much influenced and characterized by a naturalistic tendency. This tendency penetrated all levels of the Church, first the liturgy. The liturgy became more naturalistic, more horizontal, more anthropocentric. This is a tendency to naturalism and is reflected in the way we celebrate the liturgy all over the world in the so-called liturgical reform. This is a very clear manifestation. Then there are other priorities, which dioceses and the Holy See, unfortunately, have pursued, promoting inner-worldly issues more or promoting other religions, such as Islam or Buddhism, even greeting them or giving them blessings. We cannot give our blessings to false religions. This is impossible. This goes against the first commandment. We can and must love people of other religions, yes, and respect them as persons, but not manifest our respect for their beliefs, their theories, or their errors. We cannot do this. To do so is also a lack of love for our neighbor. Of course, we must always show delicacy and respect to persons of other religions, but not promote their errors or their religions as such.
This is a great error and confusion that undermines the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, the only Savior, and the uniqueness of the one truth, which is the Catholic faith. When people of other religions manifest some good virtue or some truth, it is because of the simple human reason God gave them, and not because of their religion. God gave humans the natural capacity for truth, the natural law, and knowledge of some truth. This is present in many religions because of natural law, not because of their religion. We have to use this and have the missionary zeal to guide these people to Christ, the only Savior, with patience, love, and respect.
Fr. Daniel Maria Klimek: Amen, amen. I love that distinction between, of course, we are called to love everyone as creatures of God, as our fellow human beings, and as brothers and sisters. But that does not mean that we are called to subscribe to or promote false theology or false religious doctrine that undermines Catholicism or treats it as if it were one among others, which completely undermines the centrality of Christ. I noticed, before I became a priest, when I was still a layperson, I was able to do a master’s in religion at one of the Ivy League schools in America, at Yale. I was really looking forward to the opportunity, thinking what an honor it would be to be at an Ivy League school. But I noticed a reality that was very poisonous, and it was this reality of, as you said, Your Excellency, naturalism and rationalism affecting biblical studies, with excessive historical-critical methods. I remember I took a historical Jesus class.
The professor, a Catholic who would receive the Eucharist, taught us that Jesus’s miracles were not real, that they were just a construction, a myth, with no rationale other than her own ideological agenda. I remember one student said, I entered this class as a Christian. I do not know what I am anymore. But what really protected me was that I had a strong sense of the supernatural, mystical dimensions of our faith. I knew, as you emphasize, about Lourdes, Fatima, Padre Pio, stigmata, Eucharistic miracles, Saint Faustina, and so many revelations of our faith. That pious tradition gives us a type of spiritual armor against these rationalistic lies. When the Lord works in the supernatural, when He shows us the mystical dimensions, it demonstrates that the miracles of Jesus are real. Even something like Padre Pio’s stigmata points to Christ, to the supernatural, and his marks resemble the divine.
Bishop Schneider: Yes, this is proof, as you mentioned, and this is not only your case. What you mentioned has spread throughout the world in the last 50 years in the Church, unfortunately. We have to stress again the supernatural aim of the Church, of our life, the eternal life of grace, and the centrality of Jesus Christ, not only the centrality but also the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the Savior, the only Savior. We must concretely stress the priority of prayer in the Church, in the life of priests and the faithful, the priority of the supernatural vision of eternal life, and also penance, because we must do penance for our own sins and for the sins of the world, according to the traditional Catholic practice of penitential works, especially now in our time. We must not forget this. Of course, we must do this with joy, as Christians and Catholics, even when performing acts of penance. Not continuously, but when appropriate, on penitential days or special occasions, to do acts of reparation.
We have to do this with joy because we love Christ and want to demonstrate our love for Him. We want to engage and contribute to saving souls, to save a soul for all eternity. This is the most excellent work we can do and gives us the greatest happiness imaginable: to save a soul for eternity, to live in a deep personal relationship with Christ, and to grow in love for Him. True love for Christ also increases in us the courage to profess our faith, not to be fearful or afraid of the world or what they say about us. We must have no complex of inferiority at all. We must be convinced of our truth, in joy, in God’s grace, and in courage. This is the beautiful vocation of our Catholic faith: everyone at his place, the laypeople, first the parents, the families, the domestic Church, the children, and the youth. Priests, of course, are called today, as a special challenge, to live the priesthood as true apostolic men with the grace of God, to be true priests of Jesus. And the bishops, as the successors of the apostles, together with priests and the faithful, form a big family, even a spiritual army. Our Lady is the commander of our army. She is the destroyer of all heresies, and we always have Our Lady with us. We have the conviction of the victory of our Catholic faith.
Fr. Daniel Maria Klimek: Beautifully said, Your Excellency. I notice that Our Lady, as you mentioned, has always emphasized, even in her messages, as in Fatima, the spirituality of penance and sacrifice. I think it is a disappointment to many Christians when spirituality has been watered down, because without the cross, there is no true Christianity. But I love how you put it: it should not be perceived as an external obligation imposed by the Church, but as an act of love, an act of love for Jesus crucified. He died for me on the cross, and I can respond with my act of love, reparation, and sacrifice. I remember reading a theologian who said that today, many priests sacrifice themselves on the wrong cross, the cross of administration, of administrative tasks. But a true priest sacrifices himself on the cross of prayer, fasting, sacrifice, and spiritual fatherhood for the people of God. I think that is also something greatly missing when we treat priesthood and administrative work as the goal or idol of the priesthood. That remains too naturalistic.
Bishop Schneider: Exactly, exactly. We have all the means that God gave us in the Catholic Church, and we have to use them to love our faith and to know our faith better. That is why I wrote this Compendium Credo as a help to discover the beauty of our Catholic faith, to love the faith more, to be convinced of it, and from this conviction to live our faith daily, especially in the sacraments, in our prayer life, and in our duties, which we all must manifest. Also, the love for our neighbors, carrying our cross with faith, love, and God’s help, contributes to the salvation of souls, including our own, and helps us grow in love for God. Amen.
Fr. Daniel Maria Klimek: Yes, it is a beautiful work, Your Excellency. It has even helped me as someone who would teach moral theology in the classroom. I love the section you have on morality, and the beautiful section on spirituality and the various degrees of grace. I noticed that there are things in your catechism that are not prominently found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. There is even a section on Freemasonry, which seems like a topic we do not hear much about these days. How would you say your catechism differs from the official catechism of the Catholic Church as we have known it?
Bishop Schneider: First, the form. It is in question-and-answer format. The official catechism is written more like a manual, a book, or a treatise, which is more difficult for people to follow and understand. My catechism is more practical in question-and-answer format. Regarding content, some topics are not treated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, such as Freemasonry, methods of Oriental religions like yoga and Reiki, and even new age practices, which are influential today. There are also new challenges today, such as homosexual ideology and the so-called LGBT movement, which I address. I also address relativism regarding different religions, which is not clearly clarified in the official catechism, to point out the danger of their errors, not of the people, but of the errors themselves. We must stress the uniqueness of the Catholic Church and of Jesus Christ, and warn against wrong ecumenism or misguided interreligious dialogue, which today undermines the clarity of the uniqueness of Christ and the truth of the Catholic faith.
I also underline the importance of the liturgy, the true, integral liturgy according to the constant, perennial tradition of the Church. In liturgical life, there should not be revolutions or ruptures, as unfortunately occurred with the liturgical reforms. To be honest, we must address this topic. I wrote my catechism simply to help the people, to help the Church, and to make a contribution toward improving and healing those areas in the Church over the last decades that are ambiguous or undermine clarity. In this perspective, I wanted to provide help for the people, for simple faithful, but also for theologians and even for the Holy See in some way, implicitly, to address and correct these issues that must be clarified.
Fr. Daniel Maria Klimek: Still, yeah, beautiful, beautiful contribution. And I love, I love your excellency that you dedicated the book to the mothers, and how you often use that expression, the little ones, really, as a shepherd caring for those souls who have a humble, beautiful, devout faith and wanting to guide them properly. And you mentioned the homosexual ideology, and of course, today it is also prominent with the gender ideology. You once gave a fascinating response to Diane Montona when she asked you about the fall of the Berlin Wall. You are someone whose family and you grew up in the Soviet Union. Your parents were part of that underground church, really facing those sufferings and persecutions firsthand. And when Diane Monsonya asked you, how did you feel when the Berlin Wall fell, you said to her, quote, I had a deep joy that finally this atheistic system had collapsed. However, I could not have imagined that the breakdown of this atheistic system would usher in a worse situation in Europe, which is now before us, the dictatorship of gender ideology. This is really a dictatorship. It is actually the same methods as in communist times. That is a powerful, fascinating observation. How do you mean, Your Excellency, that you see those same methods as in communist times with this dictatorship?
Bishop Schneider: This is evident. We have seen this already for decades, increasingly in the last years in Western countries, especially Europe, the United States, or in other countries of Latin America, where they introduced cunning dictatorial laws, very cunning, the so-called laws of hate speech. So when you simply defend common sense, natural law, family, and say homosexual relationships are against nature, against reason, which is evident, simply evident, you are punished in Europe, even with prison. We had a case of a former minister in Finland, a believing Lutheran lady, who once quoted the Bible, saying that homosexual acts and relationships are a sin publicly. She was accused of hate speech, and she had to go through so many judicial trials until the latest appeal court. Fortunately, she was absolved, but she had to go through this humiliation for many years.
This is now evident, a method like the communists used in my time. I remember, for example, they did not say hate; sometimes they also used the word hate, because when you were against the communist system, they said you were hating them, or they said you were an enemy of the Soviet Union. To be an enemy is almost the same as to be hated. People, priests, and others were condemned simply because they were enemies of the people, especially under Stalin. So you see, these hate speech laws are almost the same as the communist laws of the enemies of the people, and without any appeal, they were condemned. Then the communists promoted the atheistic, materialistic ideology from kindergarten, really from the small ones up to the university. It was always there. We have the same scenario today in almost all Western European and Latin American countries, where, from kindergarten, they are already pushing the ideological agenda very clearly. These are, for me, a new, I call this Neo-Marxist, Neo communist gender ideology dictatorship in Western countries.
We must protest against this, we must unmask this as dictatorial, as totalitarian, and unite all people of good will and common sense to make alliances, even politically, against the new dictatorship, Neo-Marxist gender ideology dictatorship in Western countries, to save human beings, to save the family.
Fr. Daniel Maria Klimek: Yeah, it has been such an immense propaganda effort in the West. And it is interesting, you mentioned how Neo-Marxist it is, Neo communist. I have even heard Catholic scholars who call it Neo Gnostic because of the dualism that Gnosticism presents between body and soul, body and spirit, and how transgenderism is a newer manifestation of such a heresy.
Bishop Schneider: Yes, this is, of course, Neo Gnosticism. It is a very good observation you gave. Two thousand years ago, one of the pillars was also the so-called Androgenism, which means a being where there is no difference between the sexes, and they said you have to overcome the difference of the sexes, and create a new being which is at the same time male and female, Androgenic. This is pure gender ideology that we have today. This is Neo Gnosticism also.
Fr. Daniel Maria Klimek: Your Excellency, as a final question, I wanted to ask you about the Society of Saint Pius the 10th. I know that you were a visitator to them on behalf of the Pontifical Commission and have had dialogue with them. What is the current status of the SSPX in the Church, and are faithful Catholics allowed to attend SSPX Masses, especially those who desire the more traditional liturgy, the extraordinary form?
Bishop Schneider: Well, basically, the existence of the Society of Saint Pius the 10th exists because of the crisis of the Church. If we did not have the doctrinal and liturgical crisis after the Council, there would be no necessity for a Society of Saint Pius the 10th. Especially regarding the Mass, Archbishop Lefebvre always stated that the reason for the Society’s existence is the Mass, to preserve and hand over this treasure of the perennial liturgy of the Church to the next generations. Because of the intrinsic weakness and ambiguity of the Novus Ordo, which contains some elements of Protestant influence, you cannot deny this. This was the first and basic reason of Archbishop Lefebvre, to preserve the Holy Mass, the traditional Mass. Thanks to him, and not exclusively but mainly him, we now have the traditional Latin Mass. Pope Benedict extended this to the entire Church. Unfortunately, Pope Francis limited it again, but it is probably only a temporary measure.
The Society also guarantees the pure formation of priests, as it was until the Council, theologically, doctrinally, and liturgically. This formation is a kind of treasure in the Church because some affirmations in the Council are still unclear and require clarification. They are not heresies but ambiguous, and we need clarity in the Church. We cannot continue with sucha big ambiguity. This is, for me, the basic intention of the work of Archbishop Lefebvre. He also always rejected any schismatic tendencies. He even expelled priests from the Society who did not recognize the Popes in Rome, Paul VI or John Paul II. Until the end of his life, especially when he consecrated bishops, he tried to get the approval of the Pope. He wrote letters and implored the Pope that he wanted to act with his blessing. This shows that he had a true sense of the Church and acted only as a measure of an extraordinary situation.
To answer your question, Pope Francis in some way improved the situation of the Society of Saint Pius the 10th in the Church. He granted them the ordinary faculties to hear confessions for all the priests of the Society. This is a very important step to normalize the Society. He also granted the possibility to assist at weddings, marriages, and canonical assistance with the celebration of the nuptial Mass. Therefore, priests of the Society can publicly celebrate the nuptial Mass, which is approved by the Pope. However, there remains a contradiction because the next day their Mass is not approved. I have asked the Holy See to grant priests of the Society general permission to celebrate Mass to regularize this situation. They are doing nothing contrary to what the Church did before the Council. Their work is meritorious.
The problem is more juridical, but also psychological. They should be regularized and integrated into the life of the Church canonically to avoid a mentality of self-sufficiency or ghetto mentality, which can arise when a group lives autonomously for too long. I hope this can be resolved.
When people have no other possibility to attend the traditional Mass, they can go to the Mass of the Society of Saint Pius the 10th. Their Masses are valid, and they are not schismatic. There are statements from the Holy See confirming that the Society is not schismatic. Even if people grow up in their communities, it is logical that they have the right to continue their formation and Church life. We must be pastoral in these cases because there is no heresy. They pray for the Pope and the local bishop, even publicly, which is good. The letter of the law is secondary in this case. The purity of faith, the liturgy, and the salvation of souls, united with the Pope and the bishop, is what matters.
All good Catholics, including other communities of the traditional Latin Mass, should unite with the Society. They cannot continue to antagonize each other. Such antagonism is against the good of the Church and the renewal of the Church. We must abandon unnecessary conflicts and work together for the good of the Church in this time of extraordinary and unprecedented crisis.
Fr. Daniel Maria Klimek: Thank you. Your Excellency. There is so much clarity and wisdom on an issue that is important to so many devout Catholics. I want to say Your Excellency that you are someone whom I had the joy of meeting in person in Steubenville. We had dinner with the students. One thing that stood out to me was how the wisdom of the saints comes out of you. The wisdom of the Church Fathers comes out of you. You have a deep love for tradition. You are someone who, when I sat in your presence, I realized this is a bishop who takes apostolic succession very seriously. You have been a voice of reason during times of confusion and a voice of conviction and courage for so many Catholics throughout the world. I want to say thank you. Thank you for your resilience. Thank you for your faithfulness to Christ. Thank you for being a spiritual leader for so many of us.
Bishop Schneider: God bless you, dear Father Daniel Maria, for your work and for your apostolate with the students. May you be blessed, and may all your works bring plentiful spiritual fruits.
Fr. Daniel Maria Klimek: Thank you so much, Your Excellency. It has been an absolute pleasure and honor to speak with you today.
Bishop Schneider: You are welcome.