Michael Matt: His Excellency was born in the Soviet Union. He was ordained a priest in 1990, consecrated a bishop in 2006, and in 2011 was transferred to the position of auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese in Kazakhstan. He is currently the General Secretary of the Conference of the Catholic Bishops of Kazakhstan. But most importantly, ladies and gentlemen, he is the spiritual patriarch, if you will, the shepherd, our spiritual leader, and our very, very special friend. We have been honored to have His Excellency at the Catholic Identity Conference several times, and this year, not even sure exactly what time it is for His Excellency in Kazakhstan, but he agreed to be here. He wanted to be here so much that he agreed to come to us by Zoom today. I would like you to make a warm show of appreciation, respect, love, and gratitude to His Excellency, Bishop Athanasius Schneider.
I am trying to get them to stop embarrassing you, Your Excellency, but they are so happy to see you. They just want to let you know that. Good morning. How are you?
Bishop Schneider: Thank you. It is a pleasure for me to greet all of you, and I regret that I could not come this year to this conference. I was accompanying you with my prayers and blessings. I hope that you had a good and blessed meeting to sanction our Catholic faith.
Michael Matt: Thank you so much, Your Excellency. What time of day is it over there right now? Is it late at night in Kazakhstan?
Bishop Schneider: It is 9:30 more or less in the evening, so I will go soon to sleep.
Michael Matt: I wonder, Your Excellency, if you could give us a little word of encouragement. There are many things in the news right now that have been very depressing, and one of the reasons we were hoping you could be with us in person was to help us understand, from a spiritual point of view, how we refrain from becoming discouraged, given the news out of the Vatican and so forth. What would you say to us briefly to keep us inspired and ready to fight, not getting discouraged or too depressed over what is happening?
Bishop Schneider: I would like to encourage you to be faithful to the Catholic faith, even if the Pope in Rome is confusing the purity of faith with his words. Nevertheless, we know our faith. You have to say, I know my faith. I know Him to whom I gave my trust, to Christ, and that the Catholic faith and the commandments of God cannot be changed. No authority, even if an angel from heaven comes and says to us that same sex unions are good, you will say no, I will not accept this, because God taught in Scripture and the Church that this is a sin.
Even if someone says that those who advocate same sex unions, even maybe the pope, will say that they will live chastely and in sexual continence, we will not believe this, because the structure itself is promoting this lifestyle, and it is putting them in immediate danger of mortal sin. The Church can never, even implicitly, support such forms of living together or cohabitation. You can call this with different terms; it does not matter. They have to be very clear.
I think you, my dear faithful laity, I am proud of you, that you are keeping the faith. Thank you also, Mr. Michael Matt, for your beautiful work. I would like to thank you very much. You have very mighty patrons, Saint Michael, so you do not have to fear.
Let us all consecrate ourselves to Our Lady, to her Immaculate Heart. Let us invoke the protection of our angels, our guardian angels, and Saint Michael the Archangel. They will protect us and guide us. Let us pray very much for the shepherds of the Church, for the pope himself. I think he is the person who needs the most prayers, and maybe not only prayers, maybe sacrifices. God will provide for His Church. The Church is not ours; it is His Church. When it is the Church of Christ, He will take care of it, and He will intervene.
Even so, we will continue to love our Mother Church and to protect her to the extent that we can. This Catholic Identity Conference is also a very efficient and important means of professing and confessing the Catholic faith in the midst of darkness. Thanks be to God, this conference, which is now concluding, is a light in the Church, and there are many other lights in other places, in Europe and elsewhere. Many little lights will, by time, make a great light in the Church. I encourage you to always have hope and trust in the Lord.
Michael Matt: Your Excellency, you have been such a shining example for us of a prince of the Church who is loyal in your opposition. There have been times, very recently included, where it has been necessary for you to oppose what is happening in the Vatican. I wonder if you could say a word, because we have many people at our conference who are very new. Some are recent converts from Protestantism. Some are very new to tradition. They have been asking me over the weekend, What do we do? Who do we listen to with respect to the pope?
Now that we know there are serious problems with Pope Francis, who are we to follow? Who are we to listen to? I have pointed to you, saying that when we have prelates of the Church, bishops of the Church, who are not relying on their own opinion, but relying on the doctrine, the infallible doctrine of the Church, we are not trying to start our own church.
I wanted to ask if you could comment on that. You are not in any way interested in breaking from the Church, leaving the Church, or starting your own church, but rather in this idea of loyally opposing what is going on while staying in the Church. I wonder if you could assure some of our people here at the conference that we are not about leaving the Church, but about staying and fighting for the Church.
Bishop Schneider: Yes, I think the first thing we have to say is that the pope is not identical with the Church. The Church is greater than the pope. The pope is also a member of the Church. We do not have to look continuously, every day and every hour, at what the pope is saying. In previous generations and centuries, even good Catholics kept their faith and did not know what the pope said at every moment.
I think we should not fix our attention too much on this, because we have faith. You have your catechism. Please stick to this. Read the catechism, especially the Baltimore Catechism or other good older books. This is the unchanging faith. You have this. Pray, make adoration, and hand over the faith to your children and your friends.
Nowadays, I rejoice with great joy in our brothers and sisters who have come from Protestantism to the truth, to the fullness of truth in the Catholic Church. We should also remember that a specific pope is not eternal. God can call him tomorrow, and then God will give His Church again a good shepherd. We have to believe this.
I also want to say, as I repeat often, that we have to strengthen our own faith always and pray for the pope. We cannot change him ourselves. I would also admonish good Catholics that in this confusion, even good people and good priests are tempted to take the Church into their own hands and say, Now we will make a solution. We will depose the pope, remove the pope, or declare him invalid, or declare that he lost the office. This is not Catholic. This is a purely human solution. It is a lack of trust in God. This is His Church. It is also a lack of accepting the cross, even the cross of such a pope. This is a cross, and we have to accept it and carry it with supernatural faith and supernatural trust.
Therefore, please do not follow these groups who call themselves sedevacantists, or those who declare that Pope Benedict is still the pope. This is completely without foundation, a great confusion, and against common sense. We have to accept that Pope Francis is the pope, even so, and we have to suffer. We have to accept this, and God will provide. This is the only solution.
Two thousand years of Church history demonstrate this. Even if, hypothetically, the resignation of Benedict were invalid, and consequently the election of Francis invalid, or if there were different positions, or if Benedict resigned validly and Francis was elected invalidly because of alleged machinations, this is all juridical sophism. These people make human law absolute, but the rules for the election of a pope are only human laws, not divine laws. They are subordinated to the greater good of the entire Body of Christ, which is that people have the security of a visible head of the Church.
The tradition of the Church shows this very clearly. There were cases in history where popes were elected with juridical defects, but once the entire episcopacy or the college of cardinals recognized him, mentioned him in the Mass, and accepted him as pope, the juridical errors were healed at the root. This shows the prudence and common sense of our Mother Church. We must keep this soberly and strictly, and not go after solutions that have no exit.
We have to be humble, accept the cross, pray, and believe that Our Lord is the head of the Church. Our Lady is the Mother of the Church. You are keeping the faith. In difficult times in the Church, especially in the fourth century, it was often the lay faithful who kept the faith while much of the episcopacy failed in their duties. God chose the little ones. God is choosing you and others today. You are slowly preparing the renewal of the Church. God is already working this renewal, and we have to believe this.
Michael Matt: Your Excellency, I would like to keep you going for the rest of the day and all night long. I know I have to let you go, but I have two more questions, and then I will let you go to sleep, if that is okay. Then we are going to listen to your recorded video.
I am really curious, and I know many of the people at our conference would like you to say something about the fact that we are now facing something in our country that, in a way, you grew up with and lived through. We are facing the prospect of socialism, some form of totalitarian regime. Many of our conference attendees realize that you were born in the Soviet Union, that you received your Holy Communion secretly because of the situation with the government. You are an old pro at this. It is going to be new for us as Americans.
What do we do if this kind of thing begins to happen, if this sort of totalitarianism begins to emerge? Can you give us a word of advice on how to keep the faith no matter what, even if persecution should come to our country, as it did to yours when you were a boy?
Bishop Schneider: First, I would say that all totalitarian regimes that have existed eventually ended. They did not last very long. The Soviet dictatorship lasted seventy years. The Nazi regime lasted twelve years. The Napoleonic regime lasted about fifteen years. In the scope of history, this is a relatively short time. It may last our entire lifetime, but in history, all totalitarian regimes are evil in themselves and cannot endure. They will collapse.
Second, God allows totalitarian regimes in order to give us more graces. He gives special graces and strength to those who live under them. Perhaps the entire world may experience a new form of totalitarianism, a kind of global totalitarianism connected to health measures and lockdowns. This may worsen, but we should not fear. God will provide special graces.
In totalitarian times, new confessors will arise. Even among non-believers, there will be heroic persons, even secular people, who will protest and resist. Humanity has a natural force of resistance to evil. These people will likely be a minority, not the majority.
For us as Christians and Catholics, we may enter a period of an underground Church, or a partially clandestine Church. From my own experience, these times are filled with many graces. Even in the midst of suffering, we experience the closeness of Our Lord. In such times, the priesthood will be purified. Only good priests will remain. Superficial priests will follow the regime rather than the Church.
In difficult times, new holy priests will arise, confessors, and perhaps martyrs and bishops. We will be protected under the mantle of Our Lady. This is my advice to you: we should not fear. Difficult times always produce beautiful and heroic people.
Michael Matt: Okay, as promised, the last question. I know you do not believe in coincidences, so there is a reason why you are addressing us today on the feast of Christ the King. Your excellent book, Christus Vincit, is here at the conference, and people are buying it. I think we are very grateful and blessed to have you join us today.
I wonder if you could say something about this, because I think especially American Catholics have learned virtually nothing about the social kingship of Jesus Christ. They think that when we talk about Christ the King, we are talking about a pious devotion, and they sell it short. They do not understand that we are not talking about a devotion, but about the social reign of Jesus Christ, which we must have confidence in and for which we must fight. I wonder if you could, in closing this question and answer period, give us a clearer understanding of what the social kingship of Jesus Christ means, especially now in this time of persecution.
Bishop Schneider: First, I would like to congratulate you on the feast of Christ the King today in the old liturgy. Christ the King is the meaning of the entire creation and of mankind, that Christ should reign and be our King. Thy Kingdom come, the Kingdom of Christ, the incarnate God, our Savior. His reign of grace and love should be established first in our hearts through a life in grace, and then it should penetrate social life as well.
Social life, political life, and government are not autonomous. They are also created for God, for Christ. All things were created in Christ and for Christ, including political and social life. In the Middle Ages, throughout Europe, kings and rulers worshiped Christ. They adored Christ and laid down their crowns before Him, the only true King.
The liturgy of this feast in the old breviary says very beautifully that all should submit themselves to Christ and recognize Him as King. The rulers of nations should recognize Christ the King. These are the words of the hymn of the breviary today. Christ should be recognized by judges, by teachers. He should rule in parliaments, in schools, in universities, and of course in families and in hearts.
This is the meaning of the social, public, visible Kingdom of Christ. Of course, in this earthly life, we are always influenced by original sin and its consequences, and therefore, it cannot yet be the perfect reign of God. That will be in heaven. But to the extent possible, the Church and believing rulers must strive so that the law of Christ and the Gospel penetrate, guide, and rule public and private life. This is the greatest benefit for all humanity. There will be no lasting peace and no lasting welfare without Christ reigning in public and political life.
This is what the Church should proclaim. Regrettably, this should have been stated clearly by Pope Francis in his encyclical Fratelli Tutti, that only with Christ the King can there be lasting peace and true brotherhood as God wills it.
Michael Matt: You have done it again, Your Excellency. Now I must confess, bless me, Your Excellency, for I have lied. I said that was the last question, but I have one more. It has to do with your great devotion to Our Lady.
In a few hours, all of us will be leaving this conference and returning home. Many of us are clinging to whatever we can to keep us inspired. Chief among these are the Rosary, the scapular, and devotion to Our Lady. This is really a second part of the previous question. Could you conclude by saying something about the queenship of Mary and the importance of devotion to Our Lady as we move forward into this time of great darkness?
Bishop Schneider: Our Lady is the Queen of Heaven and Earth. She is the Mother of Christ the King. As the Mother of the King, she is Queen. We venerate her as Queen, and we choose her as our Mother and our Queen. To venerate her as the Mother of God is to venerate her as Queen.
This means that we allow ourselves to be guided and ruled by Mary and by her example given to us in the Gospel, and also in the apparitions, especially at Lourdes and Fatima, where she calls us to venerate her Immaculate Heart and to carry Christ in our hearts. This is what she did. She was the handmaid of the Lord, the servant, and because she was the most humble, she was exalted as Queen of Heaven.
She carried the Word of God in her heart. This is for us a school to imitate, to ask for humility so that we may carry Christ in our hearts. To serve God means to reign. Our Lord shares His royal dignity with us. As children of God and children of Mary, living in sanctifying grace, we belong to a true nobility, the nobility of God.
Therefore, let us consecrate ourselves today to Christ the King and to His Sacred Heart. A plenary indulgence is granted today to those who consecrate themselves to Christ the King. Let us also consecrate ourselves to our Mother and Queen, to her Immaculate Heart.