We believe in the Holy Catholic Church
While the first session of the "Synod on Synodality" is already in progress, unfortunately, there is a fear that this synod, rather than working to restore the Church's vitality and spiritual radiance, will end up further exacerbating the drift.
From a human perspective, one can only be frightened by the increasingly alarming prospects that loom before the Church. The loss of faith, the cessation of practice, the decline in vocations, and the assumed apostasy continue to accelerate. We are starting to better understand the enigmatic statement of Jesus: "When the Son of Man returns, will He still find faith on Earth?" (Lk 18:8).
To overcome this inevitable human pessimism, we must maintain a perspective of faith in the Church. The Church is human, profoundly human, and therefore experiences all the human deficiencies and sins that people can commit within itself. But the Church is also, and above all, fundamentally divine. Sanctified by the Holy Ghost, governed by Our Lord Jesus Christ, consecrated to the worship of the Heavenly Father, it cannot be undermined in its foundations, which are holy and divine.
This is why we believe in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. This is why we believe in the Roman Catholic Church as the unique Church of Christ, the necessary means for all people who are called to salvation and invited to enter it under the penalty of damnation.
We believe in the hierarchical Church, governed by the Pope, the successor of Peter and the vicar of Christ, to whom it belongs not to propose a new Revelation, but to faithfully guard the Revelation of Jesus transmitted by the Apostles and to present it through his Magisterium endowed with the privilege of infallibility, under the conditions set by Christ.
We believe in the hierarchical Church governed in each diocese, under the authority of the Sovereign Pontiff, by the bishops, successors of the Apostles, themselves assisted by priests, deacons, and ministers.
We believe that all the faithful, by virtue of their baptism and the other sacraments they have received, under the guidance of the holy hierarchy acting by virtue of Christ's mandate and according to His commandments, are called to holiness and a life in accordance with the Gospel.
And, finally, despite the complex, confusing, and dramatic situation in the Church today, which explains the “irregular” situation of the Society of Saint Pius X (a situation it did not choose but was imposed upon the society in an unjust manner), notwithstanding all these human difficulties, we wholeheartedly and with all our soul adhere to the Catholic Rome, the guardian of the Catholic faith and the traditions necessary to maintain this faith, to eternal Rome, the mistress of wisdom and truth.
Abbé Benoît de JORNA
Source : Lettre à nos Frères Prêtres n°99
