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1. Humanæ vitæ will be so greatly disparaged that Paul VI will not publish any more encyclicals throughout the whole of his pontificate. 2. CRC no 21, June 1969, p. 1-2, extracts. 3. CRC no 22, July 1969, p. 3. 4. CRC no 22, July 1969, p. 3. 5. In 1968, the revolt of the two pressure groups that had been active during the Council was an event of considerable importance. As the Abbé de Nantes will remark in 1969, "The group made up of theologians united around the review Consilium and claimed for itself a total independence from any kind of sovereign Magisterium established on the ruins of the Holy Office. The group made up of journalists organised itself on an international basis under the cover of the Dutch IDOC and immediately assumed such power that Paul VI has this year had to back down in fear on several matters concerning the faith. Nothing to surprise us here: these two pressure groups had made common cause during the Council and had given the Pope and the bishops decisive support against the minority who alone maintained total orthodoxy. Having had them as their accomplices, the Pope and the bishops are now their prisoners." (CRC no 16, p. 6) 6. This refers to Adrien Duport and the two brothers of Lameth. 7. CRC no 22, July 1969, p. 3. 8. CRC no 22, July 1969, p. 3-4, extracts. 9. CRC no 26, November 1969, p. 2. 10. Letter to my friends no 188, 12 November 1964. 11. CRC no 21, June 1969, p. 1. 12. CRC no 26, November 1969, p. 2. 13. L'Église du Verbe Incarné, Desclée de Brouwer, Paris, volume I, 770 pages; volume II, 1393 pages. The first volume appeared in 1941 and, on the advice of one of his masters, "the incomparable friend" (Cf. Mémoires et Récits, vol. II, p. 363-384), the Abbé de Nantes read it shortly after its publication, while he was pursuing his studies at the seminary of Issy-les-Moulineaux. 14. It was for a very precise reason that the Abbé de Nantes raised this last possibility, which was to be remarked on, not by the majority of his readers, but by the supreme Authority itself. On this subject, see below, p. 339. 15. CRC no 3, December 1967, p. 8. 16. In December 1967, the Abbé de Nantes' trial at the Holy Office had been opened. The consultors responsible for conducting it and the Pope himself were therefore aware of the conclusions that the Abbé de Nantes had drawn from the teachings of Cardinal Journet. And they had no objections to make. In its notification of 9 August 1969, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith mentioned the Abbé de Nantes' appeal to the Roman clergy . The Sacred Congregation deplored it, but it issued no judgement on the matter. In fact it gave no dogmatic verdict at all on the canonical possibility and validity of a Pope's deposition by the Roman clergy. Cf. For the Church II, p. 350. 17. The Abbé de Nantes had probably sent Father Guérard the text of his reply to Cardinal Seper's ultimatum dated 16 July 1969 (cf. For the Church II, p. 344 ff) as well as his confidential letter of 16 July (cf. For the Church II, p. 362) 18. CRC no 41, February 1971, p. 11. 19. The principle that the Abbé de Nantes had referred to was this: it is an error and an offence to commit schism by declaring that the Pope is no longer the head of the Church or by acting as if he were not. 20. Cf. for example the Abbé de Nantes’ reply to Cardinal Seper, in the form of a "Profession of Catholic faith", dated 16 July 1969; For the Church II, p. 344-349. 21. Congar confused Popes Vigilius and Honorius. The Abbé de Nantes pointed this out in this same edition of the Catholic Counter-Reformation (no 25, p. 15). It was not Pope Vigilius, but Honorius I whom a Council (the 6th Ecumenical Council) and another Pope (Leo II) anathematised at the request of Saint Sophronius of Jerusalem. 22. CRC no 25, October 1969, p. 3-7, extracts. 23. Innocent II was put to the test from the beginning of his pontificate, since his election in Febuary 1130 was immediately contested. After the Pierleoni faction had set Anacletus II up against him, Innocent II was forced to flee Rome. The schism of Anacletus II will only end in May 1138, a few months after the death of this antipope. Furthermore, the last years of Innocent II's pontificate († 24 September 1143) will be darkened by other disturbances and rebellions. It is worth mentioning that the doctrine of Innocent II was orthodox in every point. Saint Bernard's remonstrance to the Pope concerned an affair that was purely disciplinary and had nothing in common with the reasons that will lead the Abbé de Nantes to oppose Paul VI. After the schism was extinguished, Innocent II condemned the former supporters of Anacletus II with great severity during the Lateran Council in April 1139. It was then that Saint Bernard wrote to Innocent II to protest against the deposition of Peter of Pisa, who had made his submission in 1137. Here are some extracts from this letter: "Who will give me justice against you? If I had a judge before whom I could bring you, I would already have shown him what you deserve. There if of course the tribunal of Christ, but far be it from me to think of calling you there; I would wish to defend you there if I could and if you then had need of me. Therefore, it is to him who has been given the power to judge here and now the whole of Christendom that I have recourse. I appeal to you about yourself, asking you to pronounce between you and me. In what way, I ask you, has your servant shown himself unworthy of Your Paternity, to the point of being branded as a traitor? Had you not done me the honour of delegating me in your name to work for the reconciliation of Peter of Pisa, in case God should deign to use me to pull him back from the abyss of schism? If you deny this, I shall find in the court of Rome as many witnesses to the truth of what I claim as there were people present at the time. Is it not in execution of your orders that he was re-established in his rank and dignity? Today, therefore, I ask myself by whose counsel, or rather through what seduction, you have come to revoke what you had granted and to betray your promise like this? If I speak thus, it is not that I have any quarrel with the apostolic firmness for which you are distinguished, nor for the ardent zeal animating you against schism. But is it necessary to be equally harsh against faults of a lesser nature, and to take the same sanctions against those who abandoned their sin as as against whose sin abandoned them first?" (Ep. 213) Saint Bernard therefore thought that those who had abandoned their schism before the death of Anacletus should not be treated with the same severity as those who had retained their attachment to the antipope right up to the end. 24. On Innocent II, cf. supra, page 118, note 1. 25. CRC no 25, October 1969, p. 8-9, extracts. 26. CRC no 25, October 1969, p. 9-12, extracts. 27. CRC no 30, March 1970, p. 6-8, extracts. 28. CRC no 36, September 1970, p. 5. 29. CRC no 28, January 1970, p. 1, extracts. 30. CRC no 36, September 1970, p. 6. 31. CRC no 38, November 1970, p. 6. 32. In the introduction to this dossier "Concerning Pope... Paul the Apostate", the Abbé de Nantes had provided some detailed information on this subject. He was in fact aware that a French bishop had mentioned his opposition to the Reform during a meeting with the Pope shortly before the end of the Council: "One day in 1965, Cardinal Marty, the Archbishop of Rheims, was chatting with the seminarians. One of them asked him what one should make of the Abbé de Nantes who was attracting much attention to himself. 'Ah! I was speaking with the Pope only the other week about him, and I told him what a nuisance this man was to us and what an obstacle he was to the progress of the conciliar reform. Paul VI raised his arms towards heaven and said: How can he say: the Pope is a heretic!'" CRC no 38, November 1970, p. 3. 33. In this same edition of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, one might read an article that appeared in the journal Aurore for 30 October 1970, entitled: "The secret wish of Paul VI: to negotiate peace with Mao". Its author, Philippe Bernert, showed how Paul VI, since the very first years of his pontificate, had tried to establish relations with Mao. "On 4 December, at Hong Kong", he concluded, "the head of Christendom and the leader of Red China will not be shaking hands, but they will greet each other halfway." Quoted in CRC no 38, November 1970, p. 9. 34. Alluding to the dramatic fire at the dance hall of Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, which broke out on 1 November 1970, causing one hundred and forty-five deaths. 35. CRC no 38, November 1970, p. 7-8. 36. Cf. infra, chapter 6 and 7. 37. CRC no 22, July 1969, p. 12. 38. CRC no 23, August 1969, p. 3-6, extracts. 39. CRC no 28, January 1970, p. 5-6. 40. CRC no 47, August 1971, p. 1-13. 41. Cf. The religion of the Pope; a letter from the Abbé Richard, CRC no 42, March 1971, p. 3-10. 42. Cf. Letter to my friends no 169, 11 April 1964. For the Church vol II, p. 42 ff. 43. Quoted in CRC no 30, March 1970, p. 5. 44. Account of the dinner-debate of 3 February 1970 at Lutetia, CRC no 54, March 1972, p. 5. 45. CRC no 29, February 1970, p. 10. 46. CRC no 38, November 1970, p. 2. 47. CRC no 31, April 1970, p. 1. |