Gentlemen, dear brother priests, dear sisters, dear faithful: at last this day has come. What joy it is to see you so numerous, gathered from the four corners of the world.
First of all, I wish to thank the generosity of all those who have prepared this day: of all who have prepared it materially with dedication; of all the brother priests who have prepared hearts, minds, and intellects for this day; and of all of you, who have made the effort to travel as pilgrims to this place, to Écône, on what is certainly a historic day.
What, precisely, is the meaning of this day? Why are we here? How are we to understand these consecrations?
These consecrations are an event that divides, before which it is impossible to remain indifferent. What do they mean for us? Above all, this ceremony must be a manifestation of faith. This is very important.
We do not choose what we must believe or cease to believe. We cannot modify, reinterpret, or reconsider the faith. We simply have the duty to preserve the faith that the Church has always taught. We must love it, we must live by it, and we must hand it on.
If we truly love Our Lord, we have the duty to share His gifts, which come to us above all through the faith. Whoever lacks the desire to transmit the faith gives the sign that he himself does not live by the faith. And the more the faith is attacked, the more it disappears, the more urgent these duties become.
For without faith it is impossible to please God. It is impossible to live well. It is impossible to be saved. And today we are taking exceptional means, proportionate to that need.
Some might then consider that we find ourselves before a dilemma: we choose the integral faith, but we separate ourselves from the Church. We would therefore be choosing between the faith and the Church. To preserve the faith, would we be breaking with the Church?
It is a false dilemma.
One belongs to the Church, above all, by faith, by the integral profession of faith, by the integral profession of the faith of the Church. Just as one belongs to a nation because one speaks the same language, shares the same identity and the same culture; just as one belongs to a family because one bears the same surname and lives in the same house; so too one belongs to the Church because one professes the same faith.
It is, therefore, a false dilemma into which we cannot enter, because we cannot choose between the faith and the Church. No one can do so. We want the faith of the Church in order to remain in the Church. And we want the Church for the sake of the faith and in the faith.
It is very important to understand this, even if those who stand before us do not wish to understand it. And all of this is not an opinion, nor a sensibility, nor an option: it is a necessity.
We are accused of not loving the Pope. We are accused of not respecting him. But it is precisely because we love the Pope, sincerely, as the Vicar of Christ, as the head of the Church, that we do not wish to continue seeing the Pope humiliated alongside false shepherds, representatives of false religions. How many times have we seen this over all these years?
It is because we love the Vicar of Christ that we no longer want this humiliation for the Pope, a humiliation that falls upon the entire Church, treated on an equal footing with false religions.
We have explained it many times. We have explained it in almost every language that exists upon the face of the earth. Why has it not been understood? Why, in the end, do we speak a different language?
We speak the language of faith. We want the faith, in all its simplicity. It is not complicated. The Creed is not complicated. The profession of faith that the future bishops have just made is not complicated. Everyone can understand it.
We want the language of faith, the language of Tradition. And before us we encounter a language that is situated on another level, that speaks of other things. It is the language of inclusion, of listening, of dialogue, and of accompaniment.
We want the faith. And then, in the faith, we accompany persons. Why speak of accompaniment before speaking of the faith? Where is someone accompanied if the truth has not first been transmitted to him? Where is a person led if the way has not first been shown to him?
It is necessary to restore the order: first the faith; then the Christian life; and finally, accompaniment.
Precisely for this reason we are here. We are not here to affirm a sociological identity. We are not here to defend a particular sensibility. We are not here to create a parallel Church.
We are here because we believe. Because we believe that the Church of all time remains the Church of today. Because we believe that Tradition cannot disappear. Because we believe that Our Lord does not abandon His Church. And because we believe that the Catholic faith must remain integral until the end of time.
That is why these consecrations do not constitute a rupture. They constitute a continuity: a continuity with the faith of all time; a continuity with the Catholic priesthood; a continuity with the sacrifice of the Mass; a continuity with everything that the Church has handed on for twenty centuries.
It is precisely this that we wish to preserve. And to preserve it not only for ourselves; that would be selfishness. We want to hand it on. We want to deliver it to future generations. We want that in fifty years, in one hundred years, in two hundred years, there may still be priests who celebrate the Holy Mass, who preach the true faith, and who administer the sacraments as the Church has always administered them.
For the Church does not begin with us. Nor will it end with us. We are simply a link in a chain. We have received. We must hand on. Nothing more.
And this demands sacrifice. For preserving the faith has a price. It has always had one. The martyrs paid that price. The confessors of the faith paid that price. The holy bishops paid that price. Saint Athanasius paid it. Saint Hilary paid it. Saint John Fisher paid it. Saint Thomas More paid it. Monsignor Lefebvre also paid that price. And we must accept to pay it likewise.
Not because we seek suffering, but because we do not wish to betray Our Lord. For fidelity costs. It has always cost. And it will always cost. But that fidelity is never sterile.
It produces fruits. It produces vocations. It produces Christian families. It produces souls who love God. It produces hope. And that is precisely what we see today.
Look around you. Look at these families. Look at these young people. Look at these priests. Look at these seminarians. Who can say that Tradition is dead? Who can say that it no longer has a future?
No. Tradition is alive. It is profoundly alive. And that life does not come from us. It comes from Our Lord.
Precisely because this work is not ours, we have no fear. We do not know what will happen tomorrow. We do not know what the consequences will be. We do not know what trials we shall have to face. But we know one thing: the Church belongs to Our Lord. It does not belong to us. It has never belonged to us. And it will never belong to us.
That is why we can have confidence. Because it is He who guides His Church, not we. We need only remain faithful: faithful to the faith, faithful to the Mass, faithful to the priesthood, and faithful to the grace received. That suffices.
Some ask why four bishops. The answer is very simple: because we must secure the future. We do not know how much time Providence will grant us. We do not know how long the present bishops will live. We cannot wait until we find ourselves in an emergency situation. Prudence requires us to foresee, not to act when it is already too late.
That is why these consecrations are an act of prudence. Not a challenge. Not a provocation. Not a declaration of war. An act of prudence at the service of the Church. Nothing more.
I would also like to say a word to the four future bishops.
Dear friends, you are about to receive an immense grace. But you will also receive a very heavy cross. You must never seek your personal interest. You must never seek honor. You must never seek power. You must disappear so that Our Lord may be known.
You must be bishops to hand on, not to innovate. You must preserve, not invent. You must be men of prayer, men of sacrifice, men of doctrine, and men of charity. For truth without charity wounds, and charity without truth deceives. You must always keep both united, as the Church has always done.
Never forget that the bishop exists to sanctify souls. Not to administer a business. Not to direct an organization. Not to become a public figure. He exists to lead souls to Heaven.
That will be your judgment. You will not be asked how many conferences you have given, nor how many projects you have carried out, nor how many applauses you have received. You will be asked whether you have preserved the faith, whether you have transmitted grace, and whether you have sanctified the souls entrusted to you. That is all. And that suffices.
That is why we entrust you today in a very special way to the Blessed Virgin. She preserved the faith when almost everyone had fled. She remained at the foot of the Cross. She never doubted. She never abandoned Our Lord. May she form you. May she protect you. May she keep you faithful to the end.
Dear faithful, I would also like to address you.
Without you, this work would not exist. You have remained faithful. You have accepted sacrifices. You have traveled many kilometers to assist at the Holy Mass. You have educated your children in a Christian manner. You have supported our seminaries. You have prayed for our priests. You have suffered with us. And today you also share this joy.
Never think that your fidelity is of no importance. It is thanks to families like yours that the Church continues to live. It is thanks to your daily fidelity that Our Lord continues to reign in souls.
Continue to be simple. Continue to be profoundly Catholic. Never seek controversy for its own sake. Never seek to overcome anyone. Seek only the truth and live that truth with humility.
We have no enemies. We have souls to love. We have persons for whom to pray. We have a Church to serve. And we have a Heaven to conquer.
That is why we must always preserve peace: the peace that is born of truth, the peace that is born of grace, and the peace that is born of trust in God.
Never allow bitterness to enter your hearts. Never allow resentment to replace charity. Never allow trials to make you lose hope.
For God directs all things, even when we do not understand; even when it seems that everything is collapsing; even when the Church passes through the night.
Victory already belongs to Our Lord. He has conquered the world. He has conquered sin. He has conquered death. And therefore we can walk with serenity.
We do not know how long this crisis will last. We do not know how it will end. But we know how history ends. And it ends with the triumph of Christ.
That is why we must not be afraid. We must pray. We must work. We must remain faithful. And we must always keep an immense hope.
Dear friends, these consecrations are not a point of arrival. They are a point of departure. From tomorrow a still greater work will begin. It will be necessary to continue forming priests, to continue preaching, to continue sanctifying souls, to continue building Christian families, and to continue handing on the faith in its integrity.
That is our duty. And, with the help of God, we shall continue to fulfill it.
Let us now entrust this day to the Blessed Virgin Mary. May she preserve the Church. May she protect the Holy Father. May she strengthen our new bishops. May she sustain our priests. And may she obtain for us the grace to remain faithful until the last day of our life.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.