According to the almost unanimous opinion of believers and unbelievers alike, all things on earth should be related to man as their center and crown.

Gaudium et Spes, 12

A Catholic cannot sign this document, as it’s both heresy and blasphemy (putting man in the place of God). Everything on earth should have God at its center and goal, not man! Many people have invented marvelously creative ways to try to weasel their way out of calling it „heresy‟, trying to call it only a „seeming contradiction‟, to „understand it in the light of Tradition‟, to build a „hermeneutic of continuity‟.

There are many other heretical sentences, but this one alone reflects the new insidious philosophy of Vatican II (and the Novus Ordo): „Man is made in the image of God, therefore we will celebrate man, and as a byproduct we also celebrate God.‟[^1]

This insidious inversion places the worship of God’s inner glory second, a mere byproduct of man’s glory. Religion therefore becomes a product of man to serve man in managing his existential dread - a work of human hands. Doctrinal truth becomes secondary, as all humans can have their versions of „truth‟ and their own „religious experiences‟ and obviously they’re all equally good (as no one may judge anyone or anything to be good or evil). Therefore, we must discuss ad nauseam and understand each other and no one may claim to know the truth, as we’re all searching for it.

As Gaudium et Spes continues:

Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love,

Gaudium et Spes, 22

„Christ came down from Heaven, to reveal man to himself.‟ – not to reveal God to man, no, but just man to himself. Such absolute nonsense is the very essence of modernism. And sadly, this nonsensical philosophy of centering all efforts on pleasing man instead of pleasing God is continued by the future popes (ex. JPII’s Redemptor hominis).

Priests who, under the guise of obedience, endorse such statements are not shepherds; they are, at best, misguided, and at worst, traitors to the Faith, like Judas, selling out Truth for a marble altar.

Many are quick to condemn the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) or the Resistance, claiming „there is no salvation in the SSPX‟ or „they don’t have jurisdiction‟. While an easy polemic adaptation of „Outside of the Church there is no Salvation‟, we have to look at „Who belongs to the Catholic Church?‟.

What is certain is that there is no salvation for people who knowingly sign off on heresy. This applies directly to priests of the FSSP, ICKSP, and any who operate under the banner of „Ecclesia Dei‟ or celebrate the Novus Ordo Missae while endorsing or being silent on the Council that birthed its errors.

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.

Revelation 3:15-16

But what is the Pope? What is the Vatican? What is the Holy See? What are they?

Why did Our Lord Jesus Christ institute Saint Peter as the head of the Church? What did He require of Saint Peter? - „Keep the faith, and keep it for the others.‟ And the Vatican, which is nothing else but the residence of the successor of the apostles, is not destined for any other purpose.

The Holy Roman Church is the mother and mistress of all truth: Mater et Magistra omnium ecclesiarum magistra veritatis. And it is just that for which we ask. At our baptism we asked for it from the Church. Our godparents asked for it in our name when we were carried to the baptismal font.

[…]

„What do you ask of the Church of God?‟ That was the question the priest put to our godparents: What do you ask of the Church of God? We ask for faith. That was what our godparents answered. And now we too ask from the Church, or from those who say they are of the Church, those occupying important posts in the Church, those responsible for that faith - we ask them: „Preserve the Faith for us, give us the Faith. That Catholic Faith is what we want. We want no other.”

‟Why do you ask for Faith?,„ the priest said to our godparents. ‟We want Faith because Faith brings us to Eternal Life.„

Why are we here below unless to gain Eternal Life? We have no other purpose here below except to gain Eternal Life; life on earth is a fleeting life, an ephemeral life-a few days, few years, a few decades. We have to choose if we want Eternal Life - Yes or No. We want Eternal Life, and for that we want the Catholic Faith. But we are compelled to state that for fifteen or twenty years those with the highest authority in the Church, the Holy See and the Vatican, have been turning away, turning us away from the Catholic Faith and have become the friends of our enemies.

Abp. Lefebvre  — Sermon of the 1988 Consecrations

Being „outside of the Catholic Church‟ therefore doesn’t mean to be excommunicated from people who believe that man should be the center of everything: because such an excommunication is nothing but an abuse of power directed at those who put God first. Effectively, the accusation of „excommunication‟ is nothing else than what the Jews told St. Peter:

And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, saying: Commanding we commanded you, that you should not teach in this name; and behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and you have a mind to bring the blood of this man (note: Jesus) upon us.

But Peter and the apostles answering, said: We ought to obey God, rather than men.

Acts 5:27-29

So, dear reader, when you stand before God, will you say, „I did not sign off on heresy,‟ or will you plead, „I obeyed the pope, even when he led us astray‟?

I no longer understand it. I no longer understand it! This is not our Church! This is no longer our Catholic Church! It is no longer our Catholic Faith. I want to be and to stay Catholic. So why am I required to suppress our seminary? Why am I required to suppress our Sacerdotal Fraternity of Saint Pius X? Why am I required not to perform these ordinations?

There is only one reason: to bring me into line with this policy. They want me to lend a hand in this destruction of the Church, to join in this communion which, for the Church is adultery.

I will not be an adulterer. I will keep my Catholic Faith!

Abp. Lefebvre  — Sermon of the 1988 Consecrations

The reason why I cannot obey the pope is because I’m bound to the Divine Law, and the New Rite is against the Divine Law. Therefore, I’m not allowed to celebrate it. I commit a sin if I celebrate it.

Fr. Gregorius Hesse  — On the SSPX, FSSP, ICKSP and sedevacantists

The New Mass, designed with the explicit intention of appealing to Protestants, necessarily waters down or excises Catholic doctrine, particularly concerning the sacrificial nature of the Mass. It is a liturgy for a church that has made man its focus.

We hold fast, with all our heart and with all our soul, to Catholic Rome, Guardian of the Catholic Faith and of the traditions necessary to preserve this faith, to Eternal Rome, Mistress of wisdom and truth.

We refuse, on the other hand, and have always refused to follow the Rome of neo-Modernist and neo-Protestant tendencies which were clearly evident in the Second Vatican Council and, after the Council, in all the reforms which issued from it.

Abp. Lefebvre  — Declaration of November 21, 1974

His decision to consecrate bishops in 1988, an act of sheer necessity, was born from the realization that dialogue with modernist Rome was a trap:

Upon reflection, it appears clear that the goal of these dialogues is to reabsorb us within the Conciliar Church… we find ourselves in the absolute necessity of having ecclesiastical authorities who embrace our concerns and will help us to protect ourselves against the spirit of Vatican II and the spirit of Assisi.

Abp. Lefebvre  — Letter to Cdl. Ratzinger, May 24, 1988

The same story can be told about the Resistance: After the SSPX had to resist Rome, Bishop Williamson had to resist the other SSPX bishops, after Bishop Fellay started to try to „reunite‟ the SSPX with Rome under the pretext of a practical agreement in 2012. As neither Pope Francis nor Pope Benedict condemned the errors of Vatican II and restored order in the Church, we cannot make practical agreements with people who put man first, God second. Instead of repenting, Rome doubled down on their error – with a lot of elaborate or less elaborate dialectic.

See also: What is the SSPX Resistance?

Conciliar Rome welcomed them with open arms. Because it had converted to Tridentinism? Of course not.

Rather, it saw in these refugees from the Society of St. Pius X an opportunity to set up under Rome’s control an alternative „Traditional‟ movement to keep souls away from the real Traditional movement henceforth „excommunicated‟ and so out of Rome’s control, except by the silence and marginalisation, or calumny and scorn, which have constituted Rome’s treatment of the Society ever since.

However, while allowing these Tridentinists to say only the old Mass, Rome required as a condition for its acceptance of them that they recognize the „orthodoxy and validity‟ of Pope Paul’s New Mass. Which these Tridentinists did. So Rome now had a docile decoy to pull priests and people, as it hoped, away from the uncompromising Society of St. Plus X.

Bishop Williamson  — Letter of December 1, 1999

This is not conspiracy; it’s strategy. Archbishop Gänswein confirmed Benedict XVI’s motive for Summorum Pontificum being „to get them away from [Archbishop Marcel] Lefebvre‟:

I believe that Pope Benedict read this motu proprio (Traditiones Custodes) with pain in his heart because he wished [via SP] to help those who wanted to find inner peace, also the liturgical peace, and to get them away from Lefebvre.

Abp. Georg Gänswein, secretary of Benedict XVI  — Interview with Die Tagespost, 2023

Without the SSPX, there would be no FSSP. The FSSP exists as controlled opposition, designed to offer a veneer of tradition while ensuring loyalty to the Conciliar revolution, lest people get „too radical‟ by actually holding firm to the entirety of the Faith, without compromise under the guise of false obedience. The FSSP and its ilk made a fatal compromise: they accepted Vatican II and the legitimacy of the New Mass. This means they implicitly accept the man-centered heresies that underpin them.

Fr. Peter Scott in his 1995 Angelus article points out how the FSSP was forced to accept liberal leadership „of a mind to accept and promote the New Mass and to be integrated into the post-Conciliar church.‟[^2]

The Fraternity of Saint Peter officially agrees with Vatican II, and officially agrees with the present pope’s encyclicals. So they are not Catholics, officially, objectively. They are formally not Catholics… Formally, they’re in heresy because they sign and affirm, officially, formally, objectively, heresy, which means Vatican II.

Fr. Gregorius Hesse  — On the SSPX, FSSP, ICKSP and Sedevacantists

This also explains why this site does not link to Latin Masses „in communion‟ with the modernist popes: Because all these communities — and there are lots of them — had to sign an agreement requiring silence in order to get recognition that they are „Catholic‟ from modernist Rome. But what worth is this „recognition‟ – to be recognized and encouraged by people who put God into second place?

Who will get to heaven: those „in communion‟ with a hierarchy that has betrayed the Faith, remained silent or even promoted error, or those who, though perhaps temporarily ‚outside the Church’s structures,‚ fight to maintain the unadulterated doctrine of Christ? May the reader discern wisely.

Operating outside compromised official structures becomes a sacred duty when those structures demand adherence to error or silence in the face of it. One cannot serve two masters: the unchanging Christ and the ever-changing fads of Modernist Rome.

This reformation, deriving as it does from Liberalism and Modernism, is entirely corrupted; it derives from heresy and results in heresy, even if all its acts are not formally heretical. It is therefore impossible for any conscientious and faithful Catholic to espouse this reformation and to submit to it in any way whatsoever.

The only attitude of fidelity to the Church and to Catholic doctrine appropriate for our salvation is a categorical refusal to accept this reformation.

Abp. Lefebvre  — Declaration of November 21, 1974

This is not a path of disobedience but of supreme obedience to Christ the King. Those who choose the FSSP, ICKSP, or any „Ecclesia Dei‟ group, believing they can reform from within while accepting the Conciliar premises, are deluding themselves.

They have swallowed the poison pill of Vatican II in exchange for a Potemkin village of tradition. The true fight for the Faith requires courage, clarity, and an unwillingness to compromise with the revolution that seeks to destroy it.

If the FSSP truly stood for tradition, they would be standing with those who resist, not appeasing those who dismantle. While they offer the Traditional Latin Mass, their „full communion‟ (a term introduced by the modernist pope Benedict XVI) with post-Conciliar Rome is built on a catastrophic compromise: the acceptance of Vatican II’s doctrinal deviations in exchange for keeping the marble altars and nice churches.

And this is why we, the dubia.cc editorial team, have to advise against attending the Masses of the FSSP / ICKSP or the Novus Ordo, even for pastoral reasons: If the goal of attending a Mass is to get sanctifying grace from God, being at an adulterous FSSP Mass is a waste of time. We care about saying and teaching the truth, even if we have to be falsely labeled „disobedient‟, „schismatic‟ or other terms.