Rebel Archbishop Threatens to Pick Successors

Rebel Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre says that he may consecrate several bishops to succeed him--a move that would excommunicate him from the church.

The 82-year-old traditionalist, who was suspended from all priestly duties by the Vatican in 1976, also criticized Pope John Paul II as “the pontiff of liberalism.”

His dissident order, the Fraternity of Pius X, still celebrates the Latin Tridentine Mass and rejects other reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). More than 200 priests in 28 nations belong to his order.

At the ordination early this week of 21 priests, mostly French, he said in a sermon, “It is probable that I should make some episcopal ordinations before giving my life back to the Good Lord.”

Asked later to elaborate, Lefebvre told reporters that he intended to consecrate “three or four” bishops who would be “loyal to tradition” and continue ordaining new priests.

‘Living in the Shadows’

“I have spoken about it with my following. I am certain that, more than ever, Rome is living in the shadows, that the Pope has become the pontiff of liberalism and our movement must continue through the faithful,” Lefebvre said.

Lefebvre said that he did not know when he might name the bishops but that if he did not do so before dying, it would possibly be a sign that he should not take such a step.

He was quoted by the Italian Catholic magazine 30 Giorni last February as saying he might consecrate bishops within a year but was waiting for “a sign from Providence.”

Under church law, consecration of bishops without Vatican approval is punished by an automatic excommunication.

In 1983 he named German-born Father Franz Schmidberger to run his seminary near Sion in the mountainous Valais canton in southwestern Switzerland.

Lefebvre accuses the Vatican of heresy for refusing to reverse efforts made to modernize the Roman Catholic church at the Second Vatican Council. He opposes abandoning the Latin Mass and turning of the altar so priests face the congregation.