Traditionalist French Prelate Defies Vatican

Rebel French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre has said he intends to consecrate at least three bishops to succeed him on June 30, a gesture of defiance that could lead to his excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church.

The 82-year-old traditionalist, in an interview published Thursday in the French daily Le Figaro, said he hoped to win the approval of Pope John Paul II for the consecrations.

“But if he were not to give it, I would take no notice, for the sake of the church and its continuing tradition,” he added.

Under canon law, the consecration of bishops without Vatican approval is punished by automatic excommunication.

Lefebvre, who criticizes the Pope for being too liberal and rejects reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council between 1962 and 1965, was suspended from all priestly duties by the Vatican in 1976.

His dissident order, the Fraternity of Pius X, has more than 200 priests in 28 nations. It still holds its Masses in Latin.

Last October the Vatican announced that it would be sending Canadian Cardinal Michel Gagnon to visit the fraternity’s branches in France, Switzerland and West Germany. The apostolic envoy reported his findings back to the Vatican in January.

Lefebvre said he was very hopeful of a positive reaction from the church and contended that the Vatican has agreed in principle to his three main demands. He told Gagnon that he wanted a Vatican commission to be set up to safeguard church tradition, at least three bishops from the fraternity to be appointed to succeed him and priests belonging to his order to be independent of bishops in the diocese.

There was no comment from the Vatican on Lefebvre’s remarks.