This touches on one of the reasons I personally believe both the SSPX and FSSP are positively willed by God.
During the pontificates of Paul VI and John Paul II, Traditional Catholics were persecuted and the old Mass was unjustly suppressed by the hierarchy, who led everyone to believe that it had been abrogated. The hierarchy did all they could to put an end to the old Mass and the old (read true) faith. In my opinion, if it wasn’t for the SSPX the hierarchy would have crushed the FSSP in no time flat. There are examples of Seminarians leaving the SSPX to found Rome-approved Seminaries. Many promises were made to the Seminarians to get them to leave the SSPX, only to have the Mass, Cassock and everything else taken away one at a time. The one Seminary I am thinking of was called Mater Ecclesia. They lasted a very short time before it was shut down by Rome. One of the seminarians wrote to the SSPX and told them how they were being persecuted. He said “I hate to say it, but you were right and I was wrong. I expect the Seminary to be closed down by the end of the year”. It was closed two months later.
During the Pontificates of Paul VI and John Paul II, I believe God used the SSPX to keep the hierarchy in check, in order to allow the FSSP and other Traditional Orders in normal relations with Rome to flourish. If it wasn’t for the SSPX, I think these Orders would have been crushed quickly. But with the SSPX there, Rome knew that if these Orders were crushed, the Priests would go to the SSPX.
With the death of John Paul II and the election of our new Pope, things are gradually changing for the better. Pope Benedict admitted that the old Mass was never abrogated after all, which is exactly what the SSPX and other Traditionalists said the entire time (and were ridiculed for), and now the Pope has lifted the lifted the “excommunications” of the SSPX Bishops. Now God is using the SSPX as his instrument to bring clarity to the apparent errors in the documents of Vatican II. I have no doubt that the current talks with the SSPX will result in many “clarification” of the Vatican II documents, probably similar to the “clarifications” Rome issued to address the errors in the Joint Declaration with the Lutherans. Another interesting thing is that somehow the Traditionalists spotted these errors in the Joint Declaration, even before Rome issued the “clarification” where it stated that certain parts were “not acceptable”. Interestingly, John Paul II, who praised the Joint Declaration, didn’t catch these obvious errors (which were almost word for word contrary to what the Council of Trent taught), yet the SSPX and other Traditionalists spotted them right away, and even warned Catholics not to be misled by them. It is interesting that it is the job of the Pope to guard and protect the faith, yet John Paul II the Great praised this document that contained numerous errors - errors that were later “clarified” by Rome.
IF a Pope fail in his duty, God will not abandon his people. He will always raise up a defender of the faith, and a faithful remnant to preserve the truth. Now you can rest assured that the devil will stir up absolute HATRED for these faithful, but in the end they will be shown to have been right. During the Arian crisis, for example, when the faith was being threatened and abandoned by the Bishops; and when the Pope himself appeared to be wavering in the faith, God raised up St. Athanasius. How was St. Athanasius treated? He was condemned by a council of 300 Bishops; banned from his diocese 5 times; spent 17 years in exile; and, like the SSPX Bishops, he was “excommunicated” by the Pope. The devil stirred up so much HATRED for St. Athanasius that the saying was “Athanasius against the world”. Today he is known as St. Athanasius, Defender of the Faith.
We are in an unusual situation today, which is virtually identical to what transpired during the Arian crisis. Today, as in those days, God has raised up a faithful remnant; and today, as in those days, these faithful remnant are HATED.
And that, my friends, is why there is so much HATRED for the SSPX. Notice how the SSPX is the one group you can call names. The Protestants are our “brethren”, the Orthodox are our Sister Church, the Jews are our “elder brothers in the faith”, the Muslims “together with us worship on merciful God”, and the Buddhist have “found a way to nirvana”, yet the SSPX are heretics and schismatics who must be avoided at all costs. Every false religion is praised for any “truth” it happens to have, yet the faithful remnant who have kept the faith “whole and inviolate”, are HATED.
And let me not be heard as saying the SSPX are the only faithful remnant. All of the Traditional Orders, and Traditional Catholics, who have kept the faith “whole and inviolate” are being used by God in this crisis; but it is primarily the SSPX who is HATED, since God is using them in a special way.
