Rebel plans consecration

Press, 4 February 1987, Page 10

Rebel plans consecration

NZPA-Reuter Rome The Rebel Catholic Archbishop, Marcel Lefebvre, who has been sus-

pended by the Vatican, says he may consecrate bishops for his traditionalist order, a move that would excommunicate him from the Church. Archbishop Lefebvre, aged 81, was suspended by Pope Paul VI in 1976 after he refused to stop ordaining priests. He has not accepted the reforms of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council and has strongly condemned Pope John Paul II for promoting Christian unity. In an interview in the February edition of the Italian Catholic magazine, “30 Giorni,” the Archbishop said he might take the drastic action of consecrating bishops within a

year but was waiting for “a sign from Providence” first. He needs bishops who could ordain priests in his rebel order, the Fraternity of Pius X, after his death. But under canon law, the consecration of bishops without Vatican approval is punished by automatic excommunication. “If in good conscience I think it necessary for the good of the order I have founded to make such a move, I will proceed not with one but with three, four or perhaps five episcopal consecrations,” he said. The Archbishop’s order counts about 200 priests in 28 countries.