Letter by Campos Priests to the Pope
[translation from Portuguese by Professor Carlos Ramalhete]
Very Holy Father, humbly prostrated at the feet of Your Holiness, we, Priests of the Priestly Union of St. John the Baptist Mary Vianney, from the Diocese of Campos, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, ask you permission to formulate to the Vicar of Christ our request and manifest our gratitude. We have no titles to present You; we are the last priests of your presbitery. We have no distinctions, no qualities, no merits. Our condition - by the way honorable - of being sheep of this fold is enough to attract the attention of Your Holyness. The sole title that, by the grace of God, we proudly display is that of Roman Apostolic Catholics.
In the name of this Roman Catholic Apostolic Faith that we keep, we have endeavored to keep the doctrinal and liturgical Holy Tradition that the Church has given us and, as far as our weak strength allow us and helped by the grace of God, to resist what your predecessor of holy memory, Paul the VI, called "self-destruction of the Church", hoping thus to be rendering Your Holiness and the Church the best service.
Very Holy Father, although we have always considered ourselves to be within the Catholic Church, from which we have never had the intention of separating, nevertheless, due to the situation of the Church and to problems that affected traditionaly-aligned [lit., "Cathilics of the Traditional line", or "bias"] Catholics, that Your Holiness knows and, we believe, that fill your heart and ours with pain and anguish, we have been juridicaly considered separated from the Church.
This is our request: that we be accepted and recognized as Catholics. And, approaching our desire, Your Holiness has charged His Eminence Cardinal Dario Castrillón Hoyos, Very Worthy Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy, to proceed with the juridical recognition of our position as Catholics in the Church. How grateful we are to Your Holiness for this! We want, officialy, to colaborate with Your Holiness in the propagation of the Faith and of Catholic Doctrine, in the zeal for the honor of the Church - "Signum levatum in nationes" - and in the fight aganst errors and heresies that try to vanquish the Boat of Peter, uselessly because "the gates of Hell have not prevailed [sic] against Her".
On the august hands of Your Holiness we depose the Catholic Profession of Faith, professing full comunion with the Chair of Peter, of whom Your Holiness is the legitimate sucessor, recognizing your primacy and rule over the Universal Churh, shepherds and faithful, and declaring that there is no reason in this world for us to wish dissociation from the Rock upon which Jesus Christ established His Church. Also, if by accident in the heat of battle in defense of the Catholic truth we have made any mistakes or caused Your Holiness any displeasure, although our intention has always been to serve the Holy Church, we humbly beseech your fatherly pardon.
Renewing the deepest feelings of veneration towards the august Person of the Vicar of Christ on Earth and begging, for us and for our ministry, the precious benefit of the Apostolic Bendiction, we are the humble and obedient sons of Your Holiness.
Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil
August the 15th 2001 Feast of the Asumption of the Most Holy Virgin Mary.
+ (a) signed by Msgr. Licinio and all other meers of the Priestly Union of St. John the Baptist Mary Vianney.
Posted 28 January 2002/sl