Fideliter No.73, January-February 1990
 

Question: My Lord, how do you feel being 95?
Bishop de Castro Mayer: I respond as I usually do: better that I merit. Thanks be to God, I am well!

What are you activities at the moment?
Following the advice of my doctor, I lead a relaxed life. The celebration of the Holy Mass, prayer, study and reading are my occupations.

Do you feel isolated?
Absolutely not. I am surrounded by my priests. Four of them live close to me. Others visit me frequently, especially Father Eduardo Athayde. He travels the one-hundred and thirty kilometres which separate his parish S. Antonio de Padua and Campos, to come chat with me. There are also ten young men who are starting a preparation for the priesthood, who live here.

What can you say about your participation in the consecration of four bishops in Econe last year?
I repeat what I had already said on the occasion: my presence at this ceremony had for its cause a duty of conscience:

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-that of making a profession of the Catholic faith, in front of the whole Church;
-the preservation of the priesthood and the Holy Mass;
-the deep and sincere adhesion to the position of Archbishop Lefebvre.

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I can repeat today what I said on my arrival at Econe last year: “I would be committing a mortal sin if, in having the opportunity, I had not been present here”.

Do you think reconciliation with Rome is possible?
There does not exist an opposition between us and the Rome of the Apostles, the Catholic Rome watered by the blood of martyrs. It suffices for the authorities of the Church reconcile themselves with the infallible tradition of Rome, that they condemn the deviations of the Second Vatican Council, and the follies of this wicked “Spirit of the Council” and the reconciliation will be automatic, “ipso facto”.

My Lord, have they made any approaches towards you in view of reconciliation?
Yes, there have been official approaches. I respond always; “I cannot go back on what I declared at Econe”. To ask for pardon would be to go against a duty of conscience. It would be to condemn what I had done for the good of the Church and the salvation of souls; it would be to abandon the cause for which I fight alongside Archbishop Lefebvre, the cause of Catholic Tradition.

Does the excommunication leave you indifferent?
Indifferent, no. Though invalid, it saddens me, because it shows the lamentable state in which the human side of the church finds itself. It shows the intensity of the aversion which the current members of the hierarchy harbour towards what the Church has always done. So they ask pardon of the worst enemies of the church, the Lutherans, the Anglicans, the Jews, while they decrease their communion with the most faithful sons of our Holy Church.

What message would you like to give our readers?
Remain firm in the Faith! Keep carefully the treasure which was confided to you; Catholic Tradition! By the grace of God, I have transmitted what I have received from the Church, what I learned at the seminary at Rome: The doctrine of the Fathers of the Church, the Apostles, of Our Lord: Tradidi quod et accepi!   What can I ask of Catholic if not to keep inviolably this inestimable treasure?

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