I find it so fascinating among Catholics in our times that we cannot just sit down and study the crisis dispassionately. Every time the word "sedevacantism" get mentioned, it is like a cuss word was said in polite company.

I was not always a sedevacantist. Like most who went to SSPX, I adopted their party line, but I could never reconcile how a Catholic could operate a chapel, and all that goes along with it, outside of the pope and bishops authority.

When I would ask questions, I would always be told something to the effect of: This is an emergency and the Society is doing what its doing to keep the Faith.

But, that trouble always remained with me: Is not the pope the head of the Church and the Supreme Teacher. I also had a problem with the idea that a pope could promulgate a mass that was evil, and that the pope himself could be scandalizing the world by saying this evil mass.

I remember the Society priest I went to at the time worked with the SSPX but was not an SSPX priest himself. This priest was a good friend of mine, I admired him and thought of him like a saint, and he was a priest trained in a seminary of the Church in the old days.

Anyway, a controversy arose because the priest would not condemn the Novus Ordo, and used the analogy that at dinner, you could eat steak or a hot dog, with the meaning that the true Mass was better, and the Novus Ordo was lesser, but both feed you.

The District Superior intervened after laypeople complained about his stand. This priest defended his position by stating, how can we criticize the mass of the pope? In the end, and I am not sure how it happened, but he backed down, and told Catholics to no longer go to the Novus Ordo.

This controversy left me very unsettled on the pope question. From that point forward, I dedicated myself to getting to the bottom of this problem, and that has been a long time, almost 20 years or so now of reading and studying this question.

Let me first say, I have the greatest respect for Archbishop Lefebvre, and I understand that he was fighting for the faith at a time of mass confusion, the loss of faith everywhere, his brother bishops mostly all falling away in their faith, the Novus Ordo, etc. I do respect him, and I understand why he believed the "pope" problem would have to be dealt with later, as he was in the middle of battle, one cannot do research when you are under endless attack.

But, as time went on, and the crisis did not end, he did start posing the question very seriously that these men may not be popes, and that we may become sedevacantists. He seemed to be close to making a judgment on this, but hesitant, right up to the end of his life.

After the Archbishop died, (May he rest in peace), it was like the Society became frozen in time on this question. There would be no more talk about sedevacantism at all, as though this was the position of the Archbishop. His words were that we may become sedevacantist based upon the evidence, not that we will never be sedevacantist.

The point I am making is this: The pope question is the most important issue for Catholics in our time. The Archbishop knew this and he stated this in 1986. The pope question cannot be ignored.

The reason it cannot be ignored is Catholics must both (1) keep the Faith, and (2) remain in communion with and subject to the Roman Pontiff and the bishops in union with hm.

Catholics cannot do one, they must do both, and this is what has led to the continual defection of so many priests and laity over the years. This disorder has in reality led to three positions on the crisis.

1. Focus on keeping the Faith, but ignore the problem of remaining in communion with the pope and the bishops under him. (And by communion, I do not mean treating him as a figurehead).

2. Focus on remaining in communion with the "pope" and his bishops and try to keep the faith while remaining under him. Many of tried this and it always leads to compromise and failure. This very good article from truetrad demonstrates this very well: http://www.truetrad.com/index.php/other-or...-deal-with-rome

3. Focus on keeping the faith and understanding that Catholics cannot remain in communion with heretics. This position understands that one cannot ignore the pope and that popes cannot do the things that these men have done. This is sedevacantism.

Many of this board have criticized Bp. Fellay fiercely, but he was only being consistent. By this, I am not for any deal, just the opposite. My hope is that the Bishop will finally deal with the pope question once and for all. Bp. Fellay obviously knows that he cannot ignore the pope, that is why he has been dealing with the man he calls "pope."

Now, as he got close to the abyss, and the Society was almost lost, the time has come to deal with an issue that has been suppressed for over 20 years. Obviously, Bishop Fellay understands now that he must resolve the conflict of how Catholics keep the Faith and at the same time remain outside of communion with the pope and his bishops. (And I know some on here will maintain that saying you are in communion with the pope and hanging his picture is enough, while ignoring his teaching, his laws, his bishops under him and ignoring him as the rule of Faith).

If this was years ago, I would never have posted this on this forum, as I did not believe many Catholics were ready to deal with this problem. Now, times have changed in the Church and the world, and the momentum is building for Catholics to finally end this crisis once and for all.

The only way we can end this is to settle this pope question. I hope and pray that the only organization on earth that has the resources and ability to end this crisis, the SSPX, will finally research this matter in a scholarly way, and act upon it. The sedevacantist groups currently out there do not have the resources or the cooperation to do anything about this. This in my opinion has always been the plan for the SSPX, and unfortunately, this "mission" has been frozen for over 20 years. It is time to thaw the ice.

The hour is late now, the crisis in the Church has reached a late stage, the governments of the world are turning more against us, and we need to resolve this issue, which will eventually lead to a lawful pope being elected.

Only with a true pope can the Church shine again as She must, Catholics will be united again, and we will be a force again to convert the world to Christ.