Pope Leo the Great said in a famous sermon preached one Christmas morning:  Agnosce, o Christiane, dignitatem tuam –  O Christian, remember thy dignity!  I should like to say to the bishops of the Church,  Agnosce, o episcope, dignitatem tuam.  How did it come to this, that a manifest enemy of the Church can occupy the throne of Peter and the bishops of the whole world look the other way?  I am not speaking of those who gladly collaborate with the destruction, such as most of those chosen to act out the present pantomime in the eternal City.  I am thinking of those who have the faith, who recite the Creed and mean it, who say their prayers and desire others to enter the Church.  Either they know the truth about what is happening and are afraid to tell it, or they are afraid to know it and so deceive themselves.

Probably the deepest root is the abandonment of the Roman Mass.  Once a bishop has accepted to cut that link with his predecessors, he is no longer as convinced as he needs to be of the truth of what they taught, nor has he a sufficient horror of its negation.  This phenomenon may be explicable in merely natural terms; but I incline to think that it is principally supernatural, and that God in His justice withholds graces for shepherding the flock from those who do not rightly honour the eternal Shepherd.

It is not very likely that any bishop will read these words.  But if any should see them, I say to him this: “Agnosce, o episcope, dignitatem tuam.  O bishop, remember thy dignity.  You are not a delegate of the pope, even if he were an orthodox believer.  You are vicar of Christ in your diocese.  You will not be able, on the day of Judgement, to throw on to another the responsibility for having remained silent while an enemy of Christ did what he could to destroy the faith and the Church.  Lay the axe to the root.  Begin to say or sing every day the true Roman Mass hated by the modernists, in your cathedral or in every parish church which you inspect.  Require every cleric and official under your authority to swear the anti-modernist oath, and dismiss any who refuses, even if it means leaving the churches without pastors: better for the faithful to receive no sacraments than to receive them from the hands of a heretic.  Warn your flock in public that Pope Bergoglio refuses to deny the heresies of which so many people have accused him.  Refuse to concelebrate Mass with him until he does so.  If you are dismissed for your fidelity, refuse at least to yield your cathedral to a heretic, for it is God’s house and not the pope’s.  Order your priests to carry out a public exorcism of the Vatican.  Tell your people to fast and pray until God’s anger – yes, His anger – be assuaged and He send us the holy pope according to His own heart.”