Vatican (kath.net) The decisions of the Second Vatican Council were not accepted by all Catholics. Some contented themselves with critical statements, but Bishop Marcel Lefebvre, who served, among other things, as Archbishop of Dakar, rejected even fundamental reforms initiated by the Council, including the declaration Nostra Aetate—the declaration that regulates the new relationship between the Church and the Jews.
Furthermore, he rejected the liturgical reform of 1965 as well as the ecumenical movement. His firm rejection met with fierce opposition within the Church. In order to institutionalize his conservative position, he founded the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X (FSSPX) in 1970. Through the mediation of the then-Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, an agreement could be reached, but in 1988 Lefebvre consecrated four bishops, which the Church regarded as a schismatic act that resulted in excommunication. Through a process of clemency, Benedict XVI lifted this ecclesiastical penalty, while upholding the canonical and theological positions.
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