Saint Hildegard of Bingen and the Ecclesiology of the FSSPX

by Raniero da Fiore, published at El Wanderer, July 3, 2026

from the visions of St. Hildegard of Bingen

The episcopal consecrations of the FSSPX and all the arguments for or against them have once again brought to the fore an old ecclesiological conviction held by Lefebvre’s followers: the opposition between a supposed “Eternal Rome”—traditional and orthodox—and a “Conciliar Rome”—modernist and heretical. This expression is hardly compatible with Catholic doctrine on the unity and indefectibility of the Church. No matter how great and profound the present crisis may be, it requires some serious theological juggling to justify it. However, it is not entirely without foundation. Its strength stems from a true intuition that, unfortunately, is often trapped within an inadequate doctrinal framework.

Cancelling Pope Benedict: Reflections on a recent article and the “hermeneutic of rupture”

Rorate has received this excellent essay by “A Concerned Priest” and is pleased to share it with our readers. It is one of the best analyses to date of the impossible theological premises on which Pope Francis has enacted his campaign against the survival of the traditional rites of the Church.

Book Review: The Church of Christ by Msgr. Joseph Clifford Fenton

The Church of Christ: A Collection of Essays by Monsignor Joseph C. Fenton. Ed. with an introduction by Christian D. Washburn. Tacoma, WA: Cluny Media, 2016. 362 pp. Paperback. $24.95. Publisher's page / at Amazon.

This collection of essays from one of the greatest American theologians, Msgr. Joseph C. Fenton, makes an urgent and marvelous contribution to the renewal of Catholic theology today. The hermeneutic of rupture has been utterly disastrous. The needed renewal urged by the Second Vatican Council must be pursued once again. The thoughtful, balanced, orthodox, and acute analysis of Msgr. Fenton serves as a prime example of the kind of renewal that was and remains desirable, one in organic continuity with the great tradition, committed to the unchanging dogmas of the Church but open to new insights and corrections in matters purely speculative or hypothetical. Fenton is also clearly a man of prayer, a theologian on his knees yet one who truly practices the rigorous scientific discipline of dogmatic theology. This collection of essays is absolutely essential reading for any serious student of ecclesiology. It will serve as a corrective to the misbegotten attempts at renewal which suffer from an unwillingness to embrace all the unchanging dogmas of faith. It will also invite a return to that thoughtfulness and nuance which in fact informed pre-conciliar theology, a thoughtfulness open to legitimate development.